Noah Shebib,, professionally known as 40, is a Canadian music producer, audio engineer
and mixer from Toronto, Ontario.
Shebib has produced for artists such as Drake, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Jamie
Foxx.
He has played a significant role in Canadian music artist Drake's success in the music
industry, and is one of his best friends.
He is known for his down-tempo and ambient style of production.
He is also co-founder of Drake's October's Very Own label.
Acting Noah Shebib began as a child actor, playing
roles in television shows and films.
His first role was in the 1996 “Go Eat Worms” episode of the Goosebumps television series.
He also played a consistent role on the Gemini Award-winning television series, Wind at My
Back.
His most well known role came in his teen years, where he was featured as one of the
lead males in the critically acclaimed The Virgin Suicides.
He also had smaller roles in The Last Don and Perfect Pie; the latter was his last movie
before he retired from acting.
Music career Early in Noah's career before he started crafting
beats, he DJ'd under the name DJ Decibel and performed alongside MC Elite.
Shebib eventually made the shift from DJ to music producer, working with local Toronto
artists like Empire, Knamelis, Christopher Morales, and Saukrates.
He earned the nickname “40 Days & 40 Nights” early on in his career, as he would work in
the studio throughout the night, with no sleep.
He began working with then Degrassi star Aubrey Graham in 2005.
He was shown producing with Drake on Degrassi Unscripted.
When Shebib first started working with Drake, he was originally just a recording and mixing
engineer, providing no songwriting or production input at all.
However after the third day of work, Shebib decided to build an exclusive relationship
with Drake, proclaiming that they were “going to take over the world together."
Shebib's big break came in 2009, when he executive produced Drake's mixtape So Far Gone with
Toronto-based producer, Boi1da.
He recorded and mixed every song off the mixtape, and also produced a few notable tracks such
as "The Calm", "Houstatlantavegas", "Bria's Interlude" and "Successful", all of which
ended up defining Drake's sound going forward.
He also worked on Drake’s debut album Thank Me Later, and sophomore effort Take Care.
On the latter, Shebib co produced almost every song, alongside his usual duties of recording
and mixing the entire album.
Shebib also produced the song "I'm Single" from Lil Wayne's "No Ceilings" mixtape, "Un-Thinkable"
for Alicia Keys and "Demonstrate" for JoJo.
Recently Shebib has helped produce Drake's newer material, co producing the lead single
"Started from the Bottom", among other records.
Shebib also worked on Drake's third album, Nothing Was the Same.
Sound Shebib is monumental in creating Drake's music,
and together their "atmospheric, brooding sound has revitalised hip-hop."
Shebib's production is described as “sparse, ambient, slow-jam-like tracks dominated by
brooding synths, minimalist piano or guitar parts, stripped-down, often muffled drums,
and cinematic atmospheric treatments."
An example is the song Marvin's Room, where Shebib mixed the record so that it is "very
dark and quiet and muddy and with the vocals cutting through like a razor" and is notorious
for being heavy on the low end.
OVO Shebib, along with Drake and Oliver El-Khatib,
founded the OVO record label in 2012.
Music produced under the imprint is uploaded to the label's blog site for streaming, before
the album is officially released.
One example is the single Marvin's Room, which was first posted to the blog site five days
after its conception, before it was even slated to be a single off the album.
Personal life In 2005, at the age of 22, Shebib was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis.
His personal story is featured on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website, where
he outlines his experiences with the disease, hoping that by creating awareness and “improving
connections and knowledge about MS, we can end the disease."
He is close friends with Drake.
Noah Shebib is of Lebanese and Scottish heritage.
Noah Shebib's mother, Tedde Moore, was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and she
too was an actor.
Discography
References