https://hypebeast.com/2016/7/roy-woods-waking-at-dawn-stream
Insider Info: OVO bullied the shit out of this kid. OVO would not give him a decent deal for his entire album, and only wanted his song “Drama” that Drake could steal for his own album. Roy refused, and asked for $50k for Drama instead.
OVO offered him a solid million dollar contract deal, saying they would give him a full deal for the entire 40 minute album if he sold Drake “Drama”. Roy Woods agreed, but by doing so unknowingly voided the terms of his contract by removing the song Drama, thus reducing his album from 40 down to 36 minutes. The contract stated it had to be exactly 40 minutes worth of music. OVO legally manipulated him.
Roy Woods 3 managers threw him under the bus, split the $50k in three directions, and left Roy Woods with no money left to restore his album back to a full length so he could sell it. He was left in limbo to fend for himself, with no money, Drake stealing the best song off his album and not promoting the rest of Roy’s album.
This is why no OVO cosigns ever make it big, and this is why you never want to sign with OVO if you want to make it out of Toronto. At least Torey Lanez had the balls to go independent and he never had to deal with any of this shit. Blowing the whistle on you culture vulture scam artists feeding on the youth of this city.
Dear Roy Woods, you deserve better. Get a better label deal with somebody else, the Weeknd did it and so can you. Don’t let these guys enslave you like Partynextdoor and the rest of their team only getting paid $70k a year with 40 taking credit for all the music they produce. 40 receives the beats, adds “little touches” to them, then releases them under himself. All the other producers on OVO are currently shelved and make less than $70k a year in Canadian dollars.
You’ll never reach your full potential if you stay under them. If you don’t believe me, the reason Drake’s last album was so shit was because 40 took the reins and did most of it. Drake’s best albums were written and composed by other people. The Weeknd even regretted giving up half of his album to Drake just for the publicity cosign. Break free brother do not fear them, they can’t actually hurt you. Drake isn’t even signed to his own OVO label. You want to be signed to a vanity label that had guys like OB Brien on it? Take the first third party deal you can and run for your life man.
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