0 The Making of Drake's "Thank Me Later"

The good folks at Complex Magazine reached out to the A&R's, producers and artists involved in the making of Drake's "Thank Me Later". The article offers the unique stories behind each track featured on one of 2010's most anticipated albums.

"The Resistance"

Produced by: Noah "40" Shebib
Noah "40" Shebib: “1da did some programming for me on that. I probably did that beat maybe a little bit before February/March. I really only make beats for Drake. I worked with Alicia [Keys], but I really only worked with Alicia because me and Drake wanted to work with her. I work with Wayne, but because obviously that’s family. And that was a circumstance where Drake loved [’I’m Single’] and he sent it to him and then Wayne was like, ’Yo, I’m stealin’ this. I’m takin’ this.’ So I’ve worked with a few other people indirectly via Drake, but at the end of the day, he’s really the only person I work with as far as being a producer. Obviously, I have ambitions to work with other people, but at the same time, that’s like my bother as well as a person I’m responsible for with my career so my main focus is his projects and his work. And, we’re probably going to start working on his next album, like, ASAP.

“We sat on ’Resistance’ for a while. There were a couple other beats as well where he was like, ’Maybe I’ll use this one instead, but I gotta rap. I have so much to say...’ Once I’d gotten it back from 1da, getting the hook to knock right with the drum programming and the chorus, then I was like, ’OK, cool. It works. I’m happy with it. Time to record.’

“[Drake sat on the beat] for about a month. As far as him having the beat and loving it and wanting to use it, but not being 100% on the production of it. And, also me just sort of working with it and tweaking it a little bit here and there. If that shit doesn’t sound perfect, there’s no point in him even going to the booth. He’ll leave for a half an hour for me to fix it. He’ll record a chorus and be like, ’Mix it and I’ll record my verses.’ Normally, I’ll mix it and it’ll sound like a million dollars and he goes, ’All right, perfect! That’s how it’s supposed to sound.’ And then he raps. He doesn’t waste very much of his energy. We really only have a couple records that we didn’t put on the album.“

"Show Me A Good Time"

Produced by: Kanye West
Co-produced by: No ID & Jeff Bhasker
Noah "40" Shebib: "’Show me a Good Time’ was the last record we put on the album. It was like the top of May. We got that beat from [Kanye] when we were in Hawaii before Christmas. We were sitting on it. He knew he was going to use it. He just didn’t cut it because he waited until the very end of his process to do some of the 'happier,' if you will, songs. He wanted more of the emotional material out of the way first. Then, he went to that place after. He wanted to do the ’Resistance’ and ’Fireworks’ first. Then he wanted to do ’Miss Me’ and 'Light Up.’ Then, he wanted to do ’Show me a Good Time’ and ’Up All Night.’ He cut it on the bus in New York. My assistant Noel Cadastre cut the record and sent me the files when I was in Atlanta mixing at Tree Sound Studios. Then I went back to New York for mastering, mixed it at Blast Off studios, and sent it back to ’Ye for approval."

"Fancy" f/ T.I. & Swizz Beatz

Produced by: Swizz Beatz
Co-produced by: Noah "40" Shebib
Noah "40" Shebib: "’Fancy’ was done in February. I think [Swizz and Drake] were going back and forth with some records. Then, Drake got on the phone with him like, 'Yo, I need something like this.' And Swizz starts playin’ some records for him over the phone. He was like, 'Oh, yeah. That’s the one. Perfect.' Then he hit me like, 'Yo, Swizzy played me this shit over the phone.' And, he sent it, and we were like, 'All right. Let’s do this!' Then Swizzy sent the session and said, 'Yo, tell 40 to add anything if he wants to add anything.' So I ended up doing the whole other B section on the record, which is some wild Drake shit. I have a feeling the first few minutes will play on radio, but the last few will be for the album. So I did the whole second half of the record. The third verse is when it becomes my production. We put T.I. on it later. Drake has a great relationship with Tip and really wanted him involved."

T.I.: "I met Drake when his manager and my potna Gee Roberson brought him to my hotel room in L.A. like a week before I was finna go [to jail]. It might have been a month earlier. We just chopped it up for a few hours. He was asking my advice on how to effectively remain relevant. Not really remain relevant, but how to do this shit and not lose passion for it. So, I gave the best advice I could. I just see him as someone who has a good idea of who they are and is not trying to pretend to be something they aren’t and you have to respect someone for that. ['Fancy'] was done recently. I just did it like three or four weeks ago. Drake sent it to his manager, and me and his manager speak a lot. It’s about girls who take pride in their upkeep."

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