In the past few weeks we’ve posted up a variety of editorials with Drake and his engineer 40, including the current cover feature in which is going to appear in the upcoming issue of Complex. While putting together the Complex’s Dec/Jan cover story “The Long Way Home”, the magazine reached out to 40 to talk about how things came to be. Specifically, how he wound up as the Quincy to Drake’s Michael, how the new album was created, how Toronto is reacting to his team’s success, and who the real godfather of Toronto hip-hop is.

In the rap world the perception is “where the hell have you guys been?” Before, you would have two years to sit with an album before you start anticipating another one. Have times have changed?

Yeah, it’s funny. I think it’s a generational thing for sure, as far as how far apart albums were. You know, when we grew up it was a different time. I remember artists putting albums out five years apart from each other, you know?

Now, of course if six months goes by there’s something wrong. That obviously has to do with the Internet and the Google generation, you know things coming with immediacy—there’s a lack of patience. But also people like Jay and Luda putting albums out every fucking eight months for a while there.

Yeah Jay was dropping something every summer.

Even Ye. People just started putting out albums back to back to back. And they created sort of a stigma in the industry where it was like, “That’s the way it works.” And especially for new kids growing up and living with that mindset and seeing that, they expect it right away.

And with Twitter everybody knows what people are doing, and they’re saying, “What are you doing? How come you’re not in the studio working?”

One of the funniest things—I feel like just over the last couple months, has it been long enough that Thank Me Later has been for me to actually stop and look at it and see what it was. Or see even what it is to me now, and listen to it now, and see what impact does it have or how it sounds.

It was hard for me to analyze it over the last year because we’ve been in it. And to just now stop and look at it is like, you need that time. So I think that it’s unfortunate even as an artist that you don’t have the time to sort of absorb your own material and see how you should move forward.

Do you think that had any affect on the way this album came out?

If six months goes by [without new music] there’s something wrong. That obviously has to do with the Internet and the Google generation—there’s a lack of patience. But also people like Jay and Luda putting albums out every fucking eight months for a while there. Even Ye. People just started to put out albums back to back to back.
No, no, I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying like more generally. That’s my perception of the way the industry works as a result of people wanting music so quickly and having iTunes and having Spotify and getting something instantly. You know? Of course there’s leaks and things like that, and people putting out their own music for the sake of satisfying their fans. But I just mean like in general.

I think this album is fantastic. I think this is Drake’s best album. I think it’s a growth for both of us. Especially for him, lyrically and musically. I think we did things that we’ve always wanted to do on this album—like maybe a bit better than before.

I’m super-excited about the record. Like I wouldn’t even remotely begin to suggest that anything had an impact on it due to the fact that we turned it around, or started working on it, immediately after [Thank Me Later] was finished.

But I think just in general—you know what I mean? People like Drake will never have an opportunity to know what it’s like to take time putting out records. I mean, when we put out Thank Me Later, it must have been less than three weeks went by before we were back in the studio working on Take Care.

And he didn’t want to stop. He can’t because he knows that the fans want music. And if he knows the fans want music, he’s trying, he’s working, he’s in a studio. You know what I mean? Like, there will be no negative impact on him. Him? He doesn’t know no different. He’s just hungry. He just wants to work. He just wants to make the music.

But for me, who’s in a bit of a different position because I’m not actually the artist but I’m still deeply immersed in the project… I sometimes stop, and I’m like, “Man, it’s unfortunate.” Because I don’t want to feel rushed. Like, let’s make music because we want to make music. Let’s never make music because we’re feeling the pressure of the world. You know?

But there’s two sides to that story. One is to look at it from that point of view. And the other is to look at it from the point of view of, like, Man, he’s so driven, and he feels that pressure, and it drives him, and he makes better music.

When he sees some stuff on the internet, it’s like, Man, he goes to the studio and works. And that’s where that comes out. And it’s the greatest feeling in the world getting that stuff back.

So whatever the case may be, it’s all motivation at the end of the day. It drives him to work harder and to develop his music faster and more powerfully. But just as a fan moreso, that’s what I’m saying.

I hate that the industry has done that to everybody, to all artists. I wish people could take more time. I came from the days of, like Metallica put out an album every five years. They were touring man. They don’t go right back to the studio like that.
As someone who stands back as a fan, it’s almost like, “Man, I hate that the industry has done that to everybody, to all artists. I wish people could take more time.” I came from the days of Metallica putting out an album every five years. They were touring man. They don’t go right back to the studio like that.

Yeah, world tours. They were living life.

It’s a different genre of music, but it’s a great case in point.

What are the differences in the process of making Take Care versus Thank Me Later?

Frankly, we had a little bit more of an opportunity to stay home this time. And that made it feel a little bit more like So Far Gone as far as the process was concerned. Also Thank Me Later being our first major-label project, we really were more restricted than we are now.

We have a lot more samples and a lot more sort of brazen things we’ve done with this record than we did on Thank Me Later—and made it again closer to So Far Gone as far as the fact that we really didn’t have any limits. Like we could kinda do whatever we want.

With Take Care, we kinda got ourselves in the place where we can do whatever we want again. Not to say we didn’t do what we wanted on Thank Me Later. But you know, it wasn’t in our interest to make a record like Take Care at that point.

What kind of record is Take Care?

I really think it’s part of Drake’s story. And it’s such a moment in our journey. You know? Like, it’s another segment. I listened to it for the first time front to back the other day and it’s a real experience. It’s a real story. Something you can really pay attention to. There’s a lot of substance and context to it.

So what it is to me? It’s like, it’s us. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s just us. It’s what we feel. That’s the reason we make music. It’s rare that we make music because we’re trying to accomplish something. Moreso we’re just in the studio just sort of saying what’s on our minds if you will. So that’s the best way for me to describe it. Maybe on Thank Me Later we were more making a little more music. I think this one is just us.

Continue Reading at Complex.

The last couple days have been busy here at TTE. But when you put it in to perspective to what Drake is going through with the release of his sophomore album, we’re sure it’s not that bad in comparison. We posted up the two covers for the December/January issue of Complex magazine earlier today. For obvious reasons we took time to make sure the Paula Patton feature was done just right. Now it’s Drizzy’s turn.

Drake isn’t happy. Not in an existential way or anything. He’s not upset about the direction his life is heading, or about the subliminal potshots rappers keep sending his way. Nah, he’s unhappy with how his photo shoot for this magazine is going down. Which is surprising because it’s a bright, unseasonably warm October afternoon in downtown Toronto, and things were going so well.

We’re perched on the roof of the posh Thompson Hotel where Drizzy’s being photographed overlooking his city like a feudal lord surveying his kingdom. To his left are cranes modernizing the largest city in Canada. To his right is the Rogers Centre, the convertible stadium seen in his “Headlines” video.

Suddenly Drake tells the photographer to stop and calls for his manager, Oliver El Khatib, 25, co-captain of the creative team October’s Very Own. Canceling a cover shoot at this stage would be a serious waste of time and money, but Drake doesn’t give a fuck. He wants things done his way or not at all.

Drake doesn’t want to keep shooting with this photographer. He’d rather get Hyghly Alleyne & Lamar Taylor—the same young Toronto dudes who shot the “Headlines” video—to finish the job. Never mind the fact that the first photographer is also a young cat from Toronto who’d been approved by Drake’s management and publicists.

“I’m not going to take that shit,” Drake says when I ask him later what went wrong at the shoot. “Nah man, I work too fucking hard for that. So does everyone around me.” Drake doesn’t often yell, even when he’s riled up. When he wants to emphasize a point, he focuses his stare and slows his speech so it’s clear. “Not to hate,” he says, “and to whoever I snatched that opportunity from, I apologize. But this is about what we’re trying to build here.”

What Aubrey Graham, 25, and his OVO crew are trying to build here is— excuse the cliché—a Toronto movement.

I just feel like I’m really good right now. I’ve never felt like that before.
“For Drake we have these budgets where we can do videos and shoot photographs by whoever the fuck we want, the hottest guys in New York or L.A.,” Oliver explains. “But I’d rather take Hyghly and Lamar, two kids who are 20 years old… I’d rather build up their portfolios and help them get on and do this video. So now they’ve done ‘Marvin’s Room’ and ‘Headlines,’ and hopefully they can do more videos. They shot all Drake’s album artwork.

