AceShowbiz - Rapper Drake had to convince his mother he was never really married to labelmate Nicki Minaj after the media turned a recent Twitter.com joke into headline news. The "Forever" hitmaker sparked reports he had secretly exchanged vows with his longtime crush Minaj on August 27 when he took to his blog on the social networking site to break the news to his fans.

He wrote, "Please refer to @nickiminaj as Mrs. Aubrey Drake Graham and don't stare at her too long. She's finally mine." Minaj fueled the claims when she tweeted, "Yes, it's true. Drake and I tied the knot." The pair's publicists were quick to deny the pals were actually husband and wife and dismissed the allegations as "not true", while Minaj admitted they were simply "being mischievous".

ut Drake faced a quizzing from his mum, who recently underwent emergency surgery for a mystery illness, after she mistook the rumors as fact. He tells People.com, "My mum was actually like, 'What happened? How did you elope?' But we were just joking around. I never thought it would get so out of hand."

The marriage rumors failed to die down despite the pair's denials and Drake only served to boost speculation about a romance with Minaj when he displayed a new piece of jewellery earlier this month. He says, "Ironically, I got a ring for myself, so people were like, 'Aw, you got married, and you have a ring you're wearing.'"

But Drake had no idea his internet hoax would have implications on his real love life: "People still think it's real. I'll look at a girl, and she'll be like, 'You're a married man. You shouldn't look at me that way.'"