10 Producers Drake Should Sign to OVO Sound

Now more than ever, electronic music producers are collaborating with rappers and singers at an increased rate. Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, Danny Brown, Pusha T, and many others have either been featured on original tracks or called in producers to work on their material. Whether it's bridging the gap between the EDM world and hip-hop or just making those worlds collide, these artistic excursions are only going to get more prevalent.

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Complex Original

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Now more than ever, electronic music producers are collaborating with rappers and singers at an increased rate. Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, Danny Brown, Pusha T, and many others have either been featured on original tracks or called in producers to work on their material. Whether it's bridging the gap between the EDM world and hip-hop or just making those worlds collide, these artistic excursions are only going to get more prevalent.

Surprisingly, many of these acts don't have their own homes where they can nurture artists and producers. Kanye might've broken the mold by signing Hudson Mohawke to G.O.O.D. Music, but with Drake's Warner Bros.-distributed OVO Sound imprint building a solid stable of artists (ILoveMakonnen, Majid Jordan, PartyNextDoor) and producers (Boi-1da, T-Minus, Noah "40" Shebib) that all seem to dwell in those gray areas of sound, we have a feeling there's room for some truly dope producers and sounds to be brought into the fold.

Joker

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While there's a lot of "purple" influence in hip-hop already, save for a few outliers, there seems to be little of the UK-styled purple making waves in US hip-hop. That said, Joker would be perfect to bring that surreal and psychedelic 8-bit sound to hip-hop and really take it to a new level. Surely, he can make amazing tracks outside of his purple sound like "Snake Eater," but a lot of his best work is purple. "Gully Brook Lane," "Digidesign," and "Psychedelic Runway" are amongst a long list of great tracks that could provide some sort of sonic template, and although he produces all of his own beats, if PartyNextDoor was looking to outsource that work, Joker would perfectly provide the soundscapes for the Tdot phenom's intense brand of bedroom beatery.

SBTRKT

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There's a precedent here for this one. Not only is SBTRKT already working in the hip-hop space with features from A$AP Ferg and Raury, but Drake actually hopped on the breakout single from the enigmatic producer's debut album, "Wildfire" and delivered straight bars.

James Blake

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I'm honestly surprised this hasn't happened yet. James Blake is clearly interested in working in hip-hop as he has done so already to an extent having worked with RZA, Chance The Rapper, and Trim. More then that, Blake offered up a crazy re-work of Drake's "Come Thru" and set the Internet on fire. Musically speaking, I think a combination of these two means the sky is the limit. The two are at the top of their respective games and could really find heaven in a combined futurisitic R&B/electronica/hip-hop space. Hopefully these two are already working.

S-Type

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Rumor is S-Type has made beats for Drake and Drake even liked those beats. For whatever reason, the beats weren't included on Nothing Was The Same, but these two could make some explosive future R&B and erupting trap heaters to get all those inner fireworks blasting off. S-Type often gets overlooked on the LuckyMe roster with HudMo, Baauer, and Lunice taking up most of the spotlight to date, but this Scot is truly an incredible talent.

Ta-Ku

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Ta-Ku stated his desires when he released "Closet Drake Fans." Flipping the wildly successful "Over," Ta-Ku delivered one of his highest energy joints turning out one feisty trap number for the club. Ta-Ku could deliver more of that, but he's definitely at his best when he's delivering his own dreamy bedroom ready beats and Drake is the best in the game for those.

Sweater Beats

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This Brooklyn-based beat maker has a great EP dropping on HW&W next week and has been touring with Chance The Rapper and Young & Sick across the nation. Sweater Beats is a rising star and his Cloud City EP will cement that and elevate him. Whether he's making warm fuzzy beats or crystal clear stuff like the EP's title track "Cloud City," this guy has a way of carving out a unique sound. In time, I think Sweaters could easily slip Drizzy a supersliding smooth cut for him and Jhené or RiRi or Tinashe. Hopefully that time comes soon.

Kingdom

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This Night Slugs mainstay has never been one to confine himself to specific genre styles. Though he can make a grip of styles, it's his releases like his Dreama EP where the possibilites really seem endless. The title track for one is a dark and foreboding track with a simple but beautiful and full sounding lead melody accented by pencil thin hi-hats and select sampling to flesh out one emotive, zen soundscape. Now as far as Drizzy goes, I hear this and I can perfectly imagine him in the midst of a surreal late night instance of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand he's plotting how he's going to win and the risks he'll have to take and on the other, how he's already winning and what he's already done to get there; all threaded together by narratives of his past flames and through a semi-reliable lens of self-vein and relfection.

Tennyson

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Drake always supports his crew so he should be on board with supporting fellow Canadians Tennyson. Tennyson (Luke Tennesy and Tess Pretty) at times wonderful combination of indie electronica and dark foreboding ambient, and others it's been neck-snapping futuristic beats. Drake and Tennyson could really result in a big thumping hitter or a sweet sad lullaby.

Lido

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Lido's next up, simple and plain. He worked with Cashmere Cat on Ludacris' "Party Girls" and Ariana Grande's "Be My Baby," and has churned out huge remixes of Disclosure's "Latch" and ZHU's "Faded." The Norwegian producer has a sound that is helping re-defie the crossover of pop, hip-hop, R&B, and downtempo electronica with infuences of trap and club music. Drake would absolutely relish his melodically rich yet hard-hitting beats and the result would be a spectacle. Now the true treat would be an album entirely produced by Lido.

Andrew Bayer

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Anjunabeats' own Andrew Bayer has a defined yet evolving sound that covers progressive house, trance, tech house, deep house, and downtempo beat music. His two albums have been his most hip-hop esque in style with sample-laden broken beats, but he also brings a poigant indie texture to his work that would be perfect for Drake's sadboy themes. If Bayer's working on more of his deep/progressive house and trance tip, perhaps he'd fit with Majid Jordan and they can deliver some super smooth four-to-the-floor grooves.

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