OVO Sound

OVO Sound is a Toronto-based Canadian record label, founded in 2012 by hip hop artist Drake, Oliver El-Khatib, and producer Noah "40" Shebib.[1] It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Warner Music Group's Warner Records, except for Drake's releases, which are distributed by Republic Records, a division of WMG's competitor, Universal Music Group.

OVO Sound
Parent company	Warner Music Group
Founded	2012 (2012)
Founder	Drake Noah “40” Shebib Oliver El-Khatib
Status	Active
Distributor(s)	Warner Records (In the US) WEA International (Worldwide) Republic Records/Universal Music Group (Drake releases only)
Genre	Hip hop R&B
Country of origin	Canada
Location	Toronto, Ontario
Official website	www.ovosound.com

The label represents acts including Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan, Roy Woods, OB O'Brien, dvsn, Plaza, Baka Not Nice, and Popcaan. In-house producers include 40, Boi-1da, T-Minus, Noel Cadastre, Jordan Ullman, Mike Zombie and Nineteen85.[2]

History

Drake founded the label in 2012

The label's roots can be traced back to 2006, when Drake's first official mixtape, Room for Improvement, was released under the unofficial record label "All Things Fresh" which eventually became "October's Very Own". Drake later raised the profile of the label by prominently featuring OVO throughout his music, regularly mentioning the label in songs and on stage, as well as promoting OVO merchandise.

The record label was officially founded in 2012 by Drake and long-time collaborators Noah "40" Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib following the success of Drake's third studio album Nothing Was the Same. According to Billboard, Drake signed a partnership deal with Warner Bros. Records similar to that of Rick Ross' record company. Though Ross is signed as a solo artist to Epic, the artists on Ross' Maybach Music Group label are signed to Atlantic Records, former partners with Warner. Drake is still signed as a solo artist to Republic Records through Young Money/Cash Money, but the artists he signs to OVO Sound have their content distributed through Warner.[3][4]

Upon founding the label in 2012, Drake and 40 signed frequent collaborators Boi-1da, T-Minus, and later Mike Zombie (the only active signee in the label to come outside of Canada) to the label as in-house producers.[5] In April 2013, it was reported that Drake was close to signing the label's first recording artist, PARTYNEXTDOOR, which he ended up revealing shortly thereafter.[6] In August 2013, Drake announced that he signed Toronto music duo Majid Jordan to OVO Sound.[7] OB O'Brien and iLoveMakonnen would soon sign in 2014, with the latter being the first non-Canadian act and second non-Canadian signee after to Mike Zombie. Makonnen would eventually leave OVO Sound in April 2016, wishing to pursue his interests as a solo artist with Warner. Canadian rap artist Roy Woods and R&B duo dvsn, composed of singer Daniel Daley and producer Nineteen85, soon joined the label in 2015 and 2016, with each act releasing an EP and studio album respectively.[8][9][10][11]

Roster

Current acts

Act	Year	Releases
Drake	2012	9
PARTYNEXTDOOR	2013	7
Majid Jordan	2013	3
Roy Woods	2014	5
OB O'Brien	2014	–
dvsn	2015	3
Plaza	2017	1
Baka Not Nice	2017	1
Popcaan	2018	2

Former acts

Act	Year	Releases
ILoveMakonnen	2015	3

In-house producers

OVO committee

OVO Fest

OVO Fest is an annual concert hosted by Drake in Toronto that began in 2010. It's held on the Civic Holiday weekend in the city, which coincides with the Caribana festival. OVO Fest is notable for the special guests that perform at the concert. Artists such as Eminem, Jay Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Nas are frequent performers, as well as artists who used the concert as a platform to gain future success, including J. Cole, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and Kendrick Lamar.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

OVO Sound Radio

OVO Sound Radio was a radio program that aired on Beats 1, fortnightly on Saturdays. The show primarily aired newer material, with at least one song premiering in each broadcast. The show's initial airing was on July 11, 2015, and it was hosted by Drake and Oliver El-Khatib. The show is notable for debuting hit Drake singles, such as platinum-selling "Hotline Bling", and chart-topping "One Dance". The show ended on October 27th 2018.

OVO Clothing

OVO Clothing was launched in 2011.[20] The series of clothing began with a series of collaborations between Roots Canada and OVO, which produced several parkas, jackets and other collaborations. In 2013, merchandise for the OVO figurehead included collaborations with the Toronto Raptors, which coincided with Drake becoming the franchise's Global Ambassador. OVO has since morphed into a clothing line in itself, releasing a slew of clothes during every season of the year. T-shirts, sweatshirts, varsity jackets, baseball hats, and knit beanies are seasonal installations. OVO Clothing oversaw the opening of a flagship store for the brand's clothing in downtown Toronto, opening in December 6, 2014. Exactly a year after the opening in Toronto, OVO stores expanded to the United States, opening a flagship store in Los Angeles, California. Its New York store opened in December 2016 on Bond Street, and its Chicago store in August 2019 on Walton Street in Gold Coast. OVO also opened its first location in Vancouver in December 2018.[21] Other OVO collaborations have included Canada Goose, and Air Jordan.

