Toronto-born rap star Aubrey Drake Graham is famous for hit singles “Hotline Bling”, “One Dance”, and “Take Care”. Before being a rapper, he gained popularity through his role as the wheelchair-bound Jimmy Brooks in the teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation for seven years. Drake embarked his musical career with Thank Me Later which earned massive success. He is also an entrepreneur who co-owns the OVO Sound.
Born in Toronto, Canada on October 24, 1986, he grew up in a musical family. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old, making him live with his Canadian Jew mother in Forest Hill, Toronto. He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and had been struggling studying in a virtually all-white people high school.
Drake’s life changed when one of his classmates–whose father was an agent–recommended him to do an audition for an entertainment agency. He successfully passed and started his acting career by playing in a teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation as Jimmy Brooks in 2001. His outstanding performance earned him some awards, including the 2002 Young Artist Award for best ensemble in a TV series. Drake then rose to fame and continued playing for seven years.
In addition to acting, he showed his rapping potential by releasing two mixtapes in 2006 and 2007. The latest one, Comeback Season featured his first hit “Replacement Girl” that also came out with the music video and appeared on a hip-hop TV show 106 & Park. In early 2018, Drake was invited to perform in Lil Wayne’s Carter III tour and worked together to make music. The following year, he rose to stardom with the third mixtape So Far Gone which featured several chart-topper singles, such as “Successful” and “Best I Ever Had”. Drake then signed to a music label Young Money Entertainment. The multitalented rapper premiered his first full album Thank Me Later (2010) that reached the first position on US and Canadian album charts. He also received Grammy Awards for the single “Take Care” in 2011. With his own singing techniques and emotional lyrics, Drake worked steadily, releasing one album to another.
Read: Drake Profile
In 2013, Nothing Was the Same, his album that narrated his struggle for success, was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. It was also nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards. He gained great success for the hit single “Hotline Bling” from the album Views (2016) and earned him two Grammys: Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song in 2017. In 2020, along with Future, Drake released “Life is Good” and issued a mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes as a collaboration with several artists.
Outside working in the entertainment industry, Drake is a businessman. He teamed with Canopy Growth, a Canadian producer to develop a cannabis business under a venture More Life Growth Co. in 2019 and aimed to distribute and produce herbal treats in Toronto, Canada. He was also the founder of record label OVO Sound in 2012.
