Birth name: Aubrey Drake Graham
Born: October 24, 1986
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Best Known As: Actor, rapper, singer

Early / Acting Life

Aubrey Drake Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) on October 24th, 1986. He is mixed black (From Father) and white (From Mother). He was inspired to become an actor because of Denzel Washington. Aubrey has done commercial work for GMC, Sears, M.A.C. and Toys’R'Us. Aubrey has also trained with young Peoples Theatre and the Showtime summer workshop. Recently, Aubrey appeared in Omar Epps’ MOW, Convicted. His major role that made him well known was playing as “Jimmy Brooks” on “Degrassi: The Next Generation”(2005-2006). He enjoy’s playing basketball and loves Hip-Hop, and RnB. He loves to write and create his own music and plans to do that in the near future. Currently he is looking at a couple of record labels and is planning to be in the music industry after Degrassi is over. He like’s the group N.E.R.D, Pharell, Usher, Kanye West Frank Sinatra and Al Green. He loves to wear Triple 5 Soul clothing. Aubrey had other TV appearances: “Soul Food”(2002) as Fredrick, “Best Friend’s Date”(2005)-Season Finale as Dater and in 2006 he accomplished an appearing in “Instant Star”(2006).

Music Career

In February 2006, Drake released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. From the success of his first mixtape, he later began releasing more, capitalizing from the buzz.

In 2007, he released Comeback Season to much critical acclaim and praise. It was from here on where Graham started gaining popularity when he did his first song with Lil Wayne, a remix of the already popular song “Man of the Year” which Wayne didn’t rap in but had ad-libs in the end of the song. In 2008, he released Heartbreak Drake, yet again a popular release and gaining more acclaim and buzz for the artist. So Far Gone, which included Drake’s mentor Lil Wayne, and members of Young Money, was released in 2009. Also in 2007, Graham became the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first single, “Replacement Girl” was featured as the “Joint of the Day” in April 2007.

While working on his mixtapes and his album, Drake has worked with Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Trey Songz, Robin Thicke and Little Brother. Drake has also written for Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante and Dr. Dre. He is currently working on his debut album, Thank Me Later.

He has achieved this success without even signing to a major record label, according to his management Hip Hop Since 1978

In June 2009, it was revealed that a fake Drake album entitled The Girls Love Drake was up for sale on iTunes. A lawsuit is planned against the label.

So Far Gone

February 13, 2009, Drake Graham released his third official mixtape title “So Far Gone”. The mixtape went for free download on his blog site which featured Drizzy’s mentor Weezy, Bun B, Omarion, Llyod and his friend, Trey Songz. It received well over 2,000 downloads in the first 2 hours of release. This mixtape was extremely successful in the underground rap industry and eventually made its way to radio stations across the nation. Due to the success of mixtape’s two singles, “Best I Ever Had” and “Successful”, it was released as an EP featuring only five songs from the from the original mixtape and included one new song. MTV named “So Far Gone” the hottest mixtape of 2009. Since the release of “So Far Gone” Drake has worked with DJ Khaled, Young Money, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, Timbaland, Birdman, Trey Songz, and Jamie Foxx. Drake has also written for Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante, Alicia Keys, and Dr. Dre.

He achieved success before signing to a major record label, according to his management Hip Hop Since 1978. In June 2009, it was revealed that an unauthorized album entitled The Girls Love Drake and credited to Graham was up for sale on iTunes. A lawsuit was planned against the label.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart of July 4, 2009, both “Best I Ever Had”, and “Every Girl” by Young Money Entertainment entered the top ten at positions 3 and 10 respectively. Graham is only the second artist to have his first two top ten hits in the same week. The first was fellow Canadian Nelly Furtado who entered the top ten in 2001 with “I’m Like A Bird” the same week as Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On”, a remix of which included a credited contribution from Furtado. On June 29, 2009, it was confirmed, that Graham signed a record deal with Young Money Entertainment. This followed what Billboard purported to be “one of the biggest bidding wars ever”. Graham toured with Wayne and other rap artists on the America’s Most Wanted Tour.

On July 31, 2009, Graham, who was performing on an already injured knee, fell on stage while performing “Best I Ever Had”, with Lil Wayne in Camden, New Jersey. Graham underwent surgery on September 8, 2009 for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He was currently undergoing rehabilitation and was able to walk.

On September 15, 2009, So Far Gone was released as a seven-track EP in which five of the tracks were from the original mixtape. It debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. Since then the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold in the United States. On April 18, 2010, the album won Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.

Thank Me Later

Graham planned to release his official debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2009, but the album’s release date was postponed, first to March 2010, then May 25, 2010. Universal Motown then stated the album had been pushed back three weeks for a June 15, 2010 release. The album has confirmed collaborations with the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne. On March 9, 2010, Graham released the first single from his Thank Me Later album, also known as “Over”. It reached No. 14 on the Hot 100.

On March 12, 2010, a version of K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti was released. Graham is featured in the song, performing a solo verse near the end of the song.

On April 29, 2010, it was announced that Graham had finished Thank Me Later. According to reports, Graham announced the completion of the album to a crowd during his April 26, 2010, show at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. His camp has since confirmed that Drake was finished with the final track to the album and the next single from the album would be titled “Find Your Love”. “Find Your Love” was released as the second single on May 5, 2010, and has become the most successful single from the album, as it has reached No. 8 on the Hot 100, becoming the most successful single from the album to date.

The third single from the album, “Miss Me”, featuring Lil Wayne, was released on June 1, 2010. It has reached No. 15 on the Hot 100.

On June 15, 25,000 fans gathered at New York’s South Street Seaport for a free concert by Drake and Hanson. A near riot ensued after police canceled the show due to over-flowing crowds.

The album, Thank Me Later, was finally released on June 15, 2010. Drake collaborated with artists such as Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, T.I. and Lil Wayne to create the album. The record sold 447,000 records in its first week, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and becoming his first release to do so. Due to his first week sales, Graham had sold the most records for any hip hop artist in one week in 2010, until Eminem easily passed that mark a week later.

Drake hosted the first annual Ovo (October’s Very Own) Festival. In that festival he brought out the VIP list of rap stars including: Jay-Z, Eminem, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Bun B and Fabolous.