22.02.12

But as Drake's birthday approached, the plan hit a snag. There were still samples to clear, masters to finish, producers to call. On Oct. 8, Drake took to his blog ( octobersveryown.blogspot.com ) to announce that the album wouldn't arrive until Nov. 15. "This music means too much to me to get attached to dates," he wrote in the post. The next week, Drake made his first appearance on "Saturday Night Live." He performed "Take Care's" top 20 hit, "Headlines," and was joined by Nicki Minaj for a performance of the album's second single, "Make Me Proud," which he had debuted just days earlier on DJ Funkmaster Flex's show on WQHT (Hot 97) New York.

 

"Make Me Proud" rocketed up the charts in the weeks after the "SNL" appearance, notching the year's second-greatest gain on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (94-44 on Nov. 5), lagging only behind the leap "Headlines" made on the Aug. 20 chart (98-38). The performance of "Make Me Proud" and "Headlines" is in keeping with Drake's command of the charts predating even the release of his Young Money/Cash Money/Universal debut, "Thank Me Later," last year; predating even the Young Money/Cash Money/Universal deal itself. I have so much music with 40 on this album. But somebody I'm eager to work with more because of how incredible his contribution is to this album, and he's definitely one of the best producers doing it right now, is Jamie xx. He's on the album, but there are a couple beats that I had of his that I was sitting on, that I might go in on now, even if it's just a bonus track. Other than that, I kept it really in the family. Jamie's family, Just Blaze is fam, and then it's really just 40, and Doc and Ill Angelo, who produced the Weeknd, and T-Minus and Boi-1da, they're family. I'm hoping to go in and work with Alicia Keys, so I talked to Swizz [Beatz] about maybe getting some tracks from him, seeing where his head's at. I'm not really about the producer's name. I'm confident about the body of work I have -- 16 songs and two bonus records, so I'm hoping to get 17 songs on the disc. If I could add one more, give people like 15 new songs in one night, that would be my ideal goal. But as Drake's birthday approached, the plan hit a snag. There were still samples to clear, masters to finish, producers to call. On Oct. 8, Drake took to his blog ( octobersveryown.blogspot.com ) to announce that the album wouldn't arrive until Nov. 15. "This music means too much to me to get attached to dates," he wrote in the post. The next week, Drake made his first appearance on "Saturday Night Live." He performed "Take Care's" top 20 hit, "Headlines," and was joined by Nicki Minaj for a performance of the album's second single, "Make Me Proud," which he had debuted just days earlier on DJ Funkmaster Flex's show on WQHT (Hot 97) New York.

Source: Billboard