After Noah "40" Shebib, Boi-1da is definitely Drake's primary producer. The Toronto beatmaker is responsible for Drizzy's "Headlines", "Over", and most recently "5AM in Toronto". 1da recently explained the process behind his latest Drake collaboration, as well as the inspiration for the rapper's hit "Started From The Bottom".
Boi-1da explained how the "5AM" beat came together. "Originally, I started that beat with a producer named Vinylz, and it was a dope beat that me and him started. But there’s that one sound that goes through the main beat that I liked a lot. I said I was going to make something completely different. I had my boy Nikhil over here that plays the keys, and I started adding stuff to the beat. It just all came together. I sent it off to Drake and he was just like, “Yeah. It’s about to go down.”
The producer also talked about how Drake's lyricism is often overlooked due to his popularity. "Sometimes I’m on the Internet, and I read the comments. A lot of people seem to forget how lyrical Drake is. They forget that he’s one of the best lyricists out, if not, the best lyricist in the game. It was just a reminder. Although he puts out songs like, “The Motto” and “H.Y.F.R.”—which are super lyrical anyways—and they’re so popular, we’re in an age where you’re either popular or you’re good. Sometimes the good people don’t get the popularity. It’s like, he’s so popular and he’s so good, people just see that now, and it’s a rare case. He’s great at rapping, and makes great music off of it."
1da commented on the criticism that Drake's "Started From The Bottom" is unrepresentative of his come-up. "That song means a lot, because despite what anybody thinks about Drake and them making comments about how he didn’t start from the bottom, he did start from the bottom. We all did. We all started from a place that was not where we are now. A lot of people say that, but it’s not easy for a rapper to come from “Degrassi” and to make it mainstream as one of the biggest rappers in the world."
The producer confirmed that he would have some more material on Nothing Was The Same. "Me and him have been collaborating on this album, so you’re going to see me a few times on this album."
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