Aubrey Drake Graham emerged from the tree-lined streets of Toronto to become one of the most influential figures in modern music, reshaping hip-hop’s sound and culture along the way. His path to superstardom began in an unlikely place for a future rap icon: Canadian teen television.
Born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Drake grew up navigating two worlds. His father, Dennis Graham, was an African American drummer from Memphis who had played with Jerry Lee Lewis, bringing music into Drake’s DNA. His mother, Sandi Graham, was a white Jewish Canadian who worked as an educator. This biracial, binational upbringing in Toronto’s Forest Hill neighborhood would later inform the duality that became central to his artistic identity.
Drake’s parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised primarily by his mother in a modest apartment. The contrast between his more affluent neighborhood and his family’s financial struggles created an interesting tension in his youth. He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, a public school, before later transferring to Vaughan Road Academy. Despite the challenges at home, Drake found an outlet through performance, and at fifteen, a family friend helped him land an audition that would change his trajectory.From 2001 to 2009, Drake portrayed Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian teen drama series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” His character, a basketball player who became paralyzed after a school shooting, gave Drake steady work and recognition throughout his teenage years. The show provided financial stability for his family, with Drake earning roughly fifty thousand Canadian dollars per season. Yet even as he found success as an actor, music remained his true passion. He began writing raps in the basement between filming, using the income from acting to fund his musical ambitions.
The transition from teen actor to credible rapper seemed improbable to many. Drake released his first mixtape, “Room for Improvement,” in 2006, followed by “Comeback Season” in 2007. The latter featured the song “Replacement Girl,” which received some radio play and became the first independently released track to be featured on BET. Still, he was largely unknown in the hip-hop world, carrying the stigma of being a former child actor trying to break into a genre that prized authenticity and street credibility.
Everything changed in 2009 with the release of “So Far Gone,” a mixtape that blurred the lines between singing and rapping, vulnerability and bravado. The project featured collaborations with Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, and others, and its breakout single “Best I Ever Had” reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Drake’s willingness to discuss heartbreak, insecurity, and emotional complexity over ambient production was unlike anything dominating hip-hop at the time. Where many rappers projected invincibility, Drake offered something different: introspection wrapped in melody.
The success of “So Far Gone” sparked a bidding war among major labels. Drake ultimately signed with Young Money Entertainment, Lil Wayne’s label under Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne became both a mentor and collaborator, giving Drake the credibility boost he needed within hip-hop’s core audience. Drake’s debut studio album, “Thank Me Later,” arrived in 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, featuring collaborations with Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Alicia Keys. The album established Drake’s commercial viability while showcasing his knack for crafting radio-friendly hits that maintained artistic credibility.
With each subsequent release, Drake expanded his influence. “Take Care” in 2011 won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and featured the megahit “Take Care” with Rihanna, along with “The Motto,” which popularized the phrase “YOLO” and further cemented Drake’s cultural impact beyond music. “Nothing Was the Same” in 2013 continued his hot streak, with songs like “Started from the Bottom” becoming anthems while deeper cuts showcased his introspective side. “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” in 2015 and “Views” in 2016 both broke streaming records and demonstrated Drake’s dominance across multiple formats.
What set Drake apart wasn’t just his music but his understanding of the entire entertainment ecosystem. He cultivated relationships with athletes, particularly in basketball, and became a fixture at NBA games. He served as the global ambassador for his hometown Toronto Raptors, celebrating their 2019 NBA Championship victory as if he were part of the team. He launched October’s Very Own (OVO), a lifestyle brand that encompassed clothing, a record label, and an annual music festival in Toronto. He became a master of social media, turning memes of himself into marketing opportunities and maintaining constant visibility without oversaturation.
