S. Samuel
After Drake's in-house producer 40 recently revealed he is only allowed to work with Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, SOHH hit up hitmaking duo Tha Bizness to get their reaction on artist-producer allegiances.
From Henny‘s perspective, 40 and Drake’s long-time relationship and ability to brand one another is reason enough to secure their chemistry.
“I look at it like this,” Henny told SOHH speaking on 40 honoring Drizzy’s request. “You got cats who have done that and have been super successful in the last 10, 15 years with cats like Manny Fresh. He was pretty much Cash Money to the neck. And when you’re dealing with somebody like 40, he came in just being Drake’s righthand man from mostly being his engineer to helping construct all his ideas to helping him do his sound mixes. He’s just his overall go-to guy. So when it comes down to needing somebody’s help for that vision, to have that partner there to make things make sense, for 40, it could limiting him if Drake’s brand starts to decline as any big artist will as it simmers out. But right now, I would say it’s not a bad thing at all.” (SOHH)
Dow Jones believed 40 did not come into the music industry with Drake in order to break loose and become a world-renowned producer.
“You have to look at certain situations,” Dow added. “They both came into the game where nobody really believed too much into what they were doing. All they had were each other, so, they were able to maximize the resources that they had to the point where 40 is like he’s not really a producer, he just knows what needs to go where and how it needs to go. It started off with So Far Gone by taking samples and then being able to flip them in a way that would work and they just built off of that and little by little, they just started to create their own thing. It’s the relationship they probably have always had. 40’s probably looking at it as, ‘I didn’t get into it to be a producer and make beats, I just got into it because I believed in Drake and what we’re doing.’ Every situation is different, like when we came in, nobody really wanted to believe what we had. So we’ve been having to earn our stripes, song for song, artist by artist.” (SOHH)
Dow also said he felt what Drake and 40 were doing with their brand is something which is actually benefiting hip-hop culture.
“In this day and age it’s so dope and refreshing to have an artist really embrace and covet the talents of one producer because everybody is unloyal and artists just try and chase the producer that did the latest hot song rather than doing their homework and picking beats and producers that fit their style/project,” Dow explained. “That’s why so many songs and albums sound the same because everybody is trying to copy the last man’s road to success where Drake and 40 were like ‘we don’t care what’s the in thing to do, we are going to do us. We believe it’s dope and hopefully the public will too’. And guess what, they where right on the money! So why would you wanna deal with a whole bunch of artists that don’t care about you, they just wanna milk you to remake the last hit record you did? That sh*t’s wack, so we salute 40 and Drake for being true to each other and the plan they had from day one!” (SOHH)
According to 40, Drake only permits him to currently do records for Jay and Weezy.
“At this point in time the only rappers I have any interest in working with outside of Drake are Wayne and [Jay-Z],” 40 revealed in an interview. “And that’s from Drake’s mouth. I think Drake has been so instrumental in creating that sound that I have a commitment to him. If he doesn’t’ want me to give it away I won’t…My ambitions are to stay focused with Drake. When it comes time to develop another artist I’ll make that move…I feel blessed. I’m a kid from Toronto. I’ve been driving my mom’s station wagon for the last 8 years for real. I’m trying to make a career for myself and not flush it down the toilet.” (VIBE)
Check out footage of Drake & 40 below:
