Drake (musician)
Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer and actor. An influential figure in contemporary popular music, he has been credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists. Gaining recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–08), Drake then started pursuing a recording career in 2006, releasing his debut mixtape Room for Improvement. He followed up with the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.[4]
Drake
- Canada
- United States
- Rapper
- singer
- songwriter
- actor
- entrepreneur
2001–present
1
- Larry Graham (uncle)
- Teenie Hodges (uncle)
Vocals
His first three albums Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013) were met with commercial success, containing the US top-ten singles "Find Your Love", "Take Care", "Started from the Bottom", and "Hold On, We're Going Home".[5] Drake's fourth album Views (2016), received further success, remaining atop the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks, and featured the global hit singles "Hotline Bling" and "One Dance" (with WizKid and Kyla), the latter was credited for popularizing dancehall and Afrobeats in contemporary pop music.[6][7] Views was followed by the double album Scorpion (2018), that spawned three US number-one singles: "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". His sixth album, Certified Lover Boy (2021), set the then-record (9) for most US top-ten hits from one album: its lead single "Way 2 Sexy" (with Future and Young Thug) reached number one. In 2022, he released the house-inspired album Honestly, Nevermind and the collaborative album, Her Loss (with 21 Savage) and his eighth album For All the Dogs in 2023: these contained the number-ones "Jimmy Cooks" (with 21 Savage), "Slime You Out" (with SZA), and "First Person Shooter" (with J. Cole).
As an entrepreneur, Drake founded the OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator 40 in 2012. In 2013, he became the "global ambassador" of the Toronto Raptors, joining their executive committee and later obtaining naming rights to their practice facility OVO Athletic Centre. In 2016, he began collaborating with Brent Hocking on the bourbon whiskey Virginia Black.[8] Drake heads the OVO fashion label and the Nocta collaboration with Nike, Inc., and founded the production company DreamCrew and the fragrance house Better World. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5 percent (CAD$440 million) of Toronto's CAD$8.8 billion annual tourism income.[9] In 2022, he obtained partial ownership of Italian soccer club A.C. Milan.
Among the world's best-selling music artists, with over 170 million records sold, Drake is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[10] He has won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards. He has achieved 13 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, a joint-record for the most number-one singles by a male solo artist (tied with Michael Jackson).[11] Drake holds further Hot 100 records, including the most top 10 singles (77), and the most charted songs (329).[12] From 2018 to 2023, Drake held the record for the most simultaneously charted songs in one week (27), the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22);[13] and held the most continuous time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks).[a] He additionally has the most number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.
Career
2001–2009: Career beginnings
At 15, Drake was introduced to a high school friend's father, an acting agent. He found Drake a role on the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation, in which Drake portrayed Jimmy Brooks,[44] a basketball star who became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate. When asked about his early acting career, Drake replied, "My mother was very sick. We were very poor, like broke. The only money I had coming in was [from] Canadian TV."[29] According to showrunners Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn, Drake regularly arrived late on set after spending nights recording music. To prevent this, Schuyler claimed Drake struck an agreement with the set's security guards to gain entry to the set after recording to be allowed to sleep in a dressing room.[45] Drake's first recorded song, "Do What You Do", appeared on The N Soundtrack, which was released by The N (the night-time block for Noggin), as it was the network that Degrassi was airing on in the United States.[46]
Artistry
Influences
Drake has cited several hip hop artists as influencing his rapping style, including Kanye West,[238] Jay-Z,[239] MF Doom,[240] and Lil Wayne,[241] while also attributing various R&B artists as influential to the incorporation of the genre into his own music, including Aaliyah[242] and Usher.[243] Drake has also credited several dancehall artists for later influencing his Caribbean-inflected style, including Vybz Kartel, whom he has called one of his "biggest inspirations".[244][245]
Impact
A prominent figure in pop culture,[289] Drake is often praised one of the most influential figures in hip hop;[290] particularly his use of singing over hip hop instrumentals has been noted as an influence on modern rappers.[291] He is widely credited for popularizing the Toronto sound to the music industry and leading the "Canadian Invasion", a play on the British Invasion in the 1960s, of the American charts — alongside the likes of Justin Bieber and The Weeknd.[292][293][294][295][296] In 2022, music recognition app Shazam revealed Drake to be their most searched artist by users, with music featuring Drake collecting 350 million recognitions; his 2016 single "One Dance" collected 17 million recognitions alone.[297] In 2018, articles by The Guardian and Rolling Stone called him "the definitive pop star of his generation" and "perhaps [the] biggest post-Justin Timberlake male pop star of the new millennium", respectively.[298][299]
