Though no official announcement has been publicly made by iLoveMakonnen or OVO Sound, it appears the Atlanta rapper is no longer signed to Drake‘s Warner Bros. label. According to a report from Erika Ramirez–a former senior editor at Billboard—on Inverse.com, an unidentified rep with knowledge of the situation revealed that Makonnen is no longer on OVO Sound.
Though this may come as a shock to some, there were significant signs that Makonnen was distancing himself from OVO and Drake, the man who helped him rise to international fame in the fall of 2014. His most recent project, Drink More Water 6, was only listed under “2016 Warner Bros. Records Inc.;” OVO Sound wasn’t referenced at all. Drake himself hasn’t thrown support towards any of Makonnen’s official releases on Twitter and Instagram–like he does for other confirmed OVO artists like dvsn, Majid Jordan and PARTYNEXTDOOR in quite some time. Neither has the official OVO Sound account.
It’s unclear what exactly led to Makonnen’s reported break-up with OVO, but since 2014, OVO’s sonic direction has gone in a direction that wouldn’t appear to be conducive to the development of Makonnen’s psychedelic, high-octane, vacillating style of rapping and singing. Regardless, we’re expecting another project from the Atlanta rapper later this year, possibly his debut album, which has reportedly been worked on by Diplo, Rihanna, Skrillex, Snoop Dogg and more.
Of course, Makonnen originally signed to OVO Sound after Drake remixed his regional hit, the Metro Boomin and Sonny Digital-produced “Tuesday,” turning it into an international hit that reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and snagged a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.