What’s poppin yall, the OVO sweatshop is a name that I don’t know exactly where it
originated.
Akademiks popularized it but I’ve seen people refer to OVO as a sweatshop multiple times
before that but it’s used to refer to how Drake allegedly treats the signees on his
record label.
Many people believe they are just there to give him their best work and help him make
music to elevate his own career as opposed to doing what a label usually does and focusing
on making each artist as successful as they possibly can.
Nobody on OVO is anywhere near as popular as Drake or even sell a 10th of what he sells
and all of his signees seemingly came out of nowhere.
It’s like OVO was a talent search, they scoured the internet for artists who were
talented but unknown and had 0 funding and they would sign them to work countless hours
producing music that Drake would take credit for.
OVO Sound was formed in 2012 by Drake, his best friend and main producer Noah Shebib
also known as 40, and his manager Oliver El-Khatib.
It’s under warner brothers and where the first rumors of Drake using lesser known artists
came from would be Abel Tesfaye, or as we better know him The Weeknd.
Now The Weeknd was never signed to OVO which makes this all the more interesting because
the weeknd had songs popping off online and on myspace before he had even showed his face.
Three songs that were released at the end of 2010 and early 2011 were Loft Music, The
Morning, and What You Need.
Drake put these up on a blog post of his and got them receiving media coverage from different
blogs but more importantly it was what built their relationship.
Drake wasn’t the behemoth in the industry he is now at that point but he was big, he
was signed to Lil Wayne and had the success of the single Best I ever Had, the EP So Far
Gone, and his debut album Thank Me Later.
The Weeknd would do performances around Toronto after the release of his classic project House
of Balloons in March of 2011, one of which Drake showed up to and gave him the proposition
of working on music together.
He accepted and Drake took him on tour letting him open up for him and during this time he
got a lot more popular in the mainstream audience.
The Weeknd wasn’t doing any interviews and just went to social media when he would release
a new project, but in this time would be close to Drake and contribute to his second album
which many of his fans consider his best, Take Care.
The Weeknd would be featured on Crew Love but receive credit for a handful more tracks.
We wouldn’t find out until years later though that The Weeknd had given half of his OWN
album to Drake for Take Care and it was stated that he contributed much more than what he
was publicly credited for on that album.
This all happened before OVO Sound was established and what Drake thought would happen would
be the weeknd signing to him but in a huge plot twist, The Weeknd signed to Republic
Records and started his own label XO.
Drake fans at the time thought this shady and messed up because of how much Drake did
to build The Weeknd for him to just sign to a different label but we’ve seen that it
was the best thing he could have done.
The Weeknd now rivals Drake in musical success and on the charts, he’s a superstar and
nobody from the OVO camp even comes close.
3 artists that would be signed to OVO in 2013 would be Majid Jordan and PARTYNEXTDOOR.
They first came to be widely known for their part on Drake’s Nothing Was The Same Album
on the track Hold On We’re Going Home.
This was most people’s first introduction to the duo and finding music of theirs was
difficult.
Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman were both studying at the University of Toronto, they
met at a bar where Majid was celebrating his 21st birthday where Jordan crashed it and
told him how he made music and Majid had taken a break from making music but they decided
to link up and work on music at Jordan’s dorm.
They were under the name Good People on soundcloud and released an EP Afterhours that was discovered
by 40, in the summer of 2012.
40 e-mailed Majid asking to meet who was already back in Bahrain at the time, he graduated
from school and he didn’t know who he was so he talked to his father who looked him
up and told Majid to take the opportunity.
The OVO sweatshop thing isn’t an exaggeration though; Majid Jordan said while they were
working on Nothing Was The Same it was like a studio camp, with tents INSIDE and people
flying in, they can’t tell anybody what they’re working on.
Majid would write the song Hold On produced by Paul Jeffries the same guy that produced
Hotline Bling and an important name in the OVO camp we’ll get to later..
Now this whole story just reads like a fantasy, some Harry Potter or Game of Thrones type
stuff.
Every artist just dreams of releasing something on soundcloud and then one of the biggest
producers in the game hits you up, but the question thats been stuck in my mind is how
the hell did 40 even find these guys?
Were they buzzing in Toronto?
They didn’t have much material online either.
This is a common theme that goes on in OVO, and happens with most of their signees or
people that they cosign.
The first artist to be signed to OVO was PARTYNEXTDOOR another artist from Ontario Canada back in
2013.
He would release his classic self titled debut project under that moniker.
Now how he got here with such a polished project that sounds much different from his previous
works is a hard story to make out entirely when it comes to the details.
