Last week, Drake sent shock waves throughout the internet when he came out of nowhere and released his surprise project, If You’re Reading This Its Too Late. While he dubbed it a mixtape, the project was technically more along the lines of album, being available for purchase only via iTunes.
Well, it turns out that wasn’t the project’s original plan. According to KP, VP of Datpiff, the project was intended to be a DJ Drama-hosted, Gangsta Grillz project, but that all changed once the label got involved. Speaking with HipHopDX's Spencer Stein, KP revealed that the "mixtape" will end up being credited towards Drake's album requirements on Cash Money Records as well.
"Originally we [Datpiff] were in talks to release it for free...and have DJ Drama host and even make it an official Gangsta Grillz...however the label was not in favor of that and they struck an agreement to release the project the retail route and it would count towards one of his albums," KP says in an exclusive statement to HipHopDX. "It was a mutual decision since he wanted to give it away. They [the label] said, 'Hell no,' not in those words, so they 'agreed' to do it this way as a middle ground and it would count towards his Cash Money deal album total. The label had zero input or creative control over” If Youre Reading This Its Too Late.
The idea to change it from a mixtape to an album went down not too long ago either. "This was about two to three weeks ago when the release plans and label decision was up in the air," he says.
However it unfolded, If You’re Reading This Its Too Late did some serious damage in its first week, selling 500k copies, breaking a Spotify record, and topping Billboard’s Artist 100 chart. I can only imagine what Views From The 6 will do. Stay tuned.
