Drake

Drake is the stage name of Aubrey Drake Graham, a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and businessman from Toronto, Canada. Born in 1986, he is associated with Young Money and works within hip hop and R&B styles, alongside pop and pop rap. His recorded output also includes alternative R&B, contemporary R&B and hardcore hip hop.

Early life and acting

Graham grows up in Toronto and attends Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and Vaughan Road Academy. As a teenager, he begins acting on the Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation, playing Jimmy Brooks, a basketball player who becomes physically disabled after being shot by a classmate. He appears on the series until 2007, with a total of 145 episodes, before shifting his focus to music.

Mixtapes and breakthrough

Drake releases his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006, followed by Comeback Season in 2007 and So Far Gone in 2009. Comeback Season is issued through his October’s Very Own label and includes the single “Replacement Girl” featuring Trey Songz, which makes him the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have a video featured on BET. So Far Gone is released as a free download through his OVO blog, features Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Omarion, Lloyd and Bun B, and leads to mainstream success through “Best I Ever Had” and “Successful”. The project is later reissued as an EP and wins Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.

Young Money and studio albums

After the success of So Far Gone, Drake signs to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment in 2009. His debut studio album, Thank Me Later, arrives in 2010 and debuts at number one on the US Billboard 200. It includes collaborations with Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Jay Z. His follow-up, Take Care (2011), is shaped with extensive production from Noah “40” Shebib and earns him the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The album blends hip hop with R&B and pop and includes singles such as “Headlines”, “Make Me Proud”, “The Motto” and “Take Care”.

Nothing Was the Same follows in 2013, again with 40 as executive producer. The album features “Hold On, We’re Going Home” and “Too Much”, and debuts at number one in several countries including the US, Canada, Denmark, Australia and the UK. In 2015, Drake releases the retail project If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and the collaborative mixtape What a Time to Be Alive with Future, both of which achieve platinum certification in the US. Views arrives in 2016, originally announced as Views from the Six, and becomes his most commercially successful album. It includes “One Dance”, “Hotline Bling” and “Pop Style”, and spends 13 nonconsecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. Its lead single “One Dance” becomes his first number-one single as a lead artist in several countries, and “Hotline Bling” brings Grammy Awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song.

In 2017, Drake releases More Life, described as a “playlist of original music” rather than a standard mixtape or album. It tops the Billboard 200 and sets streaming records. In 2018 he issues the double album Scorpion, which includes “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What” and “In My Feelings”. “God’s Plan” wins Best Rap Song at the Grammy Awards, while “In My Feelings” becomes a major hit and is linked with the viral #InMyFeelingsChallenge. In 2019 he releases the compilation album Care Package, made up of songs originally released between 2010 and 2016 that were not previously available for purchase or commercial streaming.

Labels, festivals and business

Drake co-founds OVO Sound in 2012 with Noah “40” Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib. The label is associated with artists and producers including PartyNextDoor, Majid Jordan, dvsn, Roy Woods, Plaza, Kash Doll, 40, Boi-1da, T-Minus, Mike Zombie, Nineteen85 and Future the Prince. He also founds the OVO Festival, which begins in 2010 and becomes a regular summer event in Toronto.

He is named global ambassador for the Toronto Raptors in 2013 and joins the team’s executive committee. He also works with Apple Music, fronts the platform at its 2015 launch and releases future solo music there first. Other business ventures include Virginia Black whiskey, Fring’s restaurant in Toronto with chef Susur Lee, and endorsement deals with companies including Sprite, Burger King and Whataburger.

Style and influence

Drake cites Kanye West, Jay Z and Lil Wayne among his hip hop influences, and Aaliyah and Usher among the R&B artists that shape his use of melody. He also names Vybz Kartel as a major influence on his Caribbean-inflected style. His music often combines rapping and singing, uses personal and relationship-based lyrics, and draws on Toronto, Caribbean and Middle Eastern speech patterns. He is also associated with the idea of “hyper-reality rap”, which focuses on celebrity and distance from ordinary life.

Recognition and records

Drake wins four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, twenty-seven Billboard Music Awards and three Juno Awards. He is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 170 million records sold worldwide, and the RIAA ranks him as the highest-certified digital singles artist. He also holds several Billboard records, including the most charted songs by a solo artist on the Hot 100, the most simultaneous Hot 100 entries in one week, and the most time spent on the Hot 100 by a solo artist.

Personal life and public image

Drake is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He lives in Hidden Hills, California, and owns property in Toronto, including a condo near the CN Tower, as well as a Boeing 767 airplane. He is the father of a son, Adonis, with artist Sophie Brussaux. He dates Rihanna on and off between 2009 and 2016. He also becomes known for the phrase “YOLO”, linked to “The Motto”, and for popularising “The Six” as a name for Toronto.