Courtney Blakley
Professor Arnold
Music Appreciation
10 November 2015
Aubrey “Drake” Graham

Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He most knowingly goes by his middle name of Drake. His parents are Sandi and Dennis Graham. At the age of five, his parents divorced. Drake was then raised by his mother in Canada and would sometimes spend the summers in Memphis with his father. Drake attended a Jewish Day School but as time went on, Drake ended up dropping out of high school but later finished in 2012. Drake has seen many experiences in his life and some he said were very life changing. One life changing event includes of when he his own father, Dennis, being taken away for jail time and he had to see his father get taken. Drake states that since his father had been taken away, it made him learn that he needed to grow up fast and be the solid, supportive backbone for his mother. At the age of 24, Drake makes this comment explaining his life changes he has experienced, "I've seen a lot, man. I've seen a lot of life, put it that way. I've been with the most blessed kids in the world. I've been with people whose life is right at the bottom of the barrel. I was on a TV show, I went to art school, I went to hood schools. I've lived. I've lived a full 24 years, man.” Drake is now 29. In the year of 2001, Drakes life was about to make a big change and he had no idea what was coming. A classmate of Drake’s had a father who was an agent. The father told his son that if anyone was funny, the needed to audition for him. No one at the time realized it but, this man would eventually become Drakes agent. Shortly after the audition, Drake got a star roll as “Jimmy Brooks” who later doubled into “Wheelchair Jimmy” on the hit television show “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” He was on this hit TV series until 2009 when “Jimmy” graduated from high school. Drake also stared in shows such as “Soul Food", "Conviction", "Best Friend's Date", "The Borders", "Sophie" and "Being Erica". Age ten, Drake started to write his own music in hopes to become successful in the music industry. Drake had no idea that in the year 2009, his dreams would become true. His most influential people in his music career were Kanye West, Jay-Z, Aaliyah and his mentor Lil Wayne. In an interview, Drake stated that R&B singer Aaliyah has had the biggest influence on his musical career. Since Drake could not stay out of trying to get big in the music industry, such motivation lead to him dropping his first mix tape “Room for Improvement” in 2006. During this time he was still on Degrassi and although his mix tape had almost 6,000 copies downloaded, things were still not taking off. Nevertheless in 2008, Drake got a phone call from big rap star Lil Wayne asking Drake to board a plane to Houston, Texas and join him on his current tour. In 2009, Drake released his third mix tape, “So Far Gone” which had one of his most famous hit songs of “Best I Ever Had.” Mid-2009 Drake finally had linked a record deal with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment. In 2010, Drake released his very first album called “Thank Me Later” which reached Number One album in both the US and Canada. His number one album stretched to such significance and became a certified platinum cover. The following year Drake dropped his second album called “Take Care” which included hit songs of “The Motto” and “Headlines.” His second album met with the wide acclaim, winning him a Grammy Award in 2013 for the best rap album, among several other awards. Drake’s music career continues to grow as the years go on. He just recently released an album entitled “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and also released an album with rapper Future. Drake also has two very famous recent songs of “Hot Line Bling” and “Back to Back.”