He was making music for a while and uploading it online but under the name Jahron B which
is his real name Jahron Brathwaite.
He got a deal with Warner as a songwriter before he ever got signed to a deal which
we get no details on, I feel that’s something many people would like to know how it happens
and the process behind it.
But the way he got linked up to Drake was that one of his old producers Jordan Evans
showed party’s music to producer boi1da who is on OVO who forwarded the music to 40
and he liked it enough to show it to Drake.
Partynextdoor’s sound would be copied by people like bryson tiller and to this day
he’s the most successful out of the OVO camp; he’s had a #1 single that he wrote
for Rihanna, work.
But he’s also had spurts where he randomly alludes to being in a label situation he doesnt
like and that he’s being used and should be a lot more popular than he is.
There’s some legitimacy to what he’s saying, perhaps he could be promoted more but he’s
never anywhere that can keep his name talked about all the time.
We know almost nothing about him, he avoids doing any interviews, don’t know anything
about his personality and he’s signed to Drake so maybe his best music is given to
him.
The frustration seemed to be rising even more when he got enough of the money from writing
hits and wanted to be the one that gets the credit and accolades in public too.
This is a normal thing to seek as an artist, eventually the money isn’t enough but he
probably looks at the success bryson tiller is having who had supposedly received offers
from OVO and The Weeknd who he sees himself as being in their position.
It’s hard to gauge his feelings about his label situation because they’re always changing;
Drake knows how to keep his workers in line that’s one thing we know for certain.
OVO loves to rebrand artists as well, partynextdoor had a new name and his old music was removed
from the internet and it wasn’t until later that it would resurface from the small number
of people who put together that he was Jahron B along with some funny conspiracy theory
that thought he was lying about his age and he was 8 years older than he claims.
OVO did the same thing when it came to Roy Woods.
Another artist from Ontario, Canada, Brampton to be precise but later moving to Toronto
the first most of us heard of him was through the EXIS ep which he was already signed to
OVO and had a Drake feature on it.
The first question is where the hell did this kid who was 18 at the time come from?
The first song Drama was played on OVO sound radio and when everyone looked him up there
was nothing on his soundcloud and they had basically scrubbed his musical history from
the internet as well.
Roy was making music and only had a small buzz, he was also a good football player and
the song that really got him on OVO’s radar was this song Murda he did that he got DeJ
Loaf to feature on.
He only had a manager at this time and this song would catch the attention of Oliver who
hit up Roy Woods and they would become friends, talking for months until the talks of signing
came up and Roy Woods jumped at the opportunity in 2015.
Roy has never really said anything bad, negative, or even showed discontent at his career or
what OVO is doing with his career.
He’s by no means a star but his music is great I like it, and he’s had moderate success
and I don’t know if he would be bigger elsewhere.
Plaza is another weird case, nobody even knew his identity for such a long time or what
he looked like.
I first found out about him through this fader article where he premiered the song Personal.
Apparently he had been releasing music one song at a time for his debut EP One, and built
a fanbase off that but that’s so hard to believe.
He didn’t show his face and had no connects but in one year with just a couple songs on
soundcloud he was able to build up a big enough fanbase that he was getting covered by Noisey,
Complex, Buzzfeed, and Fader?
He was signed and it was announced through OVO Sound Radio that debuted his second EP
Shadow.
He has some great music but doesn’t show his face or talk at all when it comes to social
media.
His music fits right into OVO and if you enjoy any of that Toronto type of sound like The
Weeknd back then his music will appeal to you.
Dvsn, this duo is doing really well for themselves right now and it takes us back to the producer
I had mentioned earlier in the video Paul Jefferies also known as Nineteen85.
Their songs were getting huge buzz when With Me was played on OVO sound radio and people
were wondering how many people were in the group, some thought it was 4, some said it
was 1, etc.
But we would eventually find out it was Nineteen85 and someone named Daniel Daley.
Now I don’t know how the hell nineteen85 found Daniel Daley and they’re not too interested
in doing interviews either and explaining how they met but regardless they’re having
success in R&B both projects Sept. 5th and Morning After have charted high on the R&B
charts.
Some are arguing they’re the best on OVO right now.
ILoveMakonnen was an interesting case to say the least and it makes sense why he didn’t
last long there.
First off he was the only person who was signed to OVO that wasn’t from Ontario, or even
Canada and he was very popular from his hit song Tuesday that Drake got on as a feature.
His personality was really…
out there compared to all the other signees and had a lot of complaints and eventually
just got dropped from the label altogether.