The Insider declared Drake the artist of the decade (2010s).[290] Regarding the general view that Drake introduced singing in mainstream hip hop, the publication said that at the height of Auto-Tune in hip hop during the late 2000s, "there were virtually no artists who were both a legit rapper and a legit crooner who delivered velvety smooth pop/R&B hybrid vocals that could exist separately from his hip-hop songs."[290] Commenting on Drake's Take Care, Elias Leight of Rolling Stone noticed in 2020 that "now nearly every singer raps, and nearly every rapper sings", as many artists "have borrowed or copied the template of [the album] that the boldness of the original is easily forgotten", according to the writer.[300]
Aaron Williams of Uproxx added "jump-starting the sad boy rapper craze alongside Kid Cudi" and "helping to renew stateside interest in UK grime and Caribbean dancehall with Skepta, PartyNextDoor, and Rihanna" to the modern trends Drake assisted.[301] BBC Radio 1Xtra argued that his co-signs helped push the British hip-hop scene to a wider international market, as he did with the Toronto music scene.[302] According to CBS Music in 2019, Drake has inspired "the next wave" of artists coming out of his hometown.[303] Writing for Bloomberg, Lucas Shaw commented Drake's popularity has influenced the promotion of music, with Certified Lover Boy attaining large commercial success despite relatively minimal orthodox marketing techniques, stating "fans are consuming Drake's [music] in a way that is different to others".[304] He also noted the album as novel in relation to consumption, with each song having relatively equivalent streams, as opposed to a dominant single(s).[304] Justin Charity of The Ringer noted Drake's signature of producing "half-hearted" performances on songs to create a "natural and off-the-cuff" effect has become the "obvious touchpoint for [subsequent] male R&B singers".[252] Charity further wrote Drake's success in the genre is "so thorough that it's all but impossible to hear certain vintages of R&B without hearing Drake".[252]
Beginning in 2022, Drake's music was canonized academically by Toronto Metropolitan University, which began teaching courses titled "Deconstructing Drake and the Weeknd", with the pair's music used to explore themes related to the Canadian music industry, race, class, marketing and globalization.[305] With the release during LGBT Pride Month of his seventh album Honestly, Nevermind (2022), Mark Savage of the BBC wrote Drake's exploration of house, a genre with overt origins in black and queer spaces, would help "build a bridge to those [origin] subcultures" for younger music listeners.[306]
Controversies
Legal issues
On May 31, 2009, Drake was robbed at gunpoint in Toronto's Little Italy district and was forced to forfeit a gold and diamond necklace, an Audemars Piguet watch, and $2,000. Soccerties Cotterell and Paul Lelutiu were initially charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, three counts of pointing a firearm and possession of stolen property. All charges were later dropped, except conspiracy to commit armed robbery, to which the men pleaded guilty. They were sentenced to time served, amounting to just over six months in jail.[325] In April 2017, Mesha Collins was arrested for criminal trespass after breaking into Drake's home in Calabasas; although no criminal charges were brought, Collins filed a $4 billion lawsuit against Drake for defamation in June 2021,[326] which was dismissed that December.[327] Drake then filed a restraining order against Collins in March 2022,[328] which was granted that April.[329] In March 2021, an unidentified woman armed with a knife was arrested after a failed attempt to break into Drake's Toronto home.[330] In January 2023, a man was arrested for burglarizing Drake's L.A. home.[331]
In 2012, singer Ericka Lee filed a lawsuit against Drake for the usage of her voice on "Marvins Room". Claiming to have provided the female vocals, Lee also alleged she was owed songwriting credits and royalties.[332] Despite Drake's legal team countering by claiming that Lee simply requested a credit in the liner notes of the album, the matter was resolved in February 2013, with both parties agreeing to an out-of-court settlement.[333] In 2014, Drake was sued for $300,000 for sampling "Jimmy Smith Rap", a 1982 single by jazz musician Jimmy Smith. The suit was filed by Smith's estate, who said Drake never asked for permission when sampling it for the intro on "Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2", claiming Smith himself would have disagreed as he disliked hip hop.[334][335] Drake would win the lawsuit in 2017, with federal judge William Pauley ruling the content used was transformative, and there was no liability for copyright infringement.[336] Also in 2014, it emerged that Drake was sued by rapper Rappin' 4-Tay, claiming Drake misused his lyrics when collaborating with YG on the song "Who Do You Love?". He sought $100,000 for mistreatment and artistic theft, which Drake paid to the rapper later that year.[337] In 2016, Drake caused a nightclub in Oklahoma City to close down, due to his usage of marijuana and other illegal drugs being prevalent at the club.[338] In December 2021, Drake sued jeweler Ori Vechler and his company Gemma LTD for incorrectly using his likeness in promotional material; he also sought to return three items he purchased.[339] In December 2022, a lawsuit brought by rapper Angelou Skywalker, who alleged that Drake stole his song "Reach for Skies" to make "Way 2 Sexy", was dismissed following "repeated misconduct" by Skywalker against prosecutors and U.S. district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who presided over the case; Skywalker was accused of filing no less than 50 irrelevant motions and was handed a restraining order, preventing contact with Drake.[340]
