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Drake is returning to his roots in Canadian TV, but this time he’ll be behind the camera.
The actor-turned-rapper has been attached to a sitcom called “Us and Them,” taking on a role as a producer.
“‘Us and Them’ is something he has been working on for some time with some of his actor friends,” one of Drake’s reps told MTV News. “They will be continuing to develop the show, but Drake won’t be starring in it.”
This news doesn’t mean that the MC, who starred in teen drama “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” has completely left his acting career behind, though. If anything he’d like to take on roles in comedies for the big screen. Ideally, he’d become part of Judd Apatow’s team of funny people.
“I just want to be part of real films. I don’t want to play a basketball player all the time or a rapper. I always tell [my management] my dream is to be in a movie with Will Ferrell or Michael Cera. I’m a big fan of all those,” Drake said. “I feel like I’ve had the training and I’m surrounded by enough funny people that I could probably pull it off.”
Once he conquers the world of comedy, Drake wants to double back and re-introduce himself as a serious dramatic actor.
“My goal is to get deep into acting. I want to be like this generation’s Will Smith, just Canadian and light-skinned,” he said.
Source: s2Magazine
‘I just wanted to laugh,’ Drake says of clip featuring women’s basketball team.
Some fans liked it, some fans were scratching their heads after the debut of Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” video last month. Some in the blogosphere said the clip’s buxom female basketball team did nothing but cater to the male audience without matching the theme of the song; others just thought it wasn’t all that creative. And a couple of bloggers even went so far as to suggest that director Kanye West sabotaged Drake’s production.
In fact, Drake told MTV News that West offered to shoot another video for the song, and he declined. He noted that receiving mixed reviews of his clip was a great lesson. [Read more →]
Rising rapper DRAKE has been forced to pull out of plans to join mentor LIL WAYNE on tour, because his injured knee has failed to heal in time.
The hip-hop newcomer was expected to preview tracks from his highly-anticipated debut album Thank Me Later during his performances on the Young Money Presents: The America’s Most Wanted Music Festival trek. Drake had hoped to have recovered enough from a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) to perform a 30-minute set, but the painful injury is still causing him problems – and, as a result, he has had to cancel his solo slot altogether. He tells MTV.com, “I’m not doing my own set. That’s one thing I have to apologise to my fans about. It’s too much of a risk, if I hit that wrong turn (doing) 30 minutes every night. If I tear my ACL again, the doctors say I might not be able to walk again. I have to be cautious.” The tour kicks off in Pennsylvania on Monday night (27 Jul 09) and Drake is determined to at least make an appearance onstage to collaborate with Lil Wayne – even if his doctors don’t approve. He adds, “I didn’t really get any approval from my doctor, but I made a personal decision 48 hours ago that I’d be letting a lot of people down if I didn’t show up and at least show them I’m there for them. “For the last two weeks, I’ve been really going hard, getting all types of acupuncture, trying to bring the swelling (in my knee) down. I’m walking around – no cane. I’ll put a brace on it. No one will probably even know I’m injured.”
Drake Says Gucci Maine Aint On The Map Yet + His 5 Top Girls He Would Put It Down With “Lenny Kravitz Daughter, Angel Lola Luv, Chelsea Lately & More”
After a relatively small set of offerings over the last several years, Cash Money Records has announced that it will release five albums before the end of 2009.
In an interview with All Hip Hop, Cash Money CEO Bryan “Baby” Williams revealed that the first release will be the label’s newest signee, rapper/actor Drake.
“Drake album, my album, Young Money, Wayne album. We gon’ put ‘em all out in one month, September going into October,” Williams said of the releases. “G. Malone and 2 Pistol probably come out in between all of that.”
The buzz that Cash Money has in the industry is only rivaled by the label’s initial buzz after signing a historic $30 million deal with Universal in 1998. Currently, Drake’s single “Best I Ever Had” is climbing the charts, while Young Money’s “Every Girl” [click to watch] and Baby’s “Stay Strapped” are all keeping the label in the public eye.“And it’s just coincidence that all our songs popped off at the same time [since] some of them been out longer than others,” Williams added.
For fans who can’t get enough of the label’s biggest star, Lil Wayne, Williams also noted that the Young Money compilation will be released the same day as Wayne’s next outing, Rebirth
Source: HipHopDx
Canadian rapper Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” single is not only a smash for him, but it’s becoming one of the best remixed tracks of the summer. The latest entry comes from self-professed “King of Remixes” Trey Songz, who dropped his track via his Twitter account.
“In the studio tryna paint a musical Picasso,” he wrote of the track.
It’s not the first time Drake and Trey Songz have collaborated on a song — they previously released “Successful” and “Replacement Girl” together. In the remix of “Best I Ever Had,” he tweaks the lyrics slightly, so instead of “Baby you my everything/ You’re all I ever wanted,” it’s now “She said I’m her everything/ I’m all she ever wanted.” The track retains the same charm and smoothness as the original with an extra dash of theatricality and swagger care of Songz.
Just as we did when comparing Songz to fellow remixer R. Kelly, I took the temperature of the Newsroom to see what the prevailing opinion was of Trey’s “Best I Ever Had.” The overall consensus? Hot! Read the Rest…
The Blueprint 3 — out September 11th, eight years to the day the original Blueprint was released — will also feature production from Timbaland, No ID and Kanye West, who Jay-Z spoke glowingly about to Reuters. “Kanye is really the father to the next generation — he’s from the school of Q-Tip, and now Drake and Kid Cudi are from the school of ‘Ye,” Jay said. “And, when you look at Kanye, you have to look at Lil Wayne. I think they’re like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.”
