Drake to miss birthday album release

Rapper Drake has been forced to scrap plans to release his new album on his birthday due to ongoing legal wrangling over samples.

The hip-hop star had wanted his latest record, Take Care, to hit shelves on 24 October (11), the day he turns 25, but the release has been pushed back until November (11) as he awaits clearance on samples used on several of the tracks.

He says in a statement obtained by Billboard, "I have completed 19 songs (17 on physical and 2 on bonus), and have run into a roadblock of clearing three samples in time to make the October 24th date... My options were to take the songs off and make the birthday release happen, or to take an extra couple (of) weeks to get the paper work right and give you the album they way I need you to hear it.

"The choice was clear as day for me. November 15th you will get Take Care the exact way I created it with no trimmings... I do apologise for the delay but I promise that it is only for the benefit of our experience together."