“We have this little fun factory in Toronto where there’s music being made, there’s art being done, videos being made, we’re starting to work more on our clothing,” Oliver says. “It’s kind of fun, you know? We’re giving opportunities to kids who deserve it… It’s different because everything we’ve done has worked.”

“There used to be a conversation in the Toronto hip-hop scene,” says producer Noah “40” Shebib. “You would [ask] on a regular basis: Who do you think is goin’ to do it? Do you think it’s even possible? Do you think a Canadian rapper could ever blow up in America? That conversation doesn’t get had anymore.”

Since breaking into the mainstream with So Far Gone, the 2009 mixtape that became his hip-hop baptism, Drake has positioned himself as one of music’s premier players. This coup was facilitated by his alliance with Lil Wayne, who damn near kidnapped the young Canadian, taking him on a nationwide tour before throwing him on numerous tracks. When Weezy reported to Rikers Island in March 2010 for an eight-month bid, Drake and his fellow Young Money/ Cash Money signee Nicki Minaj stepped up as the label’s primary breadwinners. His moody, emotionally honest debut, Thank Me Later, hit No. 1 on Billboard, selling 447,000 in the first week, and birthing three Top 20 hits.

Drake’s introspective, self-effacing lyrics—usually delivered in clever, succinct couplets—reveal the inner machinations of many dudes in their mid-twenties: the quest to live life to the limit, not just survive a nine-to-five; the balance of carnal desires with sincere compassion for women’s feelings; the struggle to act responsible when all you want to do is blow your paycheck on lap dances, liquor, and weed.

Continue Reading at Complex.

We have said time and time again, nobody is doing the cover art direction like Complex magazine’s Brent Rollins. For the end/beginning of year issue, the current artist of the moment Drake takes prescience as the obvious choice for the cover. Drake’s Take Care is officially available for purchase today and is currently in serous consideration for Hip Hop Album of the Year.

Paula Patton has long been a favorite of ours. Not only is she absolutely stunning, talented actess but she also happens to be married to soul sensation Robin Thicke. As her first main feature since coming back from giving birth to her first child, the Los Angeles native is featured in a sizzling shoot from photographer Thierry Le Gouès and an interview with Complex’s resident film buff Matt Barone. The cover story shows the actress’ newly confident, ultra-sexy side. The two choices for the cover couldn’t be much better.

Yesterday we posted up the fantastic interview done with Drake’s engineer Noah ’40′ Shebib. Today GQ magazine sits down with the man himself to find incite into Drake’s classic sophomore release Take Care. We also mentioned yesterday that we here at TTE feel a deep connection to Drake as an due to our own founding of our website, just as Aubrey was getting ready to release his breakout project So Far Gone. In the interview with Gentleman’s Quarterly, Drake Talks the album title, Andre 3000, and being called emotional.

Ninety-nine percent of people who listen to hip-hop have never sold drugs. But one-hundred percent have had their heartbroken. In the span of just three years, Drake has captured the temperament and thoughts of that generation. There are thousands of people, perfect strangers to Drake, convinced that songs like “Marvins Room” or “Trust Issues” were written about their lives. But they’re actually true tales of a romantic trapped in a superficial world. Ever since Take Care, his third album (we know you think it’s his second but he classifies So Far Gone as an album, not a mixtape—and so do we, so kick rocks) leaked this week, the response has been, well, massive. Drake gave us the back-story on the album’s title, how it stacks up against his other albums, and the real meaning behind some of your favorite Drizzy lyrics.

GQ: It seems like the world is excited.
Drake: [Huge smile] Yeah, man, I hope so.

GQ: You announced the title of this album, Take Care, with us back in December. What does it mean?
Drake: No one has actually asked me that yet. I came up with the name when I was on a bus in Birmingham, England, going to a show. “Take Care” is this thing we use in passing conversation to dismiss bullshit like, “Oh, you couldn’t make it on time? Oh, take care, take care.” We’ve always used that and then I really took so much care making this album. I knew I was going to go home and take longer than six months, I knew that I was literally going to take care of making this project and be attentive, be clear, be immersed in it. “Take Care” worked.

