Young Guru has explained the context of JAY-Z’s appearance on Drake’s 2018 release “Talk Up,” revealing that the song, as the renowned sound engineer reveals, was created under urgent circumstances.
On Wednesday (August 7), the longest-serving board member responded to a social media post by journalist Elliott Wilson, who shared a video clip of Drake and his OVO team expressing their excitement for Hov’s guest verse on Drake’s Scorpio album. In the footage, Drizzy, producer Noah ’40’ Shebib and others wait for the incoming files with a mixture of excitement and apprehension as the deadline draws ever closer.
In the comments, Young Guru recalls the chain of events that led to the successful collaboration between Drake and JAY-Z. “We’re on (the On the Run II Tour),” the Roc-A-Fella alumnus wrote about the setting and time period in which the verse was recorded.
Shawn Carter attends the Los Angeles premiere of “The Harder They Fall” at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on October 13, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Rich Fury/Getty Images
“Remember, I’m the DJ. Hov hit me up and just said, ‘Set up a studio in the venue.’ I was like, ‘What?’ But of course I got it done.” Young Guru says he manned the mixers while Hov delivered a two-hour performance before heading straight back to the studio to finish the verse.
“We go out and play a two-hour show. Mind you, he has to memorize every verse from every album. No backing tracks. I’m a DJ, I can’t miss a cue or (music director Omar Edwards) would kill me. We finish the show.”
However, the Howard University album was a race against time, as he was already booked to DJ at a club months in advance. “We go back to the room to finish the verse, but the problem is I have an after-party. I can’t remember what city or what country in Europe, but understand, my parties were planned months before the tour.”
Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton attends the “The Loudness War Is Over (If You Want It)” panel at AES on October 16, 2019 in New York City.
Rob Kim/Getty Images for the Recording Academy
A small problem arose when Young Guru didn’t have wired internet access and had to use his phone as a hotspot to send the files to Drake’s team. “The promoter waited in the parking lot for two hours and I couldn’t tell him why I was late,” he recalls. “By the time Hov finished, the internet we had set up through Live Nation was gone. Everyone was gone. I had to hook my phone up to my computer to send the session to (Drake’s producer Noah “40” Shebib). I made it to the club just in time for my set.”
Young Guru continued, expressing his hope that his story helps fans appreciate him and his fellow creatives in bringing music to the public. “When you guys listen to this work, sometimes I wonder if you understand how much work goes into it!!!! Classic nights!!!! And I rocked my set lol.”
See Elliott Wilson’s Instagram post below.
