Drake loves to play tastemaker, especially when he's broadcasting the up and coming sounds of his hometown for all of the hip hop world to hear. Social media and now OVO Sound radio are his primary platforms for spotlighting promising Toronto artists. Though in the case of social media, the spotlight is often less intentional, as his reputation is so high and his reach is so vast that any artist he casually mentions will likely double their followers immediately.
Looking at the rappers he's spotlighted as a whole could be viewed as a sort of composite, cubist musical self-portrait; in the rappers he spotlights, he sees himself.
Ramriddlz was getting some mild internet buzz for his catchy song "Sweeterman", which features some of the nastiest lyrics since Obie Trice's verse on "Drips." Leaked snippets from a Drake "Sweeterman" remix only fueled the buzz, and Drake eventually blasted the song out of the water by premiering his full remix on episode 1 of OVO Sound Radio.
Though he got cut out of the remix, the 21-year old Missassauga has ridden the Drizzy train ever since, linking up with fellow co-signee SAFE for "If I Told You."
Lais
Drake aired Lais sultry ballad "For You" immediately before he premiered "Charged Up" on episode 2 of OVO Sound Radio. Drake no doubt saw a lot of himself in the young Toronto crooner, who has a cohesive, mature sound and sings with an immaculate flow. Kind of like a jazzier Take Care-era Drizzy.
Lais has since dropped off "Rather Have You" & "Tell Me" this month. Stay tuned for Lais upcoming EP and stream his recent offerings below.
Roy Wood$ is poised to blow after signing to OVO, getting Drake to rap a verse on his song "Drama," getting two songs premiered on OVO Sound Radio, and finally dropping his 6-track EP Exis. An epic stretch by any calculation.
It's pretty clear what Drake and OVO see in Wood$ -- he has a powerful, crystal-clear voice that makes his verses just as memorable as his hooks. And he's still a youngin', only 19 years old, with plenty of room to grow as an artist. HNHH was lucky enough to snag an interview with him before he signed to OVO, check it out here.
SAFE
Since collaborating with OVO affiliate Eric Dingus a couple months ago, SAFE has been shouted out in a Instagram post by Drake and been spotted on the Gram more than once with OVO co-founder Oliver El Khatib. Unclear how he ingratiated himself with the OVO inner circle, but his Smokedawg collab "Hang" ended up airing on El Khatib's set on ep. 2 of OVO Sound Radio. He's since linked up with the aforementioned Ramriddlz.
Smokedawg linked up with his fellow Toronto bro Mo G for local breakout hit "Still," which features such memorable lines as "Switch it up to the left, like Ginobili" and "STILL BY THE RABBA."
OVO loves this cut -- Drake posted a clip from the "Still" video on Instagram with the the caption, "Ginobli dance all summer @bando416 #GinobliDance" before busting out the Ginobili dance in his "Energy" video, and El Khatib aired it during one of his OVO Sound Radio sets.
TPrime has been on the OVO radar for quite some time. Drake credited with him coining the term "the 6" in early 2014 when he posted an Instagram photo of the Toronto skyline with the caption, “I miss the 6!!! #Toronto #JimmyPrimeNamedIt #The6 #Home #SummerInToronto #Paradise.”
OVO premiered Prime's Eric Dingus-produced single "Pray" on their site around the same time, and the 6 God showed up at his "I Heard" video release party last November.
Get to know Prime with his recently released EP Block Boy.