Drake denies collaborating with Olivia on "Control"

Rapper Drake has shot down reports that he collaborated with former G-Unit “first lady” Olivia on a recently leaked track titled “Control.”'

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In an exclusive interview with All HipHop.com he states:

“I support artist collaborations and sampling music that inspires you but I don’t support taking unauthorized recordings and marketing them as features,” Drake told AllHipHop.com. “I’ve never worked with Olivia and I apologize to any fan who was duped into thinking that ‘Control’ was a collaboration of mine.”


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Olivia's manager Rich Dollaz contacted HipHopDX to clarify the song's inception and Drake's reaction.

Below is Dollaz' statement, as told to HipHopDX this morning:

"Number one, we never said we worked with Drake. Number two, the Canadian producers who did ['Control'], Sold Out Entertainment, we sent them our part back. They leaked out the record which is why I've always said the record been leaked, not because we wanted to diss Drake, but because we understand what it was. We never worked with Drake, we did out half the record and they did their half.

The producers put together the record and leaked it before they confirmed with Drake. We don't really care. It was for a mixtape Under the Radar, which comes out on the 25th on OliviaWorldwide.com. We're not pressed about it, because it's a mixtape record to us, so it is what it is. We never planned to do anything with it, but put it on a mixtape so it's no big deal.

Maybe it was a big deal for [Drake], because he has a couple records on the radio right now. I don't really know what the issue is, but like I said the record is on Olivia's mixtape Under The Radar. We never said it was on her album, the producers sent us the record asking Olivia to get on it.

We were under the impression that they would go back to Drake and get the proper authorization, which obviously they never did, because they leaked the record on Saturday.

This is not bullshit, because Drake shouted them out on the record. That's why we were under the impression that its all good. The first thing Drake said on the record was [acknowledging the producers with] "Sold out, I see you."

So why would we think anything differently?

[The] bottom line is we thought Drake was paid, which is why we felt he was authorized we let the sold out guys handle all that we sent the record back no label cleared him but that was never the intent of the song to be on Olivia's album."

Dang. That's messed up. Bottom line, make sure you dot your i's and cross your t's when using other people's music! I guess they thought it was cool as it's just a mixtape but if having Drake specifically increases the popularity of the product and Olivia's associated image (which I am sure is what they want) then its more than just a mixtape.
Click HERE to listen to "Control" on the music page.