GQ: You seem more excited releasing Take Care than you were with Thank Me Later. Do you have any regrets with your last album?
Drake: No, I never regret. It did amazing things for my career and as a sonic composition, I’m still proud of it. It was just very weird to make an album, for sale, in four months on a tour bus. It wasn’t So Far Gone. So Far Gone was my first album, so I felt like it was unfair to me. Like damn, I just made So Far Gone. Now I have to come right back out with another piece.

GQ: And that is what people were going to call your first album.
Drake: Right! This is what people are going to call my first album when really [So Far Gone] was my first album. I shouldn’t have to rush this because I just gave you a body of work. Give me a minute. So I made Thank Me Later and it did great for me but you’re right, I was immediately on to my next one.

GQ: So what’s different now?
Drake: I’m going to make this a moment for myself. I followed through on my vision…even the songs that are out now like “Trust Issues”and “Club Paradise,” “Free Spirit,” “Headlines,” “Make Me Proud,” “Marvins Room,” “The Motto,” I’m all very proud of. That’s an album in and of itself and I have nineteen more songs to give you on November 15th.

GQ: So rank them, if you will, best to worst: So Far Gone, Thank Me Later, and Take Care…
Drake: It’s hard for me to put So Far Gone second because it’s the first time anyone ever really paid attention or heard me. But I’m going to be honest with you, Take Care, then So Far Gone, then Thank Me Later…

GQ: Some of the features on this album are crazy. Wayne, Nikki, Rihanna, some unknown guy named Andre 3000…
Drake: He murdered that shit! He killed it and 40 switched the beat, it’s nasty. I didn’t get to see him record, but speaking with him was great and we even spoke about projects beyond “The Real Her.”

Continue Reading at GQ.

We here at TTE have always felt a certain level of pride for Toronto’s Drake. Yes there is an obvious Canadian connection we feel but it is more than that. As a site founded in late 2008 – early 2009, Aubrey’s classic release of So Far Gone was the first project we felt we really were ahead of the curve in supporting. When we were just figuring out this whole blogging thing, we were firmly behind some of hip hop’s freshest talent such as Chip and Cudi, Wale, J.Cole and Big Sean.

One of the main reasons that So Far Gone and later on Thank Me Later worked so well was influence of 90′s era R&B. As a child of the early 80′s – who was undeniably reaching his impressionable peak in the mid 90′s – identified really clearly with Drake’s melodic creativity which was undeniably influenced by that very same era. It turned out to be almost no surprise, when finding out that Drake’s closet friend and musical engineer was sonically responsible for a good portion of our standout records on his early projects. On the eve of the release of Take Care, Noah ’40′ Shebib tells the stories behind the making of some of their most personal songs to one of our favorite publications GQ.

Drake’s music isn’t complex, but it is complicated. Steeped in warm, deep, dense beds, it’s closer in spirit to R&B than almost any hip-hop ever recorded. Wet, slapping drums; hazy synth tones; delicate, enveloping chords—it’s a sound that’s added a gravitas to the Canadian MC’s music. Drake feels important because his music sounds important. The primary architect of that sound, Noah “40″ Shebib, has worked closely with Drake, creating an unusual partnership. 40 is credited with production on only eight of the 17 songs on Take Care, Drake’s second full-length album, but as an engineer and sounding board, his fingerprints are everywhere—the expansive palette, the patience, and the dramatic flourishes at song’s end. They craft albums together.

The 28-year-old Shebib, a Toronto native with a background as a child performer, like Drake, has been beside him during the biggest moments of his career. I talked with 40 on the eve of the highly anticipated Take Care about their history and the stories behind some of their best songs.

GQ: Do you have a favorite song on Take Care?
Noah “40″ Shebib: There are 21 songs.

GQ: Is there one most memorable to you?
Noah “40″ Shebib: [sighs] Um… it’s like trying to pick your children. “Look What You’ve Done” is a memorable moment for me on the album—it’s about his mother, his uncle.

GQ: How did that come together?
Noah “40″ Shebib: It was produced by Chase N. Cashe.

GQ: Will you know when he has to get something off the chest? Or will he just go in the booth and do what he does?
Noah “40″ Shebib: I’ll probably know.

