Sure, some people still clown Drake for how much he sings but, honestly, it's one of his greatest assets. Not only is he one of the most potent lyricists around, but the Toronto rapper's also got the ability to hit notes. It's why songs end up sounding like Drake featuring Drake.

And though he's boasted singing skills for years, it's hard to deny that Drizzy has been steadily improving since he first gained the music world's attention back in 2009. Much of that progress, it seems, can be credited to what he's learned from his vocal coach, Dionne Osborne.

Osborne has worked with the 28-year-old since shortly after he dropped So Far Gone. In an interview with Jezebel, she opened up about their relationship, and even said Cortez Bryant told her, "Drake told me you changed his life."

How'd she pull that off? By helping him change his voice.

1. He needed to change some major aspects of his lifestyle.

"I said, 'Here's the deal: You have to change your diet,' " Osborne says she told him. "You're heading out on tour in the spring and not thinking about your asthma or your allergies. You've got to take care of yourself too. Let's focus on helping you do your job."

2. He was doing live shows all wrong.

"One thing we worked on right away was his live sound -- he had this tone that he didn't use in his recordings, this thin tone to make the sound cut. It was whiny-sounding to me."

3. He had to fix his posture.

"Part of the problem was his approach physically. He'd be bending over to the floor and doing all of this crazy stuff and I'd be like, 'What are you doing? Your diaphragm is totally curled over.'

We talked a lot about body structure, too. It's important for every singer. It's not rocket science, but you have to understand the body. From there we worked to bring out that natural, dark, strong color in his tone that he uses so well, now. We grounded his sound. Made him support more from the diaphragm and the lower abs."

4. Water, water, water

"I'm very proud to say that even when I'm not there, he's drinking water. He says 'Goodnight, God bless, I'm Drake, take care,' and he gets offstage and starts cooling down his voice. He takes a chef with him, he works out. He's doing it on his own now."

5. And no sweet tea

"Before the next tour, he called me up and was so proud of himself. He said, 'Didi, I got a trainer, I've been working out, and I haven't had any sweet tea.' I was so happy that he was taking it seriously, and he saw the difference. He would come offstage and and say, 'I could go another set.' "

6. He learned how to merge his singing and rapping voices.

"During one tour, I told him, 'Drake, you know what would be really cool? If you could flow directly out of your raps into the melody and and go right back into the rap. Just flowing back and forth, back and forth.'

He told me later on, 'You said that to me and it kind of pissed me off. I thought I was already doing that.' But then he went home, listened to his stuff and started working on it. He got what I was saying. He's got that ability and he improved."

7. Humidifiers help -- unless they're moldy.

"[I] made them put a humidifier on the bus. He needed the humidifier on the bus because it was so dry in there. Later on in the tour, Drake thought he was having trouble singing, so I showed up to help. ... After sending one of the guys back on the bus to retrieve the humidifier, I opened up that humidifier and I just wanted to kill somebody. I laid into them, 'You see this pink stuff? THIS IS MOLD. THIS IS WHY HE'S SICK.' "

8. Seriously -- water and diet

"He's good now -- he eats a lot of fruit, chicken and vegetables. He's got bananas and apples and grapes in his dressing room. And he's always drinking water, which is really good, because I've never seen anyone who is not a full-blown athlete sweat like that. He looks like he's showering on stage, he's shorted out microphones, let me tell you."