It shouldn't come as any surprise that rising pop singer [article id="1688426"]Austin Mahone[/article] has been chilling with some of the baddest MCs in the game. These days, the idea of a pop star and a rapper as besties is pretty much the way it's played. Look at Justin Bieber and his myriad of hip-hop homeys.

When Mahone tweeted a picture of himself hanging out with DJ Khaled last week, followed by a snapshot of Lil Wayne's skate ramp, it had many fans wondering if the Texas native is the latest honorary member of the Cash Money Records crew. And, in some ways, he is. But the 16-year-old insists he was "just chilling" with Khaled.

"I just met him the other night," he said with a sly smile. "I do want to work with him. He told me to just keep up the good work and he can tell I'm working hard."

So in addition to palling around with Khaled, had Mahone been skating with Weezy while at the studio? "No, I was at the Hit Factory, and I was next to his ramp and I thought that was really cool."

With his debut album in the works, now could be as good a time as any to leverage those A-list friendships for some choice cameos on his album. Mahone says that, right now, it's all just talk. But given that he promises "hits" on this album, Cash Money might want to expand its roster for the teen dream. "I met Birdman. I met DJ Khaled," he said. "I'd like to work with Drake. I'm a big fan of Drake, and that'd be pretty cool."

Currently, Mahone is hard at work on his debut album. His two singles, "11:11" and "Say Somethin'," show off Mahone's sound: beat-heavy pop tunes about the ups and downs of puppy love. If that doesn't seem like the kind of material hard-core rappers might want to lend their rhymes too, let's not forget that Ludacris jumped on Bieber's first breakthrough hit, "Baby," back in the day. Your move, Drake.