Majid Jordan Talks Drake, Debut Album, & OVO Sound
OVO Sound’s Majid Jordan is opening up. The Toronto-based duo, who has kept a low profile, stopped by “Ebro in the Morning” for their first radio interview, where they discussed the life-altering success of their biggest song to date.
“We got into writing for Drake when we made ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home,'” said Majid Maskati. “That was our first song. It’s kind of crazy how our first song was a really big chart hit…It’s crazy even being here on Hot 97.”
Maskati, who hails from Bahrain, and Jordan Ullman, who’s from Toronto, first teamed up in 2011. Two years later, they worked with Drake on “Hold On,” which has become one of Drizzy’s biggest hits to date.
In July 2014, Majid Jordan released a five-track EP, A Place Like This, and now they’ve got their sights set on their self-titled debut, due Feb. 5 through OVO Sound.
Check out highlights from the interview below.
On Drake’s discovery: “We fell into the hands of Drake basically through SoundCloud. We released a project anonymously under the name Good People. [Noah ’40’ Shebib] heard it, passed it on to Drake.”
On a nearly-missed opportunity: “40 emailed me and I didn’t know who he was at the time and I ignored the email unintentionally. You know, in the music industry, you never know who’s reaching out to you. If it’s faceless, it’s hard to believe somebody.”
On working with Drake on Nothing Was the Same: “During that period of time, we were with Drake almost every day in the studio. There were different rooms. We would hover around different rooms. We’d go into 40’s room, he was tracking Drake…Nineteen85 was in one room. Everyone was in their little zone.”
On their OVO relationship: “The way we work is we respect 40 and Drake and Oliver [El-Khatib] and their knowledge in the industry… We take stuff to them and if it connects with them, we feel like it can connect with most people.”
On Toronto councilor/Drake defender Norm Kelly: “I don’t know what he does day-to-day, but he’s good at social media.”
On their dream collaboration: “Quincy Jones”