Drake Says Being a Songwriter for Dr. Dre Was Militant Sh*t in 2005

Long before Drake became the international superstar he is today, the Toronto rapper served as a songwriter for Dr. Dre and Aftermath Records. This revelation came in part from a new book by author John Seabrook called The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory.

Genius highlighted some passages from the book that suggested that Drake worked at Death Row Records while Dr. Dre was there. This timeline is obviously off base as Dr. Dre left Death Row in 1996 when Drake would have been just 10 years old.

But the real story was uncovered by DJBooth, who reached out to John Seabrook. The author clarified that Drake did not tell him about specific years, but the Nothing Was the Same creator said he was working with Dr. Dre when he was "like 19." This means that Drake would have been working for Dr. Dre around 2005. So, Drake was actually working for Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records.

According to DJBooth, Drake told Seabrook that he and his longtime collaborator Noah "40" Sherib were paid $10,000 for their work and lived in Los Angeles at the Oakwood Apartments during that time. Obviously, nothing came of their work as fans know that Dr. Dre would not release a new project until 2015's Compton. But Drake did tell Seabrook about his experience, which was included in the book.

"It was some of the most strenuous militant shit I’ve ever done," Drake said. "But no useable songs came out of it. When I think of how he worked us, it’s no wonder he didn’t get anything out of it. It was just writers in a room churning out product all day long.”

Next up for Drake, he'll see if he wins the Best Rap Album award at the Grammys in February for If You're Reading This It's Too Late.

See New Music Releases for January 2016