Payday is a young, amazing talent and “Whoopsy” was fun to work on with her. “Whoopsy,” the single off “My Parade,” features 17-year-old Payday. This new one has different vibes on every song - it’s a celebration of all my vibes. I had to give people what my team wanted not what I wanted. I haven’t been able to express all of me until now. Everybody’s not in the club, or having a bad day. I wanted to share that, that I’m more than just “Tuesday,” or “I Don’t Sell Molly.” My hits. Before I took control, I was told to “dial into” this or that sound, or focus on a niche market. I can go in any direction I want and feel supported by my producers while doing it. Were you able to express everything you wanted? There are plenty of ghostwriters who thank me for knocking down doors with my style of music, and opening them up so that they can have chart-topping hits. I do feel as if I have influenced other writers. Most artists, though, really can’t do my style, so when it comes time for them to do that… I guess the ghostwriting thing didn’t turn out too well for me. There have been rumors that you have executed some notable ghostwrites. That’s how I would like to connect with people now. I like music that connects with the people of their times. American folk singers and songwriters of the 1960s. We spoke maybe five times - never about my career, just about getting stuff done. They didn’t want to sustain and support me, only themselves.
From me looking back and people telling me, they knew that I had a new wave, a new sound starting up, and they jumped on that to further their wave. But, that seems as if that was the reason. I haven’t talked to these people in years. You said in 2017 that “they needed a hot song. It took five years to get my freedom back.Ĭoncerning “Tuesday,” which Drake released as a remix: It’s yours and OVO’s biggest hit. I found out that to be a conflict of interest as the OVO imprint is through Warner Brothers - like am I going to battle all of them now? I just wanted to make music, when and how I wanted to do it. But I was leaving OVO, Warners wanted to keep me. I had no issue with them, and apologized for my old tweets and being young and dumb. It was as if I wasn’t even on the label, as if I had been shelved. Then, when I released my second EP in November 2015, I got no support from OVO. Drake was mentioned, and someone brought them to his attention in 2015, posted them on the internet saying “Makonnen was saying shit about Drake.” “Drake, you should leave him.” That probably soured stuff. I was young, online and saying wild stuff just to get attention - to get a reaction. Suddenly, too, there was a situation with old tweets where you dissed Drake going back to, like, 2010. When managers and representatives on both sides talked, however, communications got lost. We all sounded pretty cohesive in what we wanted to do together. Morgan and Drake, we had a great relationship. My manager at the time did that, talking to OVO’s head, Mr. It all wound up as just politics without me ever talking to them. But I guess that I rubbed everyone at OVO the wrong way because that never happened or seemed what they wanted. I was hoping that I would be collaborating with all the other artists on the label. I thought that they wanted me to be part of the OVO family. When I signed with OVO, I thought that they were interested in me as an artist, as ILoveMakonnen - what I do. What were your expectations in being an artist on the roster? But before I even signed with OVO Sounds and Warners in 2014, I wanted my own thing - to give my art to people the way they wanted it, and I wanted it.
So I finally got released in September 2020, and started recording “My Parade” in October. It was a battle for about four years - me trying to leave, get independent and free, to create the music I wanted and put it out on my terms with the people I wanted to work with, without politics and the usual industry stuff. The new people who came in really didn’t know about me. The label went through a round of management changes during those years, too… Warner Brothers and I - we tried to work it out, but, there just didn’t seem to be any interest there me as an artist. I just wanted to get away from record labels, and go back to being independent since 2016. What were the circumstances under which your left Warner Brothers to start your label, Own Timeless Magic? Was your contract up? And with his newfound independence comes a refreshing frankness, which ILoveMakonnen demonstrated during a recent interview with Variety. ILoveMakonnen wears his freedom well, as he first displayed when he came out as gay in 2017 - a brave public admission for an artist of any musical genre, let alone hip-hop.