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OVO Sound
Parent company	Warner Music Group
Founded	2012; 7 years ago (2012)
Founder	Drake Noah “40” Shebib Oliver El-Khatib
Status	Active
Distributor(s)	Warner Bros. Records (In the US) WEA International (Worldwide)
Genre	Hip hop R&B
Official website	www.ovosound.com

OVO Sound is a Toronto-based Canadian record label founded by hip hop artist Drake, Oliver El-Khatib, and long-time producer Noah "40" Shebib in 2012.^[1] It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Warner Music Group's Warner Bros. Records.

The label has acts including Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan, OB O'Brien, Roy Woods, and dvsn, as well as in-house producers 40, Boi-1da, T-Minus, Mike Zombie, Nineteen85, Future the Prince and Popcaan.^[2]

History

Drake founded the label in 2012

The label's roots can be traced back to 2006, where 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". This was due to Drake's standing as an unsigned artist at the time, with subsequent releases published under the "October's Very Own" moniker. Drake would then raise the profile of the label by prominently featuring OVO throughout his music, regularly mentioning the label in songs, on stage as well as the distribution of OVO merchandise.

The record label was then officially founded in 2012, by Drake and long-time producer, Noah "40" Shebib, showing to the huge success of Drake's third studio album Nothing Was the Same. According to Billboard, Drake shortly signed a partnership deal with Warner Bros. Records with the label, in a deal similar to Rick Ross' to the record company. As 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 will still be signed as a solo artist to Republic Records through Young Money/Cash Money, but the artists he signs to OVO Sound will 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 (thus far the only signee 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 next to Mike Zombie. Makonnen would eventually leave OVO Sound in April 2016, wishing to pursue interest in sticking solely with Warner. Canadian rap artist Roy Woods, and R&B duo dvsn soon joined the label in 2015 and 2016, releasing an EP and studio album respectively. ^{[8][9][10][11]}

Roster

Current acts

Former Acts

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. Multi-platinum 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.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

OVO Sound Radio

OVO Sound Radio is a radio program that airs on Beats 1, fortnightly on Saturdays. The show primarily airs 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, Grammy nominated Back to Back, and chart-topping One Dance.

OVO Clothing

OVO Clothing was launched in 2011.^[27] 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.
Other collaborations with OVO have included Canada Goose, and Air Jordan.

Its pre-2016 collection was composed of basketball shorts, OVO jerseys, track jackets, and baggy hoodies.^[28]

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

EPs

References

External links

• Official website