Chapter one: the U of T dorm room
Al Maskati (a Bahraini-raised singer) and Ullman (a Toronto producer) met as students at the University of Toronto in the early 2010s, making music out of dorm rooms and posting tracks online — the classic SoundCloud-era origin (see our feature). Their sound formed fast: Ullman's airy, vintage-synth production (the warm analog textures that would become their signature) under Al Maskati's floating, aching tenor. The internet did its work; the cosigns arrived; and in 2013 came the moment that changed everything: their work on Drake's Nothing Was the Same — most prominently "Hold On, We're Going Home," which they co-wrote and co-produced. The song became a global anthem. The architects' names were now known.
Chapter two: the OVO Sound tenure
Signed to OVO Sound (see our label and Drake features), Majid Jordan released a run of EPs and albums — A Place Like This (2014), Majid Jordan (2016), The Space Between (2017), Wildest Dreams (2021) — that established them as the label's most album-focused act: where OVO's other signings chased singles or mystique, Majid Jordan built a coherent, self-produced world of late-night synth-R&B, their live shows revealing the duo as genuine performers rather than studio wraiths. The sound they pioneered — 80s-inflected, melancholic, melodic — became a template for a wave of contemporary R&B; the "Toronto sound" (see our 40 feature) has Majid Jordan's fingerprints all over its melodic half.
Chapter three: the quiet legacy
A decade in, the duo's position is secure: the architects whose names are finally on the marquee — respected album artists, sought-after writer-producers, and the proof that OVO's empire was always more than its crown prince. Their influence runs through modern R&B the way 40's influence runs through modern rap production (see our features): ambient, melodic, aching. Quiet work. Permanent results. Hold on — they're still going home.
Why they matter
They matter because the sound of an era usually has one name attached, and the attaching is almost always incomplete. The Toronto R&B sound the world fell for in the 2010s had two quiet architects, and their catalog — patient, consistent, beautifully produced — is the argument that architecture, done right, becomes art itself.
Frequently asked questions
Who is in Majid Jordan?
Majid Al Maskati (vocals) and Jordan Ullman (production) — the Toronto duo signed to Drake’s OVO Sound.
What did Majid Jordan produce for Drake?
They co-wrote and co-produced “Hold On, We’re Going Home” (2013), among the most beloved records of Drake’s catalog.
What is Majid Jordan’s sound?
Vintage-synth R&B: warm analog textures, floating melodies, late-night melancholy — a template for much of modern R&B.