Before Drake dropped off his new Scorpion album Thursday night, various details about the project were surfacing online ahead of time, including the producer on his anticipated collab with Jay Z called “Talk Up.” It turns out Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul is the one responsible for the beat, and he chopped it up with Vibe on Thursday to talk about how the collab came together.
“I’ve been knowing Drake forever. He’s from Memphis, and I’m really cool with his father. Me and his father have the same attorney, we’ve hung out a million times. Real cool dude," Paul said. "We actually wrote a couple of songs together. We ain’t put them out yet, but we dibbled and dabbled with a couple ideas we’re putting together. He hit me up for a beat, which I couldn’t fucking believe. I got the message, and I was like, ‘what? Drake want some beats?’ So he hit me up for a beat, and it was a beat that me and my artist Twhy Exclusive produced. The song was actually my new single. Everybody’s been waiting on me to bring out my new single, but I was like ‘sh**, he can have this motherfu**er. Fu** that.’ Because I’ve got tons of beats, I can do that with my eyes closed. I sent it to him, and he loved it.”
Paul says he’s been a fan of Drake’s for a long time and always wanted to work with him. “I’ve been wanting to work with him for a while, but we never did anything. He’s a fan of my music, I’m a fan of his music,” he says. “He had my voice on his last album, from a BET skit. He had me on there talking. And on ‘Look Alive,’ he used some lines from us on that song. That’s a song we also spent money off of. I knew he was fucking with my stuff, I was fucking with his stuff forever. I always thought he was one of the best artists out, so it was perfect.”
DJ Paul also added that he wasn't aware Jay Z was going to be on it, and that he himself hasn't heard the full song yet. Paul said, “He [Jay Z] was added on later. … I haven’t even heard it, actually. I’ve heard pieces of it. I’m even excited about what’s about to go down. Drake is secret with it because he can’t release nothing like that. I’ve heard pieces, I haven’t even heard the final final [version].”
Look for the song and project to be dropping very shortly. In the meantime, read the full interview right here.