Bay Area rapper-producer Ovrkast. credits his work with Drake for helping him level up in hip-hop.
Ovrkast, who released his third album, STRIKING, on Oct. 9, spoke to Clash Magazine about his breakout contributions to Drake’s albums For All the Dogs: Scary Hours and Iceman. The 28-year-old is credited as a producer on “Red Button" "The Shoe Fits," and “Make Them Pay.”
“It’s one of those things where it’s hard to see until 10 years from now. I’m so in it, it’s so meta that it’s hard to zone out,” Ovrkast said about collaborating with the five-time Grammy winner. “I think, honestly, working on Iceman is the first time I’ve started seeing the impact. I’m doing something that others don’t really do. It feels like I’m doing the impossible.”
The emcee added his disbelief that he’s become a “trusted collaborator” of the Toronto native. “Everyone listens to Drake growing up and when you start in music, that’s kind of like a goal to work with him, but you never really know if it will ever happen,” Ovrkast explained.
Ovrkast also shared that he was unsure if he’d become a producer who would be “important to culture,” but felt it would happen when he was getting his start in music. “For it to happen this way, I’m still processing it and my mind is still catching up,” he said.
Ovrkast also retold the story of him sending beats to Drake’s occasional collaborator, Lil Yatchy, who made the connection.
“I thought the beat I sent off [for “Make Them Pay”] was so iconic but I didn’t hear back, and I kind of just let it go. Maybe I’m not on this video, this album. Maybe I’ll be on Scary Hours again or something. Then I get a DM from Drake being like, ‘Yo, can you send me a pack?” Ovrkast recalled.
“He sends me his new number, and I’m just shooting shit over and over and I don’t hear back for a few days,” Ovrkast continued. “I sent him a congratulatory message for For All The Dogs going Platinum, and he texted me back responding to the “Make Them Pay” beat saying ‘I did my best rapping on this.’”
“Again, it was a waiting game. I was hearing that I was on the album, I wasn’t, and then I didn’t know officially until the stream dropped,” the producer concluded.
Ovrkast’s work, however, has unfortunately caught negative attention in the music industry. High Schoolers LLC, the company who oversees the trademark rights for legendary hip-hop duo Outkast, recently sued him for trademark infringement and unfair competition. While High Schoolers LLC allege that the names of Ovrkast and Outkast are nearly “identical” the rapper-producer has denied intending to confuse fans.
