S. Samuel
With Drake's Take Care cruising past a million copies in just its first month in stores, contributing producer Noah "40" Shebib has reflected on how much creative freedom they have in the studio.
Although overseen by Birdman’s Cash Money and Lil Wayne‘s Young Money imprints, 40 claims there are no restrictions to how far they can take the music.
“What ends up happening a lot of times with our records is that, because I can do a lot of things in the studio, whether it be play instruments or produce or edit or run Pro Tools or edit vocals, whatever the case may be, I help him get out his ideas,” 40 said. “I think that’s the goal of any good producer, is to make sure the artist is delivering what they want. … We get to do what we want: We don’t have to clear it with the A&Rs or anybody. We are our own A&Rs. And that’s the greatest freedom you can possibly have in this business.” (MTV)
Last year, Birdman stressed the importance of giving his artists creative freedom.
“Whatever they bring to the table, whatever their vision is, [my role is] just to back it up and let them be the artist that they want to be and we support what they want to do,” Birdman said in an interview. “We never was [the type] to try to tell no [artist] how to do music, that’s not what we’re about. We like to let an artist be an artist and we support what they want to do.” (MTV)
Prior to debuting atop his competition, Drake said he was not concerned over his Take Care album sales.
“That’s the golden number for anyone,” Drake said when asked if a million copies in his first week is what he is shooting for. “I doubt that’ll happen. That’s some Lil Wayne, Eminem iconic sh*t. I don’t know if I’m there yet. Whoever goes out and buys it, I’m happy. I’d rather have great reviews than numbers. I’d rather walk out of my house and hear seven cars playing it than hear that I did 900,000.” (Billboard)
To date, the rapper’s sophomore album has sold over 1.2 million records.
Leading the pack this week is Young Money star Drake, as Take Care jumps three slots to No. 2 with 71,600 behind Adele’s 21 (144,200). According to Nielsen SoundScan, Drizzy’s sophomore album has sold 1,246,800 units after seven weeks in stores. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Check out a recent Drake interview below:
