OVO Sound

OVO Sound
Parent company	Warner Music Group
Founded	2012
Founder	Drake Noah "40" Shebib Oliver El-Khatib
Distributor(s)	Warner Bros. Records
Genre	Hip hop, R&B
Country of origin	Canada
Location	Toronto, Ontario

OVO Sound is a record label founded by rapper Drake, his longtime friend Noah "40" Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib.^[1] The label is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was created in 2012. OVO Sound consists of Drake and in-house producers 40, Boi-1da, T-Minus, Mike Zombie, and Nineteen85, along with recording artists PartyNextDoor and Majid Jordan. The label's releases are currently distributed by Warner Bros. Records (Warner Music Group).

History

Starting in 2007 Drake's early mixtapes such as Comeback Season and So Far Gone were released under the unofficial record label, "October's Very Own" as he was unsigned at the time. Drake then begun building up his October’s Very Own brand by shouting out to OVO on his songs, releasing music and selling OVO merchandise on their website. The record label was then officially founded in 2012 by Drake and Noah "40" Shebib. According to Billboard, Drake shortly signed a partnership deal with Warner Bros. Records for the label. Similar to how Rick Ross is signed as a solo artist to Def Jam and his artists on his Maybach Music Group label are signed to Atlantic Records (formerly signed to Warner Bros. Records), Drake will still be signed as a solo artist to Republic Records through Young Money/Cash Money, but the artists he signs to OVO Sound releases will be distributed through Warner Bros. Records.^[2][3]

Upon founding the label Drake and 40 signed frequent collaborators Boi-1da, T-Minus, and later Mike Zombie to the label as in-house producers.^[4] In late April 2013 it was reported that Drake was close to signing the label's first recording artist, PartyNextDoor, which he ended revealing shortly thereafter.^[5] In August 2013, Drake announced that he signed Toronto music duo Majid Jordan and producer Nineteen85 to OVO Sound.^[6]

Roster

Artists

• Drake
• Majid Jordan^[7]
• PartyNextDoor^[8][9]

In-house producers

• Boi-1da^[10]
• Mike Zombie^[11][12]
• Nineteen85^[13]
• Noah "40" Shebib
• T-Minus^[14]

OVO Fest

OVO Fest is an annual concert hosted by Drake in Toronto, Canada which began on August 2, 2010. The annual event is held on the Civic holiday long weekend, also known as Caribana weekend in Toronto, a popular Caribbean festival in Toronto. OVO fest is famous for the special guests Drake brings to his hometown of Toronto. The first annual OVO Fest on August 2, 2010 included Rick Ross, Bun B, Young Jeezy, Fabolous, Kardinal Offishall, Eminem, and Jay-Z.^[15] The second annual OVO fest in 2011 featured guests included The Weeknd, Rick Ross, Nas, J. Cole, Lil Wayne and Stevie Wonder.^[16] The third annual OVO Fest was on August 5, 2012 which included 2 Chainz, The Weeknd, ASAP Rocky, French Montana, Waka Flocka Flame, Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj.^[17] The fourth annual OVO Fest was held at the Molson Amplitheatre in Toronto on August, 4 and 5, 2013. The event was to be co-headlined by Frank Ocean, James Blake and Wale among the many special guests.^[18][19] Frank Ocean however had to pull out due to an injury to his vocal chords. Additional guests at the 2013 OVO Fest included The Weeknd, Big Sean, French Montana, ASAP Rocky, J. Cole, Ma$e, Diddy, TLC, Lil Wayne and a surprise final guest Kanye West.^[20][21]

Discography

• PartyNextDoor - PARTYNEXTDOOR (July 1, 2013) (OVO Sound)
• Drake - Nothing Was the Same (September 24, 2013) (OVO Sound/Young Money/Cash Money/Republic)

External links

• Official Website
• OVO Sound on SoundCloud

References