Drake insists he did not mean to be "negative" about his fling with Rihanna after opening up about their brief romance in a recent interview he just felt hurt when his feelings for the singer weren't reciprocated.

The pair sparked rumors of a romance last year after they were spotted enjoying a night out in New York together following Rihanna's split from Chris Brown.

Drake real name Aubrey Graham - recently spoke to the New York Times about their fling, accusing the "Umbrella" hitmaker of using him like "a pawn" and leaving him feeling "terrible" after breaking off the short-term affair. The rapper is adamant he did not mean to offend Rihanna with his comments, because she is such an "overwhelming and incredible person", but he could not help feeling "small" when the romance came to an abrupt halt.

He tells MTV.com, "That's a moment that I've been eager, sort of, to explain. I feel like when people write about it or try to take an excerpt from me describing it, it's gonna sound negative. And in no way was it negative... I'm extremely confident, so it's very rare that anybody, let alone a woman that I like, makes me feel nervous or makes me feel small."