Drake Meets Lil Wayne

In 2008, Lil Wayne was given some of Drake‘s music from Rap-A-Lot founder, J. Prince’s son and he immediately called Drake to invite him to fly to Houston and tour with him. Drake and Wayne recorded a couple of songs during this time, including “Ransom”, the original version of “I Want This Forever”, and the remix to Drake’s song, “Brand New”. Though now part of Lil Wayne’s crew, Young Money, Drake was still not signed.

Drake Signs with Young Money

June 29, 2009 – Finally! After weeks of speculation, Drake has decided to go with the home team and sign with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, according to an inside anonymous source. The the contract is a joint venture between Young Money and Cash Money, with Universal Republic on board distributing. Drake’s management was adamant that he should be viewed as an independent artist, although Universal will distribute the project.

“Today is a definitely a comfortable day for me, having my team now that’s been in place for a couple of years. It’s just a great day,” Drake told MTV News recently in New York. “It’s something new, but it feels familiar.”

Drizzy is excited about having a corporate push to help with the momentum he’s gained independently.

“Independent is a funny term,” he told MTV News on the set of his video for “Best I Ever Had.” “I can go independent, but you need distribution, period. You need somebody to distribute your record and you need that army that a label has to really push the record.”