Let's just get this out of the way: Drake is absolutely the shadow that hangs over the entirety of the Toronto music scene right now. From the pop success of his previous protégé, The Weeknd, to the small scenes forming around artists like Roy Woods and Ramriddlz, Drake's sound and influence reigns supreme in The 6 these days. Of course, part of this is because many of these artists are signed to Drake's OVO Sound label, literally putting them on the ground floor of the CN Tower-sized behemoth that Drake and Noah “40” Shebib built. But R&B duo Majid Jordan, perhaps unbeknownst to most Drake fans, have quickly cemented themselves near the top of the OVO empire.
Producer Jordan Ullman and singer Majid Al Maskati both had a hand in crafting “Hold On We're Going Home,” one of the biggest hits of Drake's career and one of the most perfect pop-R&B songs in Drake's catalogue. As we can see from The Weeknd's rapid ascension after basically writing the entirety of 2011's Take Care, people start to notice you when you're creating Billboard top 5 hits, even when you're not the main artist. While they continue to pick up production credits for Drake (notably Views standout “Feel No Ways” and Beyoncé collaboration “Mine”), Majid Jordan have now come into their own, racking up millions of hits on their own Soundcloud. 2014 EP A Place Like This was an underappreciated but incredibly polished proof-of-concept for the group, leading to 2016 debut Majid Jordan, which charted on the Billboard 200 and received positive reviews from numerous critics. While they haven't escaped Drake's shadow yet, they've carved their own lane in upbeat R&B and have proved they're in control of their own destiny now. Ullman's production is just the right mix of danceable and gloomy, and Al Maskati has a classic R&B voice that could drop right into some of your favorite 90s classics. This Saturday at the Majestic Theater, Madison will have a chance to see what could be the next big act to drop from the dark, gloomy clouds of The 6.