Its pre-2016 collection was composed of basketball shorts, OVO jerseys, track jackets, and baggy hoodies.[22]

Discography

Studio albums

Act	Year
Noah "40" Shebib	2012
Boi-1da[23]	2012
T-Minus[24]	2012
Mike Zombie[25][26][27]	2013
Nineteen85	2013
Eric Dingus	2014
Future the Prince[28]	2015

Artist	Album	Details	Peak chart positions		Certification
			CAN [upper-alpha 1]	US [upper-alpha 2]
Drake	Nothing Was the Same	Released: September 24, 2013 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic, OVO Sound Formats: CD, digital download	1	1	RIAA: 4x Platinum[39]
PARTYNEXTDOOR	PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO	Released: July 28, 2014 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	19	15	RIAA: Gold[40]
Majid Jordan	Majid Jordan	Released: February 5, 2016 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	20	69
dvsn	Sept. 5th	Released: March 27, 2016 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	69	133
Drake	Views	Released: April 29, 2016 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic Formats: CD, LP, digital download	1	1	RIAA: 6× Platinum
Roy Woods	Waking at Dawn	Released: July 1, 2016 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download	30	127
PARTYNEXTDOOR	PARTYNEXTDOOR 3	Released: August 12, 2016 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Formats: CD, LP, digital download	4	3	RIAA: Gold[41]
dvsn	Morning After	Released: October 13, 2017[42] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	19	38
Majid Jordan	The Space Between	Released: October 27, 2017[43] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	30	74
Roy Woods	Say Less	Released: December 1, 2017[44] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	26	92
Drake	Scorpion	Released: June 29, 2018 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic Formats: CD, LP, digital download	1	1	RIAA: 5× Platinum
PARTYNEXTDOOR	PARTYMOBILE	Released: March 27, 2020[45] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Formats: CD, LP, digital download	3	6
dvsn	A Muse in Her Feelings	Released: April 17, 2020[46] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: CD, LP, digital download	13	23
Drake	Certified Lover Boy	Released: TBD Label: Republic, OVO Sound Formats: CD, LP, digital download	-	-

Compilation albums

Artist	Album	Details	Peak chart positions		Certification
			CAN	US
Drake	Care Package	Released: August 2, 2019[47] Label: Republic, OVO Sound[48] Formats: Streaming, digital download	1	1

Mixtapes

Artist	Album	Details	Peak chart positions		Certification
			CAN	US
Drake	If You're Reading This It's Too Late	Released: February 13, 2015 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic, OVO Sound Formats: CD, LP, digital download	1	1	RIAA: 2× Platinum
Drake & Future	What a Time to Be Alive	Released: September 20, 2015 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic, OVO Sound, Epic, A1, Freebandz Formats: LP, digital download	1	1	RIAA: Platinum
Drake	More Life	Released: March 18, 2017 Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Republic, OVO Sound Format: Streaming, digital download	1	1
Popcaan	Vanquish	Released: December 20, 2019[49] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download	–	–
Drake	Dark Lane Demo Tapes	Released: May 1, 2020[50] Label: Republic, OVO Sound Format: Streaming, digital download	1	2
Popcaan	Fixtape	Released: August 7, 2020 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download	–	–

EPs

Artist	Album	Details
PARTYNEXTDOOR	PARTYNEXTDOOR	Released: July 1, 2013 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Majid Jordan	A Place Like This	Released: July 17, 2014 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
PARTYNEXTDOOR	Colours	Released: December 3, 2014 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
iLoveMakonnen	iLoveMakonnen	Released: December 15, 2014 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Roy Woods	Exis	Released: July 31, 2015 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
iLoveMakonnen	iLoveMakonnen 2	Released: November 20, 2015 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Roy Woods	Nocturnal	Released: December 21, 2016 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
PARTYNEXTDOOR	Colours 2	Released: June 2, 2017 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Plaza	SHADOWS	Released: June 10, 2017 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
PARTYNEXTDOOR	Seven Days	Released: September 28, 2017 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Baka Not Nice	4Milli	Released: August 3, 2018 Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download
Roy Woods	Dem Times	Released: May 15, 2020[51] Label: OVO Sound, Warner Bros. Formats: Digital download

