In a new book by John Seabrook, titled The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, a brief story of Drake‘s time as an alleged songwriter for Dr. Dre and Aftermath Records pops up, and even includes what’s apparently a quote from Drake regarding that time of his career.
It was some of the most strenuous militant shit I’ve ever done. But no useable songs came out of it. When I think of how he worked us, it’s no wonder he didn’t get anything out of it. It was just writers in a room churning out product all day long,” Drake told Seabrook about his time working with Dr. Dre.
DJ Booth conversed with Seabrook about his book’s revelation, and Drake reportedly referred to that time of his life as when he was “like 19,” meaning roughly 2005, which is when The Song Machine says Drake was paid $10,000 and lived in Oakwood Apartments, a known “rite of passage” of sorts for entertainers in their first Hollywood stint.
This just further validates Lil Wayne‘s claim on Drake’s “Ransom” that “me and both Drizzy both wrote on Detox,” and it’s not really that surprising when you think of it. It’s long been documented that there was a time when Dr. Dre was routinely recruiting the youngest, hottest artists in the game to make sure his oft-delayed Detox album didn’t sound like a dated mess when it was finally released–we now know of course that Dre scrapped that album, opting instead to drop Compton: The Soundtrack, a new album he crafted in more recent years with similarly young, hot artists. Still, it would be at least 3 years until Drake began making a name for himself on a national level, and his infamous mixtape-related Grammy nominations didn’t happen until 2010. Dre clearly knew something a lot of other people didn’t.
Also, it’s pretty fitting that as Apple Music began its quest to dominate the streaming world this past June, who were the two music people they threw boatloads of money at to assist? Dr. Dre, and Drake.
