We’d dabble here and there, but that wasn’t my place. I didn’t step forward with my stuff for a very long time. Noah "40" Shebib: We started working together strictly on an engineer/artist basis. GQ: At what point did you start introducing your sound to Drake? I’ve been an Aaliyah fan since I was a kid-me and my sister-so that stuff comes up as well. Even on Take Care you’ll see a lot of ’90s R&B samples, you know? A lot of different artists from the R&B world of the ’90s-we’re trying to keep that prominent, like the last album with the Aaliyah stuff. Even Tank, that intro off Sex, Love, and Pain, that kind of slow R&B vibe that lasts, somehow a line came out of "Best I Ever Had." We’re always surrounding ourselves with music like that. It was everything from SWV and Jon B to Silk and Playa and any you could possibly think of. Noah "40" Shebib: I could go on forever, you know? I had a very distinct taste for R&B music, growing up listening to it my entire life and I love producing it first and foremost. GQ: What were some of the records you listened to and shared together? The timeline is laid out in the releases. There’s a transparency there where as soon as we discover the sound, the rest of the world heard it. The immediacy of how fast we create the music and it goes to the world, that’s never happened before, ever. " The Motto," a new single he leaked on the Internet, I finished mixing 48 hours ago. The crazy thing about Drake’s career is it happens quickly.
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I think, you know, " Successful" was the most significant turning point where he took one of my beats and worked on it, and that as well as the "Houstatlantavegas" moment where we discovered that sound, that abstract world we were taking rap music to, between me and him, and that was all pretty transparent. As far as me and Drake were concerned, we started experimenting with other songs that were very R&B. So, it was a couple years we had worked together and I think when he started venturing into R&B, the first one was " Brand New" which I didn’t actually write, D10 wrote the beat for it, but I worked heavily with them and helped him produce the record.
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Noah "40" Shebib: Good call, what was the Aha moment? We musically connected first with R&B. 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. 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. 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. The primary architect of that sound, Noah "40" Shebib, has worked closely with Drake, creating an unusual partnership. Drake feels important because his music sounds important.
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Wet, slapping drums hazy synth tones delicate, enveloping chords-it’s a sound that’s added a gravitas to the Canadian MC’s music. Steeped in warm, deep, dense beds, it’s closer in spirit to R&B than almost any hip-hop ever recorded.
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Drake’s music isn’t complex, but it is complicated.