Source: Rolling Stone
“Drake has signed a deal to International Creative Management which represents a variety of artists including Beyonce, Sean Kingston, Katt Williams and more.”
Drizzy’s new signing was made public today (July 22).
Chart-topping rapper/singer Drake has signed to International Creative Management (ICM) to handle his tour booking and branding moving forward. The ICM deal follows Drake?s recent signing to Young Money Entertainment, with distribution through Universal Republic, for the release of his highly-anticipated debut album, Thank Me Later. (Billboard)
The company is known to represent various artists both in the film and music industry.
The agency represents film and television actors and directors, as well as artists in theater, music, publishing, and new media. A major “tenpercentery” (along with CAA and William Morris Endeavor), ICM represents such A-list clients as Halle Berry, Rosario Dawson, Robert Duvall, Beyonce Knowles, and Chris Rock, as well as emerging performers. It has offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London. (International Creative Managament)
Source: Sohh.com
I’m Still Fly” by Page ft. Drake
Drake Hot97 “Blackberry Freestyle” Spoof
No Dream on the hook, but the remix does sample The-Dream’s “Fancy.” (Youtbe Link)
Fabolous feat. Drake – Throw It In The Bag Remix (Download)
Source: Lost in the Wilderness
The Canadian hip-hop artist (‘Best I Ever Had’) has built a huge following with a gift for melodies, powerful allies and savvy management.
By any modern measure of musical popularity — YouTube views, radio airplay, ring-tone ubiquity — the single “Best I Ever Had” by Toronto rapper Drake is not only a hit, it’s arguably 2009′s “Song of the Summer.” Since debuting on iTunes last month, the hip-hop lust track has sold 600,000 digital downloads and topped three separate pop charts. Even if you can’t summon to mind its rap-sung vocals or brassy syncopated beat, you’ve probably heard “Best I Ever Had” blaring out of a convertible somewhere.
Less than a year ago, Drake was basically a zero in the music world, unsigned and virtually unknown as a rhyme-sayer. But thanks to some out-of-the-box branding efforts by several of the best-connected marketing executives in the urban world and the institutional backing of his mentor, rap superstar Lil Wayne, Drake landed two songs in the Top 10 this month — “Best I Ever Had” as a solo artist and “Every Girl” as part of the rap group Young Money. He had already amassed a devoted fan base before he’d even landed a record deal.
ABC News’ Darius Brown recently sat down with new rapper Drake to tackle the rumors; is he dating Rihanna, does he feel pressure and why he thinks he can relate to the ‘hood?’ Also, for the first time Drake opens up about his upbringing and tough times with his father!
Gotta be one of the Easiest contest questions ever but whatever LOL…yall want some tickets dont u??? Hit the jump for details.
‘It allows people a break from just constant rapping, rapping, rapping,’ he says of crooning on his tracks.
While Drake works on his debut LP, Thank Me Later, the Toronto MC said there is no method to any of his madness. If he gets inspired to spit rhymes on a track, he’ll get to it. If he wants to croon to a beat, that’s what it will be.
“The balance of singing and rapping has been blurred ever since I did So Far Gone,” he said of his breakthrough mixtape. “I mean, I don’t really have a formula for that. I don’t say, like, ‘OK, I can only sing this hook or I want to rap this.’ I just really hear a beat, and it’s like, ‘If I can write to it on a hip-hop level, if I can pen some raps to it, then that will work.’ And then maybe after I do that, I’ll get in the booth and sing a little part of the verse.
“I like to do that,” he continued. “I like to incorporate singing into my verses. And then I feel like it allows people a break from just constant rapping, rapping, rapping, you know? I think it’s great to incorporate melodies into the songs that I write. And yeah, my goal is just really to make a song that after I listen to it, I’ll just be like, ‘Man, people are going to know the words to that.’ That’s the best thing. I think I’m doing it right, ’cause when I go to the shows, people know the words to the songs, and that’s good.”
Drake has the video for “Best I Ever Had” out right now and says he’ll probably be appearing in front of the cameras for more clips soon.
“There’s talk to do a ‘Successful’ video,” Drake said. “Also, you know, I’m shooting the video to ‘Digital Girl’ with Jamie Foxx and Kanye West and The-Dream. And then there is another song that we have that we might shoot a video for, for the album. So as far as videos go, there is some more potential chances to see [me].”
Let’s remember the good times.which is why I’m sort of ashamed to be a part of it, however minimal my role as a freelancer is. No mater what they may say (or should I say “we”?) about him, the world will continue loving him.
Drake continues:
“I think you either appreciate Michael Jackson or you don’t. I don’t think it matters about him changing himself. I don’t think black people have resentment towards him for what he did to himself. Those were all personal decisions, you know. And nobody knows what that man was going through to make him want to look like that or change himself. I know there’s things about me that I want to change, just because they make me self-conscious. That’s why I get up and I’m pressed to go to the gym because I look at the TV and I see all these dudes with their shirts off, and it makes me self-conscious. It’s not to the point where I would do anything crazy, but then again, you can’t speak for somebody else. I think you either appreciate him and what he did and what he gave us or you don’t. I don’t think it’s fair to say that as a race we hold it against him. I think that there’s only so much you can expect from the media, and that’s something I’m learning too, on a smaller scale. But on a personal level, there’s outlets with integrity that actually work for the artists and there’s one’s that try to take you apart. The key to it is not paying attention — but when you get to a Michael Jackson level, it’s kinda hard to not pay attention.”
And Drake, also an accomplished actor famous for his role as Jimmy in the nominal Canadian TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation, was right on the money…Read the Rest
