Before ever meeting each other, Drake and 40 had one thing in common: they were both child actors. Everyone knows that Drake cut his teeth in the spotlight portraying wheelchair-bound character Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Before meeting Drake and producing music, Noah “40” Shebib had a ten episode arc playing Buck Mayhew on Wind At My Back, a Canadian television series about a family’s struggle during depression-era Ontario. Had these two not become understandably frustrated with a limited Canadian television industry, they may never have turned to music as a creative outlet.

Shebib started out as an engineer and mixer in Toronto, and his first big break came with producing a track called “Twist My Hair” for Canadian R&B songstress Divine Brown. This song would be 40’s first gold record in Canada, but it would also introduce him to Drake, by way of a remix that Ajax producer Boi-1da completed for “Twist My Hair.” It wasn’t long the three of them were working on So Far Gone, the mixtape that would put Drake, 40, and Boi-1da on the map.

Many credit 40 as being an influential part of Drake’s rise to mega-stardom, but his career is not limited to all things Aubrey Graham. Let’s check out the best beats Noah “40” Shebib has produced where Drake is not the first-billed artist.