MacLean’s: Drake is ‘More Than Famous’

EXCLUSIVE: Maclean’s talks to hip-hop’s biggest star

The trappings of fame aren’t that hard to get used to. Aubrey Drake Graham was driving a leased Rolls-Royce around Toronto even before he signed one of the richest first-record contracts in music history. For more than two years now, he’s been hanging out with sports icons like LeBron James, partying with Jay-Z, Kanye West and other rap royalty, and making the gossip rags for his “romances” with Hollywood starlets (rumoured) and pop divas like Rihanna (confirmed).

There’s been a No. 1 single, a couple of nominations and an on-stage performance at the 2009 Grammys, and the inevitable deal to shill for a soft drink. It’s a heady life, but to hear the 23-year-old tell it, it’s only now that he’s realizing what it means to be a global celebrity.

Late last week, the rapper and his entourage, which boasts three bodyguards, dropped into a St. Louis shopping centre to buy some tea. The crowd trailing them around got so large and frenzied that mall security asked them to leave. “I feel like maybe two months ago, I still had a bit of anonymity. Now it’s a hassle to do regular things,” Drake says from backstage as he prepares for an evening performance in St. Louis. “I don’t know if it will ever feel normal. But I’ve accepted my responsibility—it’s what I wanted, it’s what I dreamed about. I don’t dispute

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