In August 2019, Swiss record producer
OZ released a 40-second video on
Instagram, showcasing a new project he had been working on. The video featured the same beat later used on "Greece", together with vocals in
German by OZ himself. He accompanied the video with the description "oz - greece" and the
hashtag #SOLOCAREER. This sparked rumors that the producer, who had previously never come into the spotlight as a lyricist, would release the song as his first fully independent music project. The German lyrics heard in OZ's original release are very similar in meaning and vocal melody to those later used by Drake on the final song. The original video by OZ was later removed from Instagram. Speculation of a new DJ Khaled and Drake song first arose in January 2020, when Khaled flew to Drake's hometown
Toronto. After spending time together in the studio, Khaled stated "It's amazing what you can get done in 24 hours". On May 1, Drake previewed the record during a
livestream on Instagram. In June, both Drake and Khaled teased the collaboration by captioning various posts with
emojis of an owl and a key, the owl being the mascot of Drake's
OVO label and the key unofficially standing for DJ Khaled. Khaled further revealed that "the first single been ready" and confirmed that he was working on a new album. After fans inundated Khaled with questions on the Drake references, he said fans would have to wait a little longer for new music, but did not confirm any music with Drake. The track then leaked in early July. DJ Khaled and Drake have collaborated various times, first in 2009 with "
Fed Up", and during the 2010s, on "
I'm on One" (2011), "
No New Friends" (2013), "
For Free" (2016) and "
To the Max" (2017). ==Production==