Aubrey Drake Graham (born: October 24, 1986), known by his stage name as Drake, is a Canadian rapper and singer who has been international towards music crediting his popularizing singing and R&B sensibilities.
Early life[]
Drake was born as Aubrey Drake Graham on October 24, 1986 at Toronto, Ontario in Canada. His father, Dennis Graham, who's an African-American catholic, was a drummer for the rock and roll star, Jerry Lee Lewis. Drake said that his mother Sandi Graham, who's an white Canadian Jew, also comes from a musical family and that his grandmother used to babysit for Aretha Franklin.
Drake's parents were divorced when he was five years old and raised by his mother in Forest Hill in Toronto. After the divorce, Dennis would move to Memphis, where Drake would spend his childhood in Tennessee where he would be influenced in the Southern rap culture. Dennis would get caught and be sent to prison for selling drugs. He would reserve time for Drake to speak to a fellow inmate who would also rap. When asked about the fellow inmate who raps, Drake replied, "We used to kind of, use the remainder of my dad's phone time, and rap until it cut off."
Career[]
Beginnings (2001-2009)[]
Degrassi: The Next Generation[]
One of the classmates at Forest Hill would give him a start at the entertainment industry. Drake said, "There was a kid in my class who's father was an agent. His dad said if there's anyone in the class that makes you laugh, have them audition for me. After the audition, he became my agent." Drake would have a role on the Canadian teen drama series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake, who went by the name Aubrey Graham, casted as Jimmy Brooks, who's a popular eighth-grade basketball star who would then be physically disabled. He starred on the show for seven years but would then work on music at his time off.
Early mixtapes and So Far Gone[]
Drake would release his debut mixtape "Room for Improvement" and the second mixtape "Comeback Season" in 2006. Jas Prince would take notice from Drake's music in MySpace when they had a music experience at the time. Jas would send Drake's music to Lil Wayne which prompted him to invite Drake to a tour for Wayne's Tha Carter III.
Wayne wanted to expand and find new talent through a label as for finding his second-half of his career. He would make a label titled Young Money Entertainment and he would like for Drake to be apart of it and fly him out to Houston and meet him. The two would go on to collaborate on multiple songs and perform together.
Drake would release the mixtape "So Far Gone" in 2009. The song "Best I Ever Had" went double platinum with over a sale of 2.4 million copies with it being on the Billboard charts. Drake would announce that he would officially sign to Young Money shortly after and have connections with every A-list artist he would imagine who would be ready to collaborate with him for his new album
Musical breakthrough (2010-2013)[]
Thank Me Later and Take Care[]
Drake would release his first album, "Thank Me Later" in 2010 under YMCMB and OVO Records, easily debuting at #1 on the Billboard records and selling 450,000 copies in it's first week. He would be on the mainstream and making a presence with credits from Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
YMCMB would completely take over hip-hop with Drake gaining respect as an artist by 2011. He would be ready to release his second album "Take Care" as it would debut #1 and sell 630,000 copies in it's first week with any hip-hop fan now knowing him from the songs taking over the radio. He was making music for everyone, not just the R&B and hip-hop fans. It would be a key element to his success when he broke into the U.S. market with effortlessly sing and rap in songs.
Nothing Was the Same and If You're Reading This It's Too Late (2013-2015)[]
Drake released his third album "Nothing Was the Same" in 2013. It had the similar results to Take Care except having less features proving he could be successful independently. The tour that followed the album grows $46 million over 66 shows with it being one of the biggest hip-hop tours at the time.
On February 2015, Drake released a commercial mixtape titled "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" onto iTunes without a prior announcement. With a debate on whether it was either a mixtape or an album, rumors say that there was a scheme to allow Drake to leave the Cash Money Records label. It debuted at #1 and sold 500,000 copies in the first week, making it the Rolling Stones' Top 500 Albums of All Time.
What a Time to Be Alive, Views and More Life (2015-2017)[]
Drake released his collaborative mixtape, "What a Time to Be Alive" with the American rapper Future, debuting it to #1 on the Billboard 200. It would be later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent for over 1 million units. He also appeared on the cover of The Fader.
