Belmont and Belcourt Biographies - Drake: An Unauthorized Biography

An Unauthorized Biography

Copyright 2012 by Belmont & Belcourt Biographies

All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

ISBN: 9781619841239

Aubrey Drake Graham, also known as Drizzy Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. Hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Drake first launched his career playing Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian television teen drama series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. However, Drakes true love was music. After releasing several mixtapes via the internet, Drake finally hit it big as an independent artist, with his singles, Best I Ever Had and Every Girl.

Drake was quickly scooped up by Young Money Entertainment and, as a result, had rapping sensation Lil Wayne as a hip hop mentor. His career has shown no signs of faltering. His recent single, Take Care, featuring Rihanna, has been topping charts around the world.

Drake is in hot demand by the music industry. He has worked with international hip hop legends, such as Rick Ross, Kanye West, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj.

Standing at six feet two inches, this first-ever black Jewish rap star has shown that hard work and dedication can take you anywhere. This unauthorized biography follows Drakes career from his early days as a teenage actor to his struggles as an independent music artist, and to finally becoming what he has always wanted: an internationally known hip hop artist.

Drake: I do put an immense amount of pressure on myself; I dont sleep much. I think about everything and everyone in my life and trying to make everyone happy. My best friend tells me that I care too much, that I want everyone to like me. Not everyones gonna like you, but I just want to be remembered as a man that somebody wants to be.

Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario, to parents Dennis and Sandi Graham. Dennis was a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sandi, who originally wished to name her son Abraham, was an educator. Drakes father is African-American and hails from Memphis, Tennessee. His mother is white and Jewish Canadian.

Drakes musical education began early. When he was a young child, his father would take him to late night club gigs in Toronto.

I knew how to sing Ride, Sally, Ride, which is a cover hed perform, and hed bring me up onstage with him to sing it as part of his act.

Drakes parents divorced when he was only five years old, and Drake went to live with his mother in Torontos Forest Hill, an affluent, predominantly Jewish neighborhood. His parents divorce had a profound effect on Drake:

I had to become a man very quickly and be the backbone for a woman who I love with all of my heart, my mother.

Drake attended elementary school at Forest Hill Public School and high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. Attending school in such a homogeneous area was tough for Drake; he felt that nobody understood what it was like to be black and Jewish. It was in high school that Drake first tried his hand at acting.

There was a kid in my class whose father was an agent. His dad would say, 'If there's anyone in the class that makes you laugh, have them audition for me.' After the audition, he became my agent.

Musical ability undoubtedly runs in Drakes family. Aside from his father, two of Drakes uncles, Mabon Teenie Hodges and Larry Graham, were also musicians. Larry Graham was the bassist in Sly and the Family Stone and also played with Prince. Teenie Hodges was a guitarist who co-wrote Take Me to the River and Love and Happiness with Al Green. Drake comments on how important music was to his family while growing up:

"I grew up around classic, timeless music, like George Benson and the Spinners. My Jewish side of the family is very musical; my cousins are very skilled in piano and graduated from arts and music schools."

When young Drake decided to pursue acting, his parents were very supportive and encouraging.

My father and my mother are both people who definitely support anything in the arts. My father is a musician and my mother's side is immersed in music and acting.

Drake was raised Jewish by his mother and attended Jewish day school. His bar mitzvah in held the basement of an Italian restaurant in Toronto. Although he identifies with being an African-American, Drake still recognizes his Jewish background:

At the end of the day, I consider myself a black man because I'm more immersed in black culture than any other. Being Jewish is kind of a cool twist. It makes me unique.

To this day, Drake claims that he still celebrates all of the Jewish holidays with his mother and maintains that someday he would like to travel to Israel. He remains very close to his mother.

My mother made me truly appreciate women. I obviously make sex-driven, darker, sexier music, but I try not to offend women in them. Its not in my character. And my father was basically a reverse role model for me. Im dying to be a great dad one day, whenever that day comes. Other than that, it was hard just growing up with my mom and watching her fight for me to have a good childhood. It was tough to watch.

Drake is so close with his mother that, in July 2010, he cancelled his entire European tour in order to be with his mother, who was scheduled for surgery. Drake confirmed that his mother had been battling an illness for a considerable length of time, but did not reveal what the specific ailment was.

Although he lived with his mother in Canada during the school year, summers were typically spent with Drakes father, in Memphis. His father was instrumental in young Drake learning to rap.

My dad was in jail for two years and he shared a cell with this dude who didnt really have anyone to speak to. So, he used to share his phone time with this dude and at the time I was probably 16 or 17, this dude was like 20 or 22, and he would always rap to me over the phoneit was Poverty, that was his rap name. I started to get into it and I started to write my own st down. He would call me and we would just rap to each other. And, after my dad got out, I kept in touch with the dude and eventually I accepted the fact that I wanted to be in music.

Drake: Degrassi was never something I saw as potentially ruining [a music career]. It was a great TV show. It had a cult following.

Although Drake had been cast in one episode of Blue Murder, a Canadian crime drama television series, his acting career took off when, at the young age of fourteen, he was cast as Jimmy Brooks in Degrassi: The Next Generation (renamed Degrassi in its tenth season), a Canadian teen television drama series. Drake was a regular cast member in the first seven seasons (a total of 138 episodes), as well as the 2008 television movie, Degrassi Spring Break Movie. His character is also mentioned in the 2010 television movie, Degrassi Takes Manhattan.

His character, James Jimmy Brooks, is a high school basketball star who becomes physically disabled after being shot in the back by a classmate. Jimmy comes from a wealthy family and is often seen wearing expensive clothing. Jimmy is best friends with another Degrassi character, Gavin Spinner Mason, although the two frequently fight and argue. Drake became very close with Shane Kippel, the actor who portrayed Mason.