Aubrey Drake Graham[4] (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor.[5] who has sold over five million album copies. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was the character Jimmy Brooks for eight seasons on the television show Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2008). He is of Jewish and Black/Afro-American descent. His mother is white and his father is black.
Drake | |
|---|---|
 Drake performing in concert in July 2016 | |
| Born | Aubrey Drake Graham October 24, 1986 |
| Other names | |
| Citizenship |
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| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2001–present |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Larry Graham (uncle) Teenie Hodges (uncle) |
| Awards | Full list |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Labels |
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| Website | Official website  |
Drake has worked with a lot of other musicians. Drake collaborated with Rihanna on the number-one singles "What's My Name?" (2010) and "Work" (2016). He also rapped on "Moment 4 Life" (2011) by Nicki Minaj. "Moment 4 Life" was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award in the category Best Rap Performance.[6] His third album Take Care won the award for Best Rap Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.[7]
In 2012, Drake along with his producer 40 and manager Oliver El-Khatib started the OVO Sound record label.[8]
On September 30, 2013, he was named as the "global ambassador" for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).[9] On March 14, 2019, the Raptors renamed their practice facility to the OVO Athletic Centre after Drake's brand.[10]
In 2016, he released Views, an album that was only on iTunes at first. His single "One Dance" became his first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a main artist.
Drake went on the 54-show Summer Sixteen Tour alongside American rapper Future to promote Views, Future's fourth studio album Evol, and the two's collaborative mixtape What a Time to Be Alive. The tour earned $84.3 million which made it the highest grossing hip-hop tour of all time.[11]
On March 18, 2017, Drake released More Life, which he referred to as a "playlist" instead of an album. The singles "Fake Love" and "Passionfruit" reached the top ten in countries worldwide.
In 2018, Drake worked with Travis Scott and published "Sicko Mode". It was nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance.
Drake's single, "God's Plan", from the EP Scary Hours, entered at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100. After 11 weeks at number one, the single "Nice for What" also entered at number one, making Drake the first artist to have a number-one entry replace another number-one entry at the top of the chart. "Nice for What" became Drake's fifth American chart-topper. Drake released the single "I'm Upset" in May 2018 and announced he would release his next album, Scorpion, in June.[12] Despite rumors, particularly a beef with rapper Pusha T, Drake revealed in the album that he has a child, a son named Adonis, with French artist Sophie Brussaux.[13]
On April 2, 2020, Drake released the single "Toosie Slide", based on the dance of the same name that had been posted to social media app TikTok.[14] It became his third number-one entrance on the Billboard Hot 100, tying him with Mariah Carey as having the most songs enter at the top. It became his seventh US number-one single overall.
On October 31, 2023, Drake released the song "First Person Shooter" which also featured J. Cole. The song debuted number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. This gave Drake his thirteenth number-one single and Cole's first number-one. By earning number one, Drake tied the record with Michael Jackson for most number-one singles by a male solo artist.[15] The song also started a feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar after Cole rapped about Drake, Cole and Lamar being the "Big 3" of hip hop.[16]
On August 2, 2024, Drake made an unannounced appearance at PartyNextDoor's concert. He performed and then said that Party and he were working on an album together.[17]
Early life
Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario.[4] His parents are Sandra, a school teacher,[18] and Dennis Graham, an African-American musician from Memphis, Tennessee.[19] Drake's parents got a divorce when he was five years old. He spent most of his time at his mother's house in the Weston Road area of Toronto while he also made summer visits to his father's house in Memphis.[20] Drake's uncles are also part of the music business. His uncle Larry Graham was a bassist for Sly and the Family Stone and his other uncle Mabon "Teenie" Hodges was a guitarist and songwriter who wrote hit songs such as "Take Me to the River" and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" for soul singer Al Green.[21]
He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute for high school,[22] and attended Vaughan Road Academy in Toronto. At Vaughan Road, Drake took part in their Interact program and was classmates with actor Elliot Page.[23] He dropped out because it took too much time away from his music and he was getting bullied for his race but he eventually earned his high school diploma in 2012.[24][25]
