While Drake has been doing his best to bring the feud with Meek Mill onto a more traditional platform for hip-hop beef (read: not Twitter), the OVO head honcho has also apparently made some changes to his roster. I say apparently because there’s been talk of this artist signing to OVO dating back to early 2013.
But word on road is the latest OVO Sound signee is none other than Philly rapper AR-Ab of OBH aka Original Block Hustlaz. Starting out as a member of Cassidy’s Larsiny Family, AR-Ab has been active since 2007 and made his debut on Cassidy’s 07-07-07 (Happy Birthday) mixtape that year. His own mixtape debut, Welcome to Trap Street, came out May 2008 and he’s released 6 other projects since then. Before being arrested in 2013 for crack cocaine related charges, Complex identified AR-Ab, who survived being shot 10 times in 2011, as one of 15 Unsigned Rappers Who Should Get a Deal After SXSW (which also included Chinx Drugz, R.I.P.) He did a brief stint inside SCI (State Correctional Institution) Camp Hill after that and was released late 2014.
While the latest news of Ab being signed has come largely at the hands of social media users, it’s likely been spurred by Drake name dropping Ab on the newly released Meek Mill diss “Back To Back (Freestyle)” (“Drove here in a Wraith listening to AR-Ab“) and a tweet from Ab that makes it hard to think anything else:
“I’m a let YALL let this shit sink in for a lil bit #OVOBH”
I'm a let YALL let this shit sink in for a lil bit💨💨💨💨 #OVOOBH
— AR-AB OBH RECORDS (@AssaultRifleAB) July 29, 2015
Back when those other rumors about his OVO connections were circulating, he remained mostly quiet and asserted quite quickly that it was a rumor when it was brought up in interviews.
There’s also the fact that Ab released a track called “Say My Name” back in February which was allegedly targeted at Meek. Although he claimed it wasn’t directed at anyone specific, telling HipHopSince1987, “if the shoe fits, wear it.” The timing of the Drake connection now is hard to ignore.
This whole situation could just be Ab making the most of the name drop. He hasn’t actually tweeted anything saying he’s been signed and the tweets have only indicated that there is a union of some sort between OVO and Ab’s OBH team. #OVOOBH. Either way, the internet seems to think it’s already official.
DJ Vlad had actually interviewed Ab back in December, shortly after his release from jail, specifically to discuss the prospects of him signing with OVO. At the time, the OBH rapper didn’t seem convinced there was anything to it. “It’s just a rumor.” There’s also MidEastDynasty reporting that Ab was signed to OVO back in 2013.
Stay tuned for more developments.
