Search results
Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Drake (born October 24, 1986, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to have a successful and influential music career.
People also ask
Does Drake have a secret to his success?
How did Drake become famous?
Who is Drake & what does he do?
Who is Drake & how did he become a rap star?
Who is Drake & what is he doing now?
Who is Aubrey Drake Graham?
May 15, 2020 · Through digital savvy and a global sensibility, Drake – former child actor from Canada – has beaten the odds to become an unlikely rap superstar. Vogue reveals the secrets to Drake achieving global success.
Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), known mononymously as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor. An influential figure in popular music, he has been credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists.
Oct 16, 2023 · Drake has one of the most unexpected and impressive careers in the music industry. The now-iconic rapper released his first-ever mixtape in 2006 and left "Degrassi" in 2008. He has won five ...
- Callie Ahlgrim
- Henry Blodget
Jan 27, 2017 · The 30-year-old Canadian rapper's rise to being one of the music industry's biggest global acts has been a decade in the making: Aubrey Drake Graham emerged at a time when music sales were in...
- Overview
- Early life and career
- So Far Gone, Thank Me Later, and Nothing Was the Same
- If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Views, and other releases
- Scorpion, Certified Lover Boy, and additional recordings
- OVO and other projects
Drake (born October 24, 1986, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to a successful and influential music career. His trademark mixture of singing and lyrical rapping and of braggadocio juxtaposed with raw vulnerability won...
Graham’s parents divorced when he was a small child, and he was raised by his mother. During the summers he often visited his father, a drummer whose family was musically connected. In 2001 Graham was cast as basketball star Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi. His true interest was music, however, and he began rapping during that time, using his middle name for his “nom de hip-hop.” He self-published his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006. The follow-up, Comeback Season (2007), included the single “Replacement Girl,” featuring Trey Songz; the track was highlighted on BET’s music video show 106 & Park, increasing Drake’s exposure. In 2008 he left Degrassi to focus on his music career.
Britannica Quiz
Drake’s breakthrough came in 2009 with the release of the mixtape So Far Gone and its hit single “Best I Ever Had.” A bidding war between labels soon ensued, and Drake ultimately signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, a subsidiary of Cash Money. Later that year the label put out So Far Gone as an EP. It won the Juno Award for rap record...
In 2015 Drake announced via Twitter the surprise release of a 17-track mixtape-cum-album, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Critics praised the record as a return to the personal, emotional, and melodic style of his earliest production. Like his previous releases, it shot to the top of the charts in Canada and the United States, and the album w...
Drake’s fifth studio album, Scorpion (2018), featured the Billboard Hot 100 single “God’s Plan,” which had first appeared on his EP Scary Hours, released several months earlier. Drake won a Grammy for best rap song for the track in 2019, but the live broadcast cut his acceptance speech short after he criticized the awards. Other tracks on Scorpion respond to the song “The Story of Adidon,” by American rapper Pusha T. Pusha T alleged that Drake was hiding a child that he fathered with artist and adult film star, Sophie Brussaux. In “Emotionless” and “March 14,”Drake acknowledged that he had recently become a father and addressed the challenges of co-parenting (critics largely panned the single “I’m Upset,” however, for its apparent complaint about child support payments).
Subsequent releases included Care Package (2019), a compilation of B-sides, covers, and other tracks; Dark Lane Demo Tapes (2020), which featured the Billboard Hot 100 single “Toosie Slide”; and the EP Scary Hours 2 (2021), which included another Billboard Hot 100 track, “What’s Next.” Drake’s sixth record, Certified Lover Boy, was released in 2021. Later that year he withdrew the album and one of its tracks, “Way 2 Sexy,” from consideration for the Grammy Awards for best rap album and best rap performance, respectively. In 2022 Drake released a surprise follow-up, Honestly, Nevermind, which featured more vocalizing and dance club beats than on his previous albums. Shortly after, he debuted the video for the album’s first single, “Falling Back.”
Are you a student? Get Britannica Premium for only 24.95 - a 67% discount!
Learn More
In addition to creating music, Drake also cofounded the Toronto-based collective October’s Very Own (OVO) with his frequent producer Noah (“40”) Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib. It became a record label (OVO Sound) in 2012 and represented such acts as the R&B duo Majid Jordan and Canadian singer, songwriter, and producer PartyNextDoor. Starting with the release of Care Package in 2019, Drake released all his albums on OVO Sound. OVO also hosted the annual summer concert OVO Festival (started in 2010) in Toronto.
The company’s greatest source of revenue, however, was its fashion line. It began in 2010 when OVO collaborated with the outerwear brand Canada Goose on a limited-edition bomber jacket. Other partnerships soon followed, including those with Nike and Timberland. The success of the OVO fashion line led to the opening of its first retail location in Toronto in 2014 and subsequent expansion into such cities as Los Angeles, New York, and London.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Feb 14, 2019 · The success since So far Gone has been rewarded with Drake being one of the most celebrated rappers of all time, including four Grammy wins from 42 nominations.
Jan 19, 2021 · Drake first came to prominence in the teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation in the role of Jimmy Brooks, a wheelchair-bound character he played for seven years. After leaving the show...
