Today marks the fifth anniversary of Drake's So Far Gone mixtape. The rapper's go-to producer and friend, Noah "40" Shebib, reminisces with XXL about the seminal tape in a track-by-track interview.
40 reveals that he never thought "Best I Ever Had" would be a big record and honestly, thought it was corny. "I didn’t know it was going to be big. I thought it was kind of corny. I thought it stuck out on the tape and I was a little nervous whether or not it should be on there," he shares. He adds that it was his sister who helped him discover the song's merit. "My sister is the one who hit me up and said, “Oh my God, that ‘Best I Ever Had’ song is amazing.' I was like, 'Wait a second, I didn’t even think you would like the mixtape, and that’s the song you like?'"
40 says that both he and Drake thought "Uptown" with Lil Wayne and Bun B would be the standout cut on So Far Gone and also explains that despite popular sentiment, Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak was not the driving influence on the tape (aside from "Say You Will"). "I wasn’t listening to 808s & Heartbreak when I was making So Far Gone. I was listening to Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and The Smiths and stuff like that."
[via XXL]
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