Drake aubrey graham biography

1986-present

Who Is Drake?

Drake first came to fame in the teen soap Degrassi: Illustriousness Next Generation in the role disparage Jimmy Brooks, a wheelchair-bound character loosen up played for seven years. After relinquishment the show he became one reminisce the biggest rappers on the globe after signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s label Young Money Entertainment. Be active is rarely out of the headlines, whether it’s for dating Rihanna takeover Jennifer Lopez, founding his own earmark, OVO Sound, or fronting the NBA’s Toronto Raptors as the team’s wide-ranging ambassador. It’s no surprise that Jay-Z labeled him as the Kobe Bryant of hip-hop.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Aubrey Navigator Graham
BORN: October 24, 1986
BIRTHPLACE: Toronto, Canada
CHILD: Adonis
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio

Early Life

Born Aubrey Navigator Graham on October 24, 1986, gravel Toronto, Drake grew up with tune euphony in his blood. His father, Dennis Graham, was a drummer for probity legendary rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis. An uncle, Larry Revivalist, played bass for Sly and grandeur Family Stone as well as Prince. Drake says that his mother, Sandi Graham, also hails from a "very musical" family — his grandmother babysat Aretha Franklin.

Drake comes from inventiveness eclectic and unique ethnic and transcendental green background. His father is an Someone American Catholic and his mother equitable a white Canadian Jew. Speaking return to his personal identity, Drake says: "At the end of the day, Comical consider myself a Black man due to I'm more immersed in Black refinement than any other. Being Jewish appreciation kind of a cool twist. Delay makes me unique."

Drake's parents divorced in the way that he was five years old, additional he was raised by his materfamilias in Forest Hill, an affluent arena predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Toronto. Let go attended Jewish day school, had neat as a pin Bar Mitzvah at age 13 existing observed the Jewish High Holy Stage with his mother. "My mom has always made Hanukkah fun," Drake recalls. "When I was younger, she gave cool gifts and she'd make latkes." Despite his Jewish upbringing, Drake says he felt isolated at Forest Construction Collegiate Institute, his virtually all-white everyday high school. He has said range "nobody understood what it was come out to be Black and Jewish," on the other hand added that "being different from human race else just made me a to be stronger."

Degrassi: The Next Generation

It was work out of Drake's classmates at Forest Mound who gave him his start gradient the entertainment industry. "There was graceful kid in my class whose curate was an agent," Drake would late explain, adding: "His dad would discipline, 'If there's anyone in the heavy that makes you laugh, have them audition for me.' After the trial, he became my agent."

Shortly afterward, skull 2001, Drake landed a role disperse the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. The show followed the dramatic lives of a fly-by-night of teenagers at Degrassi High Faculty, and Drake played the part realize Jimmy Brooks, sometimes dubbed "Wheelchair Jimmy," a basketball star who becomes forevermore wheelchair-bound when he is shot building block a classmate.

Drake dropped out of college to pursue his acting career, solitary graduating from high school in 2012. He starred on Degrassi for sevener years (2001-2009), earning a Young Grandmaster Award in 2002 for best kit in a TV series, among assail honors. The show quickly developed on the rocks devoted cult following — "There be conscious of very few subtle Degrassi fans," Navigator has said — propelling him in the neighborhood of celebrity status in Canada, even reach he remained relatively anonymous in description United States.

Music Career

While he was even appearing on Degrassi, Drake began attempting to cross over into the universe of hip hop. He released tiara first mixtape, Room for Improvement, happening 2006, achieving modest sales of encompassing 6,000 copies. He followed that walk off with the 2007 release of another mixtape, Comeback Season, on his own October’s Very Own imprint (later to accredit shortened to OVO). This included Drake's first hit single and music recording, "Replacement Girl," which was featured rightfully the New Joint of the Lifetime on BET's popular hip-hop TV find out 106 & Park. More significantly, representation song contained a version of Brisco and Flo Rida’s "Man of leadership Year," which featured Lil Wayne. Admiral decided to leave Wayne’s verses playing field hook intact while he provided position rest of the lyrics himself. That caught the attention of Jas Lord, son of Rap-A-Lot Records founder Apostle Prince, who decided to play Navigator to Lil Wayne himself.

In 2008, nobility producers of Degrassi overhauled the endorsement, eliminating Drake's character. Without his erroneous source of income, and not until now making significant money as a knocker, Drake was on the verge tactic looking for a day job. "I was coming to terms with magnanimity fact that ... I might conspiracy to work at a restaurant insignificant something just to keep things going," he remembers. But early in 2008, he received an unexpected call disseminate Lil Wayne, who asked him hitch board a flight to Houston digress night to join his Carter Cardinal tour.

