Drake‘s “Marvin’s Room” was actually recorded in Marvin’s Room (originally named Marvin Gaye Studios), a recording studio founded by Marvin Gaye in Los Angeles, California.
Marvins Room debuted on Drake’s official blog October’s Very Own on June 9, 2011. The song was the first single released from Drake’s second album Take Care. In the song, an inebriated Drake calls an ex while he’s in a club and vents his feelings of being lonely, reminiscing the good times they had, and trying to get her to leave her new man.
The studio was built in 1975, Marvin Gaye recorded numerous of his late-1970s records here including his album, I Want You & Here, My Dear, and the hit single “Got to Give It Up”.
While in the pre-production phase of The Great Gatsby, Leonardo DiCaprio and writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann were present during a studio session with Jay-Z and Kanye West for their Grammy award-winning song “No Church In the Wild” featuring Frank Ocean and The-Dream.
Jay-Z executively produced and contributed music to The Great Gatsby Soundtrack which was released through Interscope. Baz Luhrmann and Jay-Z were introduced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and this led to a two-year collaborative effort.
“Leonardo [DiCaprio] and I were lucky enough to be present in a recording session over two years ago as Jay-Z was recording ‘No Church in the Wild,’ and the collaboration grew from there.” – Baz Luhrmann explained in a press statement
Via Getty Images
“As soon as I spoke with Baz and Leonardo, I knew this was the right project. The Great Gatsby is that classic American story of one’s introduction to extravagance, decadence and illusion. It’s ripe for experimentation and ready to be interpreted with a modern twist. The imagination Baz brought to ‘Moulin Rouge’ made it a masterpiece, and ‘Romeo + Juliet’s’ score wasn’t just in the background; the music became a character. This film’s vision and direction has all the makings of an epic experience.” – Jay Z said
Composer Craig Armstrong who worked alongside Jay-Z on the film, revealed interesting details about Jay-Z’s role as executive producer on The Great Gatsby Soundtrack, stating:
“Luhrmann and Jay-Z were introduced by Leonardo DiCaprio (Jay Gatsby), and this led to a two-year collaborative effort.
“During this time, Jay-Z worked with Luhrmann and his team to capture, translate and contrast the feelings of Fitzgerald’s decadent era with that of our own, using hip-hop and jazz, music contemporary and period, to bring two distinct American moments to simultaneous life.”
The soundtrack included music from Jay Z, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey and Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. This wasn’t the first time Jay-Z executively produced, The Brooklyn rapper executive produced the soundtrack of the video game NBA 2k13.
The Dream who was also featured on “No Church In the Wild” annotated the song on genius and said this
“I get to New York, and we’re at the Mercer Hotel, working. We had the whole floor. I get in, Frank Ocean’s sitting there, and they’re just starting on “No Church In The Wild.” So “Holy Grail” itself inspired them to change Watch the Throne. Because of that record, six other records got made at that point, including “Otis.” I go in the next room with my engineer, and just sing eight or twelve bars for “No Church.” Right after Ye’s verse, I sing that whole part. I got a Grammy for that.”
“I end up doing the same kind of thing with “Umbrella” where I’m singing this part, and I think it’s awesome, to myself. I didn’t know what they were trying to do. Like, can I go back to my habitat on the golf course? Me and Jay went out, we went to eat, hung out with Leonardo Dicaprio that night—that’s what I remember. And the next day we worked more on a couple other things, I don’t remember. Later my friend called and said “Yeah, so there’s an album getting ready to drop and you’re on it, but you don’t know you’re on it, but I just wanted to let you know.” I didn’t even remember what I had written. I just recorded it and left it alone. So that’s what “Holy Grail” was, that little nudge. Jay finally admitted what went on around the record in an interview. He talked about playing the record and how there was a little fight about “Holy Grail.” Of course that’s flattering. Kanye is so great, he’s only most of the time just being challenged by himself. It’s a blessing when it happens to any of us, for a record to come out of left field and push you to a thing.”
The Great Gatsby theatrical trailer featured “No Church In The Wild,”
Raising Hell—the third album by hip hop group Run-D.M.C. was the first hip-hop album to go platinum and multi-platinum. The album was executively produced by Rick Rubin & Russell Simmons and was released by Profile Records on May 15, 1986.
Raising Hell reach at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album was certified platinum on July 15, 1986 and became the first hip-hop album to sell one million copies. Raising Hell was certified as 3x Platinum by the RIAA on April 24, 1987.
Run-DMC’s most famous single, the rap rock version of Aerosmith’s 1975 song “Walk This Way”, is considered to be the first rap rock collaboration and became the first rap song to hit the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing hip-hop into the mainstream.
In 1986, Raising Hell was nominated for a Grammy and won Best Rap Album at the 1987 Soul Train Music Awards. Raising Hell was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 containing five previously unreleased songs.
In 2018, Raising Hell was added to The Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant”.
During a stop in Anaheim on his 4 Your Eyez Only Tour, J. Cole revealed the beat for “Neighbors” is actually just the beat for “Forbidden Fruit” reversed. “Forbidden Fruit” was a co-production with Ron Gilmore.
At the end of his performance of “Forbidden Fruit” from his 2013 album Born Sinner, J. Cole told the crowd to pay close attention. “Here’s what you didn’t know. Cali, just listen.…,” he says in a video that captured the magic
“Forbidden Fruit” featuring Kendrick Lamar samples “Mystic Brew” by funk instrumentalist Ronnie Foster and more than three years later, “Neighbors” produced by J. Cole is just the “Forbidden Fruit” beat in reverse.
Playing songs in reverse to reveal a message is known as backmasking, you won’t get an exact replication of each song if you were to listen to them in reverse (by doing it yourself, or by Googling it) because the “Neighbors” beat’s tempo was changed, some snares were removed and 808s were beefed up.
A$AP Rocky found the “Fine Whine” beat from his sophomore album At. Long. Last. ASAP, by typing “A$AP Rocky type beat” on YouTube.
A$AP Rocky revealed in an interview with Ebro In The Morning Show on Hot 97 that he discovered the beat for “Fine Whine” from his 2015 album At.Long.Last.A$AP by searching “A$AP Rocky type beat” on YouTube. A$AP Rocky appeared on the Ebro In The Morning Show with collaborator Joe Fox (who is featured on “Fine White”) to talk about the album and more.
“‘Fine Whine’ was something that I typed on the Internet. I typed my name, ‘A$AP Rocky type beat,’” stated the A$AP Mob frontman. “We left the studio, went to the hotel in the morning. I typed that in, found it, and I said, ‘This beat is crazy.’ Took it to the studio, recorded it.” – A$AP Rocky
Rocky doesn’t remember what the beat was named at the time he found it, but once he found the song, he had THC co-produce the final version. The final version on album features Joe Fox, M.I.A., and Future.
In the fall of 2009, Queen Latifah released her first fragrance, Queen by Queen Latifah Eau De Parfum for women in partnership with Parlux Fragrances, Inc. The release of Queen by Queen Latifah made her the first female rapper to release her own fragrance line.
“Beauty really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love if you will. So I see fragrance as just a natural expression of this state of love: scent expresses a woman’s confidence and sensuality, it’s how she embraces her body, her mind and her strength.” – Queen Latifah
“Queen Latifah exudes a radiant confidence and inimitable style,” – Neil Katz, Chairman and CEO of Parlux Fragrances, Inc.
“Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” the single from Jay-Z‘s third album Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life which turned him into a superstar was recorded in one take.
The song, produced by The 45 King, at the time of its release in 1998 was the most commercially successful Jay-Z single. The nostalgic sample from the 1977 musical Annie signaled a new era for Jay-Z. It transformed Jay-Z’s career from respected New York MC to American popstar, making him reach a wider audience worldwide. The song only peaked at no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was everywhere on the radio.
“From standin’ on the corners boppin’ To drivin’ some of the hottest cars New York has ever seen For droppin’ some of the hottest verses rap has ever heard From the dope spot, with the smoke Glock Fleein’ the murder scene, you know me well”
The producer of “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” revealed Jay-Z recorded the song in one take.
“I was lucky enough to see Jay lay down the vocals, he didn’t have any papers, he did it in one take and.. thats Jay-Z” – The 45 King, producer of “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
“That’s one of the songs that, was almost like a conversation for me. It’s not anything to think about, the chorus already dictates where the song should go and what should be said , i probably did the song in maybe five minutes” Jay-Z adds
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In 2001, shortly after Jay-Z brought the King of Pop on stage at Hot 97’s “Summer Jam” festival, Jay-Z revealed to MTV that Michael Jackson told him he was a huge fan of “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
“What happened was I was on tour and Kid Capri played me the track. Mark ’45’ King had produced it, and at the time it was just beats and the sampled hook. You know, Mark’s known for making famous hip hop beats like ‘900 Number’ with no rap on them. So, once I heard it, I was like ‘I gotta have that’ – and I tracked Mark down. At first he was like ‘Nah man, it’s for my compilation album,’ but he eventually let me have it.
After hearing Eminem‘s verse on Drake‘s 2009 Boi-1da produced hit “Forever” Kanye West went back and took two days to rewrite his.
“When I heard Eminem’s verse on the Drake shit, I went back and rewrote my shit for two days, I cancelled appointments to rewrite! I f**kin’ care.” – Kanye West
Lil Wayne also rewrote his verse on “Forever” after hearing Eminem’s verse.
Eminem told Complex: “Everybody approached the beat different. Kanye was crazy, too, and Wayne. I just saw the beat differently than anybody else did; for some reason, I felt like the beat was a double-time beat, so I rapped faster.”
The song was released as a single from LeBron James’ documentary ‘More Than A Game’.