Notes

1. References for Canadian Albums Chart[29][30][31][32][33]
2. References for Billboard 200[34][35][36][37][38]

References

1. "Drake's OVO Sound Label Teams Up With City of Toronto to Create Music Committee". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
2. "Drake Signs Popcaan To OVO". HotNewHipHop.com. December 23, 2018.
3. "Drake's OVO Label Flies To Warner Bros. Records - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. December 5, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
4. Ugwu, Reggie. "Drake's OVO Record Label Inks Deal With Warner Bros. | News". BET. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
5. "10 Artists That Should Sign To Drake's OVO Sound - Page 7 of 11 - XXL". Xxlmag.com. August 12, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
6. "Listen to PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake's New Artist Signing to OVO (Soon) - XXL". Xxlmag.com. April 22, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
7. "Drake Wants New Single To Be Played At Weddings". XXL.
8. On June 10th 2017, newest signee Plaza's project, Shadow EP, debuted on OVO Sound Radio episode 45. Gilmore, Mike (August 7, 1997). "Puff Daddy Cometh". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
9. Carissimo, Justin (October 24, 2016). "Drake announces 'More Life' project, shares four new songs on OVO Sound Radio". The Independent. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
10. Morgan Britton, Luke (October 24, 2016). "Stream three new Drake songs from 'More Life' project". NME. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
11. Willis, Jay (October 24, 2016). "Drake Just Dropped Four New Songs Off More Life as an Early Birthday Gift". GQ. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
12. "Eminem and Jay-Z join Drake onstage". August 2, 2010.
13. "Drake's OVO Fest Highlights feat. Jay-Z, Eminem, Young Jeezy and more (photos/video)". MissInfo.tv. August 2, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
14. "Drake's OVOFest 2011 With Lil' Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Nas, J.Cole, Rick Ross, and The Weeknd (Video)". MissInfo.tv. August 1, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
15. "OVO Fest 2012: Drake Shows Toronto Love with Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & More". Billboard. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
16. "Drake Announces 4th Annual OVO Fest Lineup". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
17. "Drake Just Announced That Wale Will Be Performing at OVO Fest". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
18. "Drake Is Bringing Out Everyone At OVO Fest Tonight". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
19. "Drake Brings Out Kanye West For OVO Fest". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
20. "How the OVO Clothing Label Evolved With Drake's Career". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
21. Rap star Drake’s streetwear brand to open Gold Coast store RYAN ORI, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, July 17, 2019
22. Rooney, Kyle (August 10, 2016). "OVO Apparel Line Pre-fall collection". Hotnewhiphop. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
23. "Boi-1da Shares Stories Behind Drake's "Started From The Bottom" | Rappers Talk Hip Hop Beef & Old School Hip Hop | HipHop DX". Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
24. "PartyNextDoor – PartyNextDoor | SOHH.com | 5 Reasons". Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
25. "5 Things We Learned From Drake's "Started From The Bottom"". February 8, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
26. "OVO Producer Mike Zombie Chats With Fans About Drake's Style, Advice from 40 | HHU | thehiphopupdate.com". Archived from the original on December 23, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
27. "Listen: Drake f/ Majid Jordan "Hold On We're Going Home" (Prod. by Nineteen85)". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
28. Nostro, Lauren. "A Guide to Who's Who in OVO". Complex. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
29. "Drake – Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
30. "PartyNextDoor – Chart history: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
31. "Majid Jordan – Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
32. "Dvsn – Chart history: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
33. "Roy Woods – Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
34. "Drake – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
35. "PartyNextDoor – Chart history: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
36. "Majid Jordan – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
37. "Dvsn – Chart history: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
38. "Roy Woods – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
39. "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
40. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Retrieved January 6, 2019.
41. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Retrieved January 6, 2019.
42. "Instagram post by dvsn • Aug 1, 2017 at 10:03pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
43. "The Space Between by Majid Jordan on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
44. "Instagram post by ROY WOOD$ • Aug 1, 2017 at 9:01pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
45. Minsker, Evan (February 28, 2020). "PARTYNEXTDOOR Announces New Album PARTYMOBILE, Shares New Song: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
46. Ivey, Justin (April 16, 2020). "dvsn Returns With 'A Muse In Her Feelings' Album". HipHopDX. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
47. Yoo, Noah (August 1, 2019). "Drake Announces New Care Package Compilation Album". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
48. "Drake Achieves Ninth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Care Package'". Billboard. August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
49. "Popcaan Releases New Mixtape Vanquish: Listen". Pitchfork.
50. "Drake's 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes': Stream It Now". Billboard. May 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
51. "Dem Times - EP". Apple Music.

External links

• Official website