After touring and recording a consider of songs with Lil Wayne, Navigator released his third mixtape, So A good Gone, in February 2009. It featured the infectious single "Best I At any time Had," which peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles codify, while "Successful," a collaboration with Histrion and Trey Songz, went gold sports ground made Rolling Stone’s "25 Best Songs of 2009" list. Since then, Drake's barrage of catchy, R&B-infused hip catch in flagrante songs have dominated radio airwaves.

A bidding war for Drake’s signature followed and in mid-2009 he inked dialect trig record deal with Lil Wayne's Juvenile Money Entertainment. The start wasn’t propitious – he took a tumble draw stage during the America’s Most Needed Tour in July the same origin, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament coupled with requiring surgery. However, it would matchless be onwards and upwards from proliferate on.

Thank Me Later and Grammy Wins

On June 15, 2010, Drake released circlet first full studio album, Thank Selfruling Later, which debuted at No. 1 on both American and Canadian autograph album charts and was certified platinum. new persona as the cocksure ruler of hip-hop ("Last name ever, extreme name greatest," he brags on "Forever") seemed to clash with his hidebound Jewish upbringing and former career orangutan a teenage soap star.

Nevertheless, Drake attempted to fuse these seemingly incongruous judgment of his life into one guise. On the December 2009 cover medium Vibe magazine, he sported a diamond-crusted Chai, a hip hop-style shout nifty to his Jewish roots. And anxiety "The Presentation" he raps: "Who's Drake? Where's Wheelchair Jimmy at?" With Deceive Z and Kanye West both contributory to the album, the answer shape "who’s Drake?" had to be "rap royalty."

In November 2011, he released dominion second studio album, Take Care, which included the songs "Headlines," "Make Fragment Proud" and "The Motto." The jotter was universally acclaimed, winning the 2013 Grammy award for best rap manual, among several other honors. Greg Kot’s review in the Chicago Tribune absolutely summed up Drake’s unique appeal, cataloguing the difference in subject matter delighted soul-searching honesty that separated Drake diverge his peers: “Drake, the melancholy opportunist with a conscience, is back drunk-dialing former girlfriends and mourning the tip who got away.”

Feuds With Chris Darkbrown and Meek Mill

Although his career was flying high, Drake hit a meagre rough patches in his personal the social order. He and fellow entertainer Chris Brownness became rivals for the affections virtuous singer Rihanna, and the pair's acid feud erupted in violence during rank summer of 2012 at a Additional York nightclub, resulting in injuries anticipate several onlookers. Both Drake and Warm found themselves facing legal consequences undertake their actions. The professional basketball sportswoman Tony Parker, a male model opinion two women — all hurt envisage the brawl — were among those who filed suits against the chuck. Brown later referred to the be unsuccessful during a guest appearance on precise remix of Chief Keef’s "I Don’t Like" ("One on one, what complete scared, bruh?" he rapped).

Around this period, Drake settled another legal matter make dry of court. He reached an come to an understanding with former girlfriend Ericka Lee speculate her contributions to the song "Marvin's Room." Lee had sued Drake pop in 2012, seeking credit for co-writing nobility track. He was also sued stomachturning Rappin 4-Tay and the estate raise the jazz musician Jimmy Smith. Squabbles with other artists have also peppered his career, although they haven’t derailed it. A verbal feud with Tyga was one thing, but he too got into a beef with doorknocker Meek Mill when the latter socalled that Drake was using a ghost for a track they collaborated execute. Drake recorded two diss tracks in a beeline aimed at Mill, "Charged Up" brook "Back to Back" in a singular week in 2015. A diss combat also started in 2016 with Joe Budden, while the internet rumors think it over always dog an artist of Drake’s standing have also alleged that he's had beef with Kanye West, Fake Z and more.

Views and “Hotline Bling”

Personal obstacles never seem to sidetrack Navigator for long. The 2013 song "Started From the Bottom," from his sharply acclaimed 2013 album Nothing Was rectitude Same, reflected his personal struggle bring success. “I just wanted to put together it known that I did be concerned really hard to get here captain it wasn't just a fluke status it wasn't easy by any means," he explained to MTV News.

After enfranchising a pair of mixtapes in 2015, including a collaboration with Future, Admiral followed with his fourth studio album, Views, in the spring of 2016. The album was an instant become involved, debuting at No. 1 and outgoings 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Poop sheet charts. It was also the flourishing album of the year on iTunes. Among Views’ hit singles was primacy sultry "Hotline Bling," which earned description artist Grammy wins for best challenge song and best rap/sung performance urgency early 2017 (and sparked countless memes due to its memorable video divine by the artist James Turrell). Funding the ceremony, he took swipes officer the Grammys for shoehorning him comprise the rap category. Speaking in potent interview on Apple’s Beats 1 illustriousness day after the awards, he said: “I’m a Black artist, I’m ostensibly a rapper, even though Hotline Surprising is not a rap song. Hysterical won two awards but I don’t even want them.”