In 2017, Drake was embroiled in another lawsuit, being sued by producer Detail (Noel Fisher) over an alleged assault in 2014. Fisher claimed Drake's bodyguard, Nessel "Chubbs" Beezer, punched him in the face and allegedly broke his jaw over musical and financial disputes. Fisher also said the injuries caused him to be hospitalized for days and had to undergo several surgeries, following which he sued for damages related to medical bills and physical and emotional suffering.[341] The case, which was set to undergo trial in May 2018, was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu after Fisher failed to show up for a final status conference. Lu ruled that Beezer solely acted in self-defense.[342]
In January 2019, Drake, Odell Beckham Jr., and Younes Bendjima were sued by a man named Bennett Sipes in regards to an alleged assault that occurred outside of a L.A. nightclub in 2018. Sipes claims he suffered "traumatic brain injury, as well as injuries to his back, neck, shoulders, etc." on March 24, 2018, when he was attacked by Bendjima, as well as members of Drake and Beckham's entourages in an alley near the nightclub and sought $250,000 in damages. The suit alleges Drake and Beckham followed their respective crews to the alley to watch Sipes get attacked. A video of the incident was recorded using the on-site surveillance system.[343] The suit was eventually settled out of court.[344]
In October 2021, Drake and Chris Brown were sued by Braindon Cooper and Timothy Valentine for copyright infringement between "No Guidance" and their own song "I Love Your Dress",[345][346][347] but Drake was dropped by Cooper and Valentine from the lawsuit in April 2022.[348] Drake was handed another copyright lawsuit from Samuel Nicholas, citing infringement from Drake's "In My Feelings" and "Nice For What".[349] That November, he was named co-defendant with Travis Scott in a multi-claimant lawsuit for inciting "a riot and violence" at the Astroworld Festival,[350] to which he released a statement;[351] he reportedly delayed the release of "Splash Brothers", a collaboration with French Montana, as a result.[352]
On July 14, 2022, Drake was detained by Swedish police, reportedly stemming from drugs present within a Stockholm nightclub.[353] That November, Drake and 21 Savage were sued by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue, for using the Vogue name without permission to promote their collaborative album Her Loss;[354][355] Drake and 21 Savage "voluntarily ceased" to a preliminary injunction to stop using Vogue trademarks to promote the album,[356] and later reached a settlement with Condé Nast.[357] In February 2023, Drake was ordered to appear for a deposition in the XXXTentacion murder trial after the defense team for Dedrick Williams — one of the three suspects — listed Drake as a potential witness, related to the purported feud between Drake and XXXTentacion; Drake was subpoenaed the month prior, and failed to show for his scheduled deposition date of January 27; the rescheduled deposition was set for February 24.[358] It was later reported that armed guards at Drake's Beverly Hills home refused to accept the service of the deposition on February 14, which Drake's lawyer, Bradford Cohen, argued was not properly served in compliance with California law and done solely to "inject celebrity spectacle in a routine trial", ultimately leading to the deposition being dismissed.[359]
Business ventures
Endorsements
Prior to venturing into business, Drake garnered several endorsement deals with various companies, notably gaining one with Sprite following his mention of drinking purple drank, a concoction that contains Sprite as a key ingredient.[413][414] In the aftermath of his highly publicized feud with Meek Mill, Drake was also endorsed by fast food restaurants Burger King, White Castle and Whataburger.[415] Business magazine Forbes commented his endorsement deals and business partnerships "combined heavily" for Drake's reported pre-tax earnings at $94 million between June 2016 to June 2017, being one of the highest-paid celebrities during that period.[416] Drake receives an endorsement of $100 million per annum from the gambling firm Stake.com, as an ambassador of the online casino.[417] The partnership with Stake.com has created "The Drake Effect”, which has increased the company's awareness.[418][419] Drake has frequently posted about his bets on Stake and created content related to playing roulette on the platform.[420] In January 2022, Drake announced in his Instagram the Stake's two-year naming sponsorship of the Sauber Formula 1 (F1) racing team, starting in 2024.[421]
Studio albums
Collaborative albums
