Everything We Know About Drake's Manager Oliver El-Khatib

Behind every great artist is an equally great manager. Having an excellent manager is essential to an artist (especially in the early stages of their career when they are building a name for themselves), and can arguably be a make or break component to success. Every musician has one, including Drake, and today we are looking at OVO founder Oliver El-Khatib. Not much is known about El-Khatib as he lives a private life and prefers for the spotlight to be focused on his artists, but here is what we do know. 

Lounge just happened to be across the street from the famed tv-show MuchMusic, and the store turned into something of a cultural landmark where you could find the latest urban fashion and apparel. While El-Khatib hasn’t discussed his time at Lounge in-depth, one can only assume that he was meeting and forming connections with different musicians and celebrities. MuchMusic is basically the Canadian version of TRL. Many famous artists such as Jay-Z, Prince, Beyonce have stopped by over the years to perform their latest releases and give interviews. 

As time went by, Lounge became one of the most talked-about fashion stores in the Toronto area, and it was there that El-Khatib met another young prodigy by the name of Drake. Now it’s unclear exactly when the two met in terms of a specific date or year, and since the Toronto scene is a small world, they could have very well known each other in passing before officially becoming friends and business partners. What we do know, however, is that they started working together in 2012, joining forces to create OVO Media.

That decision wound up working in their favorite big time. When you think of Toronto, you automatically think of Drake. When the Toronto Raptors won the championship in 2019, Drake was infamously on the sideline getting chastised by the referees for being in the way during the games and kept the Larry O’ Brien trophy in his possession for a few days (he was also front in the center and the parade). OVO Fest has become a widely anticipated music festival that features some of the world’s biggest music stars, and in short, Drake has put Toronto on the map in a way like no other. 

So what else does El-Khatib work on when he isn’t managing and securing multi-million dollar deals and partnerships? Well, he works on music too. In December 2019, El-Khatib put out a 50-minute mixtape called EL-KUUMBA TAPE VOL 1 which featured Drake on the track “War.” The tape also included features with Lil Uzi Vert, Roddy Rich, and more.