Career
Early in his music career, Drake was in a hip hop group called The Renaissance with Grammy Award-winning singer Melanie Fiona.[26] The first recorded song he put out was called "Do What You Do" on The N Soundtrack for the The N.[27] He uploaded music to his MySpace account including a demo track of a song called "Brand New" which was first meant for another artist.[28][29]
On February 14, 2006, Drake self-released his first mixtape Room for Improvement.[30] It sold around 6,000 copies.[31] After this, Drake performed at his first huge concert, opening for Ice Cube in Toronto at the Kool Haus nightclub on August 19, 2006.[32]
Around this time, Drake created his own record label called October's Very Own. He released his next mixtape, Comeback Season, on September 1, 2007.[33] The mixtape included the single "Replacement Girl" with American R&B singer Trey Songz. On the set of the music video for "Replacement Girl", Drake met his future producer Noah "40" Shebib.[34]
In 2008, Drake began to focus more on his music career after his character Jimmy Brooks along with many others were written out of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake befriended Jas Prince and through his connections, Prince ended up playing Drake's music for American rapper Lil Wayne.[29] Wayne was impressed and brought Drake along with him on his Tha Carter III tour.[35]
On February 13, 2009, Drake released his third mixtape So Far Gone. The album was successful, with the singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful" both entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart and both reaching Platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[36][37] The album was later re-released as an extended play on September 15.[38] The EP version won Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.[39] After the success of the albums, a bidding war took place between record labels to sign him. Drake eventually signed with Lil Wayne's label Young Money Entertainment on June 29, 2009.[40]
Works
Albums
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Movies
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Charlie Bartlett | A/V Jones | Minor role | [42] |
| 2008 | Mookie's Law | Chet Walters | Short movie | [43] |
| 2011 | Breakaway | Himself | Cameo | [44] |
| 2012 | Ice Age: Continental Drift | Ethan | Voice role | [45] |
| 2013 | Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | Ron Burgundy fan | Cameo | [46] |
| 2014 | Think Like a Man Too | Himself | [47] | |
| 2017 | 6ix Rising | Noisey documentary | [48] | |
| The Carter Effect | Documentary, was also executive producer | [49] | ||
| 2019 | Remember Me, Toronto | Documentary by Mustafa the Poet | [50] | |
| 2022 | Black Ice | N/A | Documentary, was executive producer | [51] |
| 2023 | For Khadija | N/A | [52] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Blue Murder | Joey Tamarin | Episode: "Out-of-Towners: Part 1" | [53] |
| 2001–2008 | Degrassi: The Next Generation | James "Jimmy" Brooks | Main role; 100 episodes | [54] |
| 2002 | Soul Food | Fredrick | Episode: "From Dreams to Nightmares" | [53] |
| Conviction | Teen Fish | Television movie | ||
| 2005 | Best Friend's Date | Dater | Episode: "Season Finale" | [55] |
| Instant Star | Himself | Episode: "Personality Crisis" | ||
| 2008 | The Border | PFC Gordon Harvey | Episode: "Stop Loss" | [56] |
| 2009 | Being Erica | Ken | Episode: "What I Am Is What I Am" | [56] |
| Sophie | Ken | Episode: "An Outing with Sophie" | ||
| Beyond the Break | Himself | Episode: "One 'Elle' of a Party" | ||
| 2010 | When I Was 17 | Episode: "Drake, Jennie Finch & Queen Latifah" | [57] | |
| Drake: Better Than Good Enough | Himself | MTV documentary | [58] | |
| 2011 | Juno Awards | Host | Television special | [59] |
| Saturday Night Live | Himself (musical guest) | Episode: "Anna Faris/Drake" | [60] | |
| 2012 | Punk'd | Himself | Episode: "Drake/Kim Kardashian" | [61] |
| 2014, 2016 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host/musical guest) | Episode: "Drake" | [62][63] |
| 2018 | The Shop | Himself | Episode 2 | [64] |
| The Egos | Episode: "OMP: Drake" | |||
| 2019– | Euphoria | None | Executive producer | [65] |
| 2019–2023 | Top Boy | None | [66] | |
| 2021–2022 | Chillin' Island | None | [67] | |
| 2023 | Saint X | None | [68] | |
Personal life
Drake is a father to a son named Adonis with French artist Sophie Brussaux.[69]
In March 2020, Drake contracted COVID-19. He became one of the first high-profile celebrities to contract the virus. He mentioned that the virus had caused him to lose his hair which later came back.[70] He later had to postpone some Young Money reunion shows with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj because he had contracted COVID-19 again.[71]
In October 2023, Drake signed a letter along with other artists which called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.[72]
References
Other websites
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