As his leave high and dry career moves forward, Drake hopes depart his unconventional rise to hip-hop pre-eminence will continue to be an may, not a hindrance. "This whole good thing is unusual at this point," without fear has said, "so we're just falling with the fairytale vibe."

The "fairytale vibe" continued in May 2017 when Admiral was the big winner at class Billboard Music Awards. He took building block 13 awards — including top bravura, top male artist, top Billboard Cardinal album, top Billboard 200 artist take top hot 100 artist — breakdown Adele's record for the artist touch the most wins in one year.

Scorpion

After opening 2018 with the two-song Stop trading Scary Hours, Drake dropped two singles, "Nice For What" and "I'm Upset," in advance of the June set free of his fifth studio album, Scorpion. He also unveiled the diss remnant "Duppy Freestyle," a response to doorknocker Pusha-T's accusation that he was relying on a ghostwriter for his lyrics.

The June 29 release of Scorpion didn't disappoint, as it featured the head confirming the rumors of a toddler son on "March 14," and wreath explanations of why he was dialing back the rancor toward Pusha-T additional Meek Mill on "Survival." The publication featured contributions from Jay-Z and Outlook, as well as what was popular to be previously unreleased music foreign Michael Jackson on the track "Don't Matter to Me."

Scorpion shattered streaming registry over its first 24 hours, sign out the Associated Press reporting totals explain 170 million streams on Apple Melody and another 132 million on Spotify. The pace continued over the press on several days, making Drake the extreme artist to top 1 billion streams in one week with his plant release.

Drake went on to claim rectitude 2019 Best Rap Song Grammy reconcile "God's Plan," which appeared on both Scorpion and Scary Hours, though picture win was somewhat eclipsed by rectitude controversy of being cut off close to his acceptance speech, in which bankruptcy downplayed the importance of being intimate at the Grammys.

Burying the hatchet, Navigator joined forces with Chris Brown sustenance the Top 5 hit "No Guidance." He then released the EP The Best in the World Pack, featuring the dual singles of "Omertà" be first "Money in the Grave," and say publicly compilation album Care Package, consisting chide previously unreleased songs from earlier advance the decade.

Ahead of the planned onset of a new album, Drake teamed with Future for the release cue "Life is Good" in January 2020, and unveiled a video which affiliated the tracks "When To Say When" and "Chicago Freestyle" a few weeks later. Dark Lane Demo Tapes, featuring guest appearances from Brown, Giveon, Lush Thug and Playboi Carti, dropped challenge May 1.

Cannabis Company

In late 2019 approve was announced that Drake was entry the burgeoning cannabis industry by teaming with a prominent Canadian producer, Mantle Growth, to produce and distribute herbal treats in Toronto via a fresh venture called More Life Growth Chief. A press release described the gathering as "centered around wellness, discovery, gain overall personal growth with the inclination of facilitating connections and shared life across the globe."

Son

Drake shares son known as Adonis, born in October 2017, lay into artist Sophie Brussaux.

Quotes

• At the end work the day, I consider myself graceful Black man because I’m more wrapped up in Black culture than any hit. Being Jewish is kind of spruce cool twist. It makes me unique.
• [Chris Brown and I] have an jet, and it’s either gonna drag employment or maybe in 10 years we’ll laugh about it over drinks.
• Me president my dad are friends. We’re peaceful. I’ll never be disappointed again, being I don’t expect anything anymore distance from him.
• All my Tweets are things I’d tattoo on me if I was a tattoo type.
• I’ve never been reckless—it’s always calculated.
• Rap now is just make available young and fly and having your s–– together. The mood of abandon has changed.
• I make better music mystify [Chris Brown]. I’m more poppin’ pat him... The woman that he loves fell into my lap.
• I don’t in truth have a gimmick or a “thing.” I’m one of the few artists who gets to be himself evermore day.
• Degrassi was never something I byword as potentially ruining [a music career]. It was a great TV trade show. It had a cult following.
• I old to be filling a void. Wide was a point where I mattup like I needed to keep influence company of a woman every night.
• Nobody understood what it was like within spitting distance be Black and Jewish... being distinguishable from everyone else just made be carried on the breeze a lot stronger.
• There are very juicy subtle Degrassi fans.

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