Gordo Says He Had No Idea Drake Was Dropping Three Albums

Diamante Dice

The producer also didn't know how "Hoe Phase" would sound before Drake spliced it together himself

When Drake surprise-dropped three albums last week, his friend and frequent producer Gordo was as surprised as everyone else — even though he’d been working on the music for the last year and a half.

“I knew it was going to be two albums,” he tells Rolling Stone on a recent call. “I didn’t know it was going to be three.”

But Drake kept his entire rollout a secret, even from his closest collaborators. That meant that on May 15, when the album trilogy swept the internet, Gordo did what most fans did: He spent time listening through the three projects, which include the anticipated Iceman, the unexpected Habibti, and the left-of-center Maid of Honour, which is where most of Gordo’s songs ended up. The producer/DJ/artist, known for his earlier work on Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind, helped mastermind eight tracks on the LP, including “Hoe Phase,” “Road Trips,” “Outside Tweaking,” “Amazing Shape,” “BBW,” “New Bestie,” “True Bestie,” “Stuck,” and “Goose & the Juice.” (He was also behind “WNBA” on Habibti.)