GQ: Do you guys ever figure it out?
Noah “40″ Shebib: 100%. There’s always a conversation. Wait, “Marvin’s Room” is my favorite off the album! It came from the same place I’ve been talking about, where we make a real fuckin’ R&B record and do what we enjoy. It was a cool, different sound and had a different edge to it production-wise and pushed him musically and the writing was phenomenal and the concept and the feel of the conversation. I enjoy creating a moment and treating it like a film does, you want to say “Fuck you,” but yeah, you want it to take you somewhere. That type of fury and emotion, there was something about that record that captivated me. That record is gold as of today, half a million singles of a record like that in today’s day and age is impressive. That’s an important record for me, if I’m going to push my chest out, yeah sure, I love that record.

GQ: Do you see yourself ever trying to step forward and work more visibly with other artists?
Noah “40″ Shebib: No. One thing I’m interested in doing and one thing only.

GQ: What’s that?
Noah “40″ Shebib: Developing software and plug-ins. It’s been a passion of mine for a long time and I’m already under way with all that and developing my own plug-ins and all that. Trying to do everything from processing to creation of music. The name is TBA. I know what the plug-ins do and what to bring to the table, I just haven’t got as far as naming the entire package. I’m in a good position as far as a lot of people put my name with being an engineer as well as a producer. I work with a guy named Les Bateman here in Toronto and Gadget, and between those guys I have such a wealth of talent and plethora of ideas that I want to be able to make available to the rest of the world. I’m focusing some energy on that and on music.

GQ: It seems like this is an exciting moment for engineers in music. On Watch the Throne, we hear Noah Goldstein’s name on a few tracks—to an engineer, does it feel like an engineer’s moment?
Noah “40″ Shebib: Is it happening? I’m not in a good position to know. Well, okay. There is the one notorious hip-hop engineer: Guru. Everyone knew Guru. Everyone knew Jay had an engineer named Guru. Of course, you aspire for that at some point and it’s a combination of things. My name, 40, this nickname I got, it was cool to say. It was a tough one, and my name is awesome ironically enough, though I’m Lebanese, not Israeli. It was a cool name to say. Quick, easy, cool thing to say. And really as far as Drake shouting me out all the time, it was just me and him. It’s not too often that an artist comes into the game with an engineer. We had this bond between artist and engineer that not a lot of people had. I knew how to mix records but I was willing to go the extra mile as far as, “Just me and you, let’s do this.” I guess he embraced me as an engineer which is unusual. I remember running into Ice-T one time and he’s there with Coco, and we’re walking up and he sees Drake, and this is the first time we met them, and they gave him mad respect and then Ice-T goes, “Yo. 40.” [Laughs] “The love you guys show each other all the time, I fucking love that. I fucking love you motherfuckers.” There was something about that, something humble and honest about our relationship and how long we’ve been together, and then my name, sure. People knowing who engineers are these days, shit… Guru is the coolest motherfucker in the world. Other than that, it’s a matter of technology and the world we’re in today and we live in the world where a laptop can create a career for somebody. We made “Best I Ever Had” on a laptop in a hotel room. When that becomes a reality, artists realize the solution might not be a record label or a manager, they need someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing on the programs and then they can distribute it on the Internet. The bond between engineers and artists is really valuable for both of them. I produce, but I’m also interested in Physics and I play the piano. I think a lot of engineers are shortcutting these days, but if you find someone who knows what’s up, that’s all you need. They’ll take you from 0-100. The cost is the cost of a MacBook and making sure you’re happy and they believe in you.

Continue Reading at GQ.

2DB. First single coming from Pimp C’s final album. Thank Us Now

Download audio file (Pimp_C-What_Up_Feat_Drake__Bun_B-2dope.mp3)

Download: Pimp C – What Up feat Bun B & Drake (Produced by Boi 1da)

Here is the first bit of artwork from Weezy’s upcoming I Am Not A Human Being EP

Download audio file (Lil_Wayne-Right_Above_It_f_Drake1.mp3)

BIRDMAN SHOWS OFF OCTOBERS VERY OWN JACKET GIVEN TO HIM BY DRAKE from DERICK G on Vimeo.

Baby shows Derrick G a little gift he got from Young Money’s newest Platinum success