Drake probably just had enough of all the headlines he was bringing to his label and
the fact that he was a one hit wonder.
Baka Not Nice is the artist I would say that Drake put the most effort into pushing forward.
He’s also not like the other signees and was Drake’s bodyguard, close friend, and
got done serving time.
The first song we heard was his live up to my name song which took me by surprise, I
didn’t expect a song to be that good from someone who doesn’t make music.
Until we heard the reference track for it and Drake just gave him the whole song.
What a great gift to get when you come back home, a hit song.
It’s likely Drake has given him all of his music which I don’t think there is anything
wrong with but do we really believe that Drake has given ANYONE else a reference track that
are signed to him?
If anything it’s the exact opposite, they’re probably giving him the songs he has as hits.
But even underneath the people who are signed are people like Quentin Miller who we weren’t
even supposed to know about.
Quentin miller not only being the writer but as we would later find out giving reference
tracks to most of the songs on Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late album.
Mo G also another person who said he wrote for Drake but there’s no proof past the
fact that Drake not only took one of his dance moves but also shouted him out in a song;
ever since he talked about Drake the wrong way we haven’t heard a peep from Mo G. One
thing is for certain is that Drake has put on for Toronto, he’s been shouting out and
even chilling with a lot of the local Somali rappers one of which was Mo G, and put a spotlight
on their music scene that allowed me to find rappers like Pressa.
A valid criticism that Drake’s detractors have of him running his record label is that
it’s just a place where he signs very talented artists and uses them to continue to build
and maintain his own career.
He’s not interested in the business aspect of building stars on the roster and profiting
off of how well they do; just making sure he does well and his legacy is among the greats
which is why it hurt him so much that everyone doubts his lyrical ability since the ghostwriting
incident was exposed.
But OVO; the signed members at least are very private with everything in their lives and
that’s not what people like anymore, it’s rare that a superstar is like that.
The question becomes, does OVO attract people that are this private and prefer to just focus
on the music, are these types of musicians sought out by Oliver and 40, or are they forced
to become this way by the label so they can’t ever outshine Drake.
I would say it’s the first two, the only person on their current roster that’s even
provided good interviews if any interviews at all is Roy Woods.
But there is one counter-argument that’s always been in my mind and that’s The Weeknd.
He’s a dull personality, he would have fit right in to OVO, and he never does any interviews
but he’s a superstar.
Doesn’t that nullify the notion that you need to do interviews or have a social media
persona out there to be a successful artist?
Well yes and no; The Weeknd is probably the highest priority on his label, he’s not
signed to another artist so there won’t be that jealousy that’s almost ALWAYS there.
Jay-Z, Drake, most artist run labels are there to serve their own careers and RIck Ross might
have been the only exception to this where he elevated everyone around him.
Kanye West’s signees have done good for themselves as well but when we mention people
like Birdman, the music was always secondary to him he fell back real hard to focus on
Wayne, Nicki, and Drake and didn’t care for the music as much as the business side.
We need to be fair when it comes to our criticism as well; the weeknd changed his sound and
went pop, that’s what allowed for a lot of the mainstream success he’s having now
and when it comes to the OVO roster they’re on their own sound that’s more R&B but with
their own style that’s distinguishable from everyone else doing it.
Perhaps if they went a more pop sound they would have success but in their specific genre
they’re almost running it other than Tory Lanez and Bryson Tiller.
When people mention Rick Ross as being such a great label head and compare it to what
Drake is doing it isn’t very fair because Ross has signed rappers.
The only rapper that’s signed to OVO right now other than Drake is Baka and this past
year and a half he’s been doing GREAT.
We’ve seen what Drake can do to catapult rapper’s careers; he gave BlocBoy JB a top
10 hit off the strength of his feature alone.
Some might also say that Drake doesn’t sign rappers because he doesn’t want them to
be his competition; well then I don’t see why he would help people like blocboy because
he’s not even getting paid off his career as far as we know, at least the people he
signs he’ll be cutting a cut out of all their future earnings.
Another thing is our lack of information; only PND has had valid concerns and complaints
when it comes to OVO.
Makonnen was the only other one I know of that complained and that’s because he was
garbage.
But no OVO signees are complaining about money, PND was saying the checks are good he just
wants the recognition so maybe these artists that are signed while they may possibly be
creating all these hits for Drake are being compensated VERY well for their service.
And if that’s the case are they really in the sweatshop?
I bet nobody listening here would turn down a job at a sweatshop if it meant getting paid
a doctor’s salary.
But lemme know what yall think in the comments, like and subscribe and hit that notification
bell if you enjoyed, thank you for watching, peace!