Bryson Tiller Talks Collaborating With Drake On "Outta Time"

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After waiting for years, fans finally got another project from Bryson Tiller: Anniversary. The album boasts almost no features, beside one from the king of collabs himself, Drizzy Drake. Now, a few days after releasing the highly-anticipated project, Tiller is letting us know just how it all went down behind the scenes that led to Drake being the solo feature on Anniversary.

During an interview on Genius’ For the Record series, the singer explained just how the collaboration came to be.

Tiller revealed that Drake was supposed to make a surprise appearance on his 2015 album Trapsoul, but the plans ultimately fell through for whatever reason.

“We didn’t get to make that happen, obviously, but this is dope to come back five years later—full circle—and do it,” he said, before revealing Drake was eyeing “The Sequence” and “Don’t.”

Rob Markman goes on to ask Tiller how he pitched the collaboration to Drake, which is when he explained that he and Drake had been looking to collaborate for years, but Bryson’s mental state kept holding him back.

“This is how it happened, actually. About eight, nine months ago—me and him have always, like, sent each other ideas, or whatever,” Tiller said. “I was supposed to be on More Life; at that time, I was just in a terrible mental space. I really couldn’t deliver the proper Bryson Tiller verse for a Drake album … it just wasn’t there at all. So I ended up not getting on the project. Anyway, we still kept in contact over the years.”

He went on to say that he had sent Drake a track he had intended for the Serenity project. Drizzy liked what he heard and sent back a verse. And although Tiller said he was impressed, he was still hesitant about completing it.

“I was like, ‘Wow, you sound amazing on this’ … I sat on it for a while, and I kind of found myself in the same place that I was when we first started collaborating,” he explained. “… I don’t wanna even come on a song if I’m not really feeling it … I kind of was just sitting on it for a while.”

During a studio session for Anniversary is when things really came together, when his manager Neil Dominique asked whatever happened to the Drake track. That’s when Tiller played the track for Dominique, who encouraged him to release it.

“[Dominique] was like, ‘Man, that sh**’s. I ain’t gonna lie. I don’t feel like s**t would ever come out without you,'” Tiller recalled. “… He left the studio, and for the first time, I went in there and knocked it out … I was like, ‘Yo, can I use it on my album?’ [Drake] was like, ‘Yeah. Let’s go. Let’s go. I’m hype.’ So, that’s how that happened.”

Hear more from Bryson Tiller about how the album came together down below: