Young Guru Shares 'Crazy' Backstory Behind JAY-Z & Drake's Collaboration

By Tony M. Centeno

August 8, 2024

JAY-Z, Young Guru & Drake
Photo: Getty Images

Young Guru says the story of the day JAY-Z recorded his verse for his 2018 collaboration with Drake is "crazy."

The Grammy award-winning producer unlocked the iconic memory on Tuesday, August 6, after he saw a video from the OVO leader's 100 gigabytes of content. In the clip journalist Elliott Wilson posted to Instagram, you can see Drizzy tell his team he has to wait for Hov to send in his verse for their song "Talk Up" off his Scorpion album. Once he saw the clip, Young Guru recalled how Hov made the verse while they were in Europe for his and Beyoncé's "On The Run II Tour."

"The story behind this is beyond crazy," Guru wrote in an Instagram Story. "We are on OTR2. Hov has to do a verse. We had a show that day. He literally wrote that verse after doing a full two-hour show. I had an afterparty. The promotor had to wait for two hours in the parking lot of a stadium. I made it to the club at like 1 am. Just in time for my set. And that is the quick story!!!"

In the extended version of the story, Guru explained that JAY-Z instructed him to “set up a studio in the venue” before his show. After he got it done, Guru served as Hov's DJ throughout the two-hour show. Guru was booked to perform at an afterparty later that night, but he still had to record Hov's verse. He had a promoter waiting for him in the parking lot for two hours, and he couldn't reveal why he was late.

"By the time HOV finished the internet that we set up from Livenation is gone," Guru explained. "Everyone is gone. I had to tether my phone to my computer to send the session to @ovo40 I made it to the club just in time for my set. When y’all hear this work I sometimes wonder if you understand how much goes into it!!!! Classic Nights!!!! And I killed my set lol."

The video that sparked the memory, which you can see below, was found within the 100gigs folder Drizzy dropped on the Internet without warning. It also included a documentary and three new songs with Young Thug, 21 Savage and Latto.

Watch the video from Drake's Scorpion studio sessions below.

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