Drake's fourth studio album, "Views" was released on 2016. It was originally to be called as Views from the 6 but was shortened as Views. The song "Summer Sixteen" debuted at #6 at the US Billboard Hot 100 with Drake comparing his standing in hip hop to more tenured artists. Tory Lanez would be unhappy at Drake for popularizing the term "6", "6 God", etc. as he would tweet out that it's "not cool bro".
Drake would later then release the mixtape, "More Life" on 2017, with having some positive reviews with it ending up breaking all streaming records for Apple Music (89.9 million streams) and Spotify (61.3 million streams).
Scary Hours, Scorpion and Care Package (2018-2019)[]
Drake tried sending Trippie Redd the song "God's Plan" because it could help work for his album which happened to leak after that. Drake would then release a mini EP titled, "Scary Hours" featuring songs "God's Plan" and "Diplomatic Immunity". He earned his 70th top 40 entry after featuring onto the song "Walk It Talk It" by Migos, which had debuted at #18 and debuted at #10. He was later then featured onto "Look Alive" by BlocBoy JB, making it at #6 on the on the Billboard Hot 100 with #23.
He then went to release two singles for his fifth studio album, "Scorpion", which are "Nice for What" and "I'm Upset". The album would then release at June 29, 2018, reaching global records on Spotify (132.45 million streams) and Apple Music (170 million streams). One of the songs got viral to the likes of "The Motto" and "Hotline Bling" with the summer's #InMyFeelingsChallenge / #KikiChallenge.
On 2019, Drake made amends with Meek Mill and Chris Brown with the songs "Going Bad" and "No Guidance" after that. He would then release his compilation album, "Care Package" consisting of 2010-2016 with songs like "5AM in Toronto", "Jodeci Freestyle", "Club Paradise", etc. Drake would then release the song "War" on December 24, 2019 with a UK-drill inspired instrumental.
Dark Lane Demo Tapes and Certified Lover Boy (2020-2021)[]
Drake would release "Dark Lane Demo Tapes" on May 1, 2020. It is considered a mixtape with a compilation of songs that were released on SoundCloud or leaked on the internet. It's supposed to be a "warm-up" for his sixth studio album, "Certified Lover Boy". It debuted at #1 selling 223,000 copies on first week.
The song "Laugh Now Cry Later" (featuring Lil Durk) would release on August 14, 2020 as the lead single for "Certified Lover Boy", but was not in the final track listing. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts and was nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards.
Honestly, Nevermind and Her Loss (2022-present)[]
Drake would release "Honestly, Nevermind" at June 17, 2022. It has been given positive reviews and debuted on the US Billboard 200 with 204,000 copies. The album's singles, "Sticky" and "Massive, debuted in the US Billboard Hot 100, while "Jimmy Cooks" became Drake's (and 21 Savage's second) US number one song.
Drake released his collaborative album "Her Loss", with the Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage on November 4, 2022 through Republic Records and OVO Records. With featuring a sole appearance from Travis Scott, the album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums and US Billboard 200 Charts among other countries.
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- Thank Me Later (2010)
- Take Care (2011)
- Nothing Was the Same (2013)
- Views (2016)
- Scorpion (2018)
- Certified Lover Boy (2021)
- Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
- For All the Dogs (2023) (reissued as For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition)
Collaborative albums[]
- Her Loss (with 21 Savage) (2022)
Tours[]
Headlining[]
- Away from Home Tour (2010)
- Club Paradise Tour (2012)
- Would You Like a Tour? (2013–2014)
- Jungle Tour (2015; six date promotional tour)
- Boy Meets World Tour (2017)
- Assassination Vacation Tour (2019)
Co-Headlining[]
- America's Most Wanted Tour (with Young Money) (2009)
- Drake vs. Lil Wayne (with Lil Wayne) (2014)
- Summer Sixteen Tour (with Future) (2016)
- Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour (with Migos) (2018)
- It's All a Blur Tour (with 21 Savage and J. Cole) (2023–2024)
Controversy[]
Pedophilia Accusations[]
Drake has been accused of kissing a 17-year-old at a concert, thus Drake would then be accused of accusations pertaining to pedophilia.[1] This would lead to Drake being accused of being a pedophile. Most notably by Kendrick Lamar who made his Not Like Us music. [2][3]
Trivia[]
- He is the founder of OVO Sound, along with 40 and Oliver El-Khatib.[4]