The man behind many Drake classics, Noah “40” Shebib, took some time away from the boards and chatted with Vibe on a variety of topics such as the recent Nothing Was The Same and relationships with New York hip hop heavyweights.

Also within the interview 40 spoke on his production work for the posthumous Aaliyah, going as deep as sharing that Timbaland felt that he should continue working through the criticism and ultimately stopping due to the wishes of Aaliyah’s mother. Check out the excerpt after the jump…

Well, I was that for Aaliyah. Aaliyah’s label Blackground—the Hankersons, her uncle and cousin—came to me and said if she was around she’d want you to do this [posthumous] project.

I’ve been obsessed with Aaliyah forever, and I know Drake has his relationship with her. But that opportunity was mine. Drake said, “Can I do it with you?” and I was like, “Of course, we’ll do it together.”

The world reacting to Drake’s involvement so negatively, I just wanted nothing to do with it. That was a very sad experience for me. I was naïve to the politics surrounding Aaliyah’s legacy and a bit ignorant to Timbaland’s relationship and everybody else involved and how they’d feel. Tim said to me “Don’t stop, make the album.” I think that was Tim taking the position of, “I’m not going to stop you. If you’re not going to do it, that’s your decision.”

But ultimately, I wasn’t comfortable and didn’t like the stigma. We released [“Enough Said”], but I was seven songs deep. [Aaliyah’s] mother saying “I don’t want this out” was enough for me. I walked away very quickly.