Drake’s musical evolution continued with projects like “More Life” in 2017, which he described as a playlist rather than an album, incorporating Caribbean influences and featuring artists from around the globe. “Scorpion” in 2018 was a massive double album that included “God’s Plan,” a song that dominated the charts and whose music video showed Drake giving away nearly a million dollars to people in Miami. The project also addressed his personal life more directly than ever before, particularly the revelation that he had a son, Adonis, with French artist and former adult film star Sophie Brussaux.The rapper’s willingness to incorporate melodic singing, R&B influences, and even dance hall and UK drill into his sound helped reshape what mainstream hip-hop could be. Artists who followed in his wake, from J. Cole to Travis Scott to countless SoundCloud rappers, showed his influence in their vulnerability, their melodic approach, or their genre-blending experimentation. Drake normalized emotional openness in a genre that had often rewarded emotional guardedness.
His commercial achievements are staggering. Drake has broken numerous Billboard records, including the most charted songs on the Hot 100 by a solo artist. He’s consistently ranked among the most-streamed artists on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Songs like “One Dance,” “In My Feelings,” and “Hotline Bling” became global phenomena, transcending hip-hop to become pop culture touchstones. The “Hotline Bling” music video alone spawned countless memes and viral moments, demonstrating Drake’s unique ability to dominate both the charts and the internet.
Yet Drake’s career hasn’t been without controversy. His well-publicized feuds with other artists, including Meek Mill, Pusha T, and Kanye West, have provided drama that his fans dissect and debate. The Pusha T beef, in particular, grew intensely personal when Pusha revealed information about Drake’s son before Drake had publicly acknowledged him. Drake’s reputation as someone who employs ghostwriters, especially after a reference track by Quentin Miller leaked during his feud with Meek Mill, raised questions about authorship in hip-hop, though he’s maintained that collaboration has always been part of his process.
His romantic life has been equally scrutinized, with high-profile relationships and rumored connections to celebrities including Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and Serena Williams becoming tabloid fodder. Many of these relationships and their aftermaths have provided material for his songs, creating a feedback loop where his music comments on his fame, which in turn creates more material for future music.
Drake’s albums “Certified Lover Boy” in 2021 and “Her Loss,” a collaborative project with 21 Savage in 2022, continued his chart dominance even as some critics suggested his sound had grown repetitive. “For All the Dogs” in 2023 showed Drake experimenting with harder production while maintaining the melodic sensibility that defined his career. Through it all, his ability to generate hits remained undiminished, even as the streaming era fragmented audience attention in unprecedented ways.
Beyond music, Drake has invested in various business ventures. He’s been involved with Virginia Black whiskey, partnered with Nike on nocta, his own sub-label, and even ventured into the gambling space with partnerships and promotional deals. These moves reflect his understanding that modern celebrity requires diversification across industries and revenue streams.
Drake’s relationship with Toronto has remained central to his identity. He’s frequently called himself the city’s ambassador, putting Toronto on the map as a hip-hop capital and highlighting Canadian artists through OVO Sound. His annual OVO Fest became a destination event, bringing major stars to Toronto and celebrating the city’s growing cultural significance. When the Raptors won their championship, Drake’s courtside celebrations and trash-talking with opposing players became as much a part of the narrative as the games themselves.
Looking at Drake’s trajectory from a teen actor on Canadian television to arguably the biggest rapper in the world reveals a story about understanding cultural moments, adapting to changing landscapes, and never being afraid to show vulnerability alongside confidence. He took what could have been a liability, his background outside traditional hip-hop, and turned it into his greatest asset, offering a perspective that felt fresh precisely because it didn’t conform to expected narratives.
Whether discussing his mother’s struggles, his complicated feelings about his absent father, his romantic entanglements, or his rise to fame, Drake has made introspection commercially viable on a scale previously unimaginable. He’s shown that you can be both the person crying in your feelings and the person celebrating champagne-soaked success, and that both versions can coexist authentically.
As he continues releasing music and expanding his business empire, Drake’s influence on modern hip-hop and popular culture remains undeniable. He’s created a template for how artists can leverage streaming platforms, social media, and cross-industry partnerships to build something larger than just a music career. From the basement where he wrote his first raps to sold-out arenas around the world, Aubrey Graham’s journey represents a distinctly modern path to superstardom, one built on melody, vulnerability, and an uncanny ability to understand exactly what the culture wants before it knows it wants it.
