Drake-funded k-os album BLackneck arrives Oct. 30

Toronto rapper and singer k-os will release BLackneck, his first full album since 2015, on Oct. 30 through Spiritual Tech Records and The Orchard, with Drake paying for the project and credited as executive producer, Billboard Canada reported.

The seven-track record ends a gap of more than a decade since Can’t Fly Without Gravity in 2015, and it arrives four weeks after k-os teased it with a single, “Guns & Roses,” on Oct. 2.

Billboard Canada, in an interview with k-os published Oct. 21, reported that Drake funded the entire album and did not produce the tracks himself. k-os calls Drake his “chief financier.” Matte Babel, chief brand officer at DreamCrew, the management and entertainment company Drake co-founded, managed the project.

k-os told Billboard Canada the money paid for things a label might not, including a string orchestra and studio time. He said the album was recorded in British Columbia and at his parents’ farm in Whitby, Ont. Songs named in the interview include “I Would Never,” produced with Bob Rock, “Still Number 1” and “OK Corall.”

The rapper said the idea came from Drake. “Drake was like, ‘please make me a k-os record, please, please, please,'” k-os told Billboard Canada. Of their relationship, he said: “Our relationship is strictly defined by inspiration.”

Exclaim! reported the same day that a post from Complex, shared on k-os’s Instagram, described the album as financed by Drake, “a longtime fan whose own music was deeply influenced by k-os’s records.” Complex wrote on Oct. 2 that “Guns & Roses” is a nostalgic return to the sound of k-os’s 2004 album Joyful Rebellion.

The two Toronto artists have a long history. Hypebeast reported in August 2010 that a k-os track featuring Drake, “Faith,” had briefly aired on Canadian radio before being pulled, and it later appeared on k-os’s Anchorman mixtape. Complex said Drake, then in his early 20s, had sent k-os numerous tracks hoping to collaborate.

k-os, whose real name is Kevin Brereton, was born in Toronto and rose to prominence in the early 2000s with albums including Exit in 2002 and Joyful Rebellion in 2004, which brought him Juno Awards. Complex describes him as best known for “Crabbuckit.”

Neither Billboard Canada nor Exclaim! mentioned tour dates or a release show, and no Canadian dates have been announced in the coverage reviewed. A full track list was not available to this newsroom.

The release adds to a busy run for Drake’s name in Canadian music news. We reported on Oct. 24 that Drake became the first artist to pass 350 million RIAA units, and on Oct. 17 that his HABIBTI reissue jumped to No. 2. BLackneck is due Friday, Oct. 30.

Via Billboard Canada and Exclaim!, with background from Complex and Hypebeast.

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