Drake

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor. Gaining recognition by starring in the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–08), Drake pursued a career in music releasing his debut mixtape Room for Improvement in 2006; he subsequently released the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.Drake released his debut studio album, Thank Me Later, in 2010, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. He achieved major critical success with Take Care (2011) and commercial success with Nothing Was the Same (2013) and his first commercial mixtape, If You're Reading This It's Too Late (2015); the latter two were certified multi-platinum in the US. Drake's fourth album, Views (2016), sat atop the Billboard 200 for 13 nonconsecutive weeks, becoming the first album by a male solo artist to do so in over a decade, and featured the chart record-setting lead single "One Dance". His second solo commercial mixtape, More Life (2017), set then-multiple streaming records, and in 2018, he released the double album Scorpion, which contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". Leaving Young Money in 2018, Drake's third commercial mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes was released in 2020, and featured the chart-topping "Toosie Slide". In 2021, the EP Scary Hours 2 included the number one "What's Next" and set chart records, and preceded his delayed sixth album, Certified Lover Boy (2021); the album set the record for most U.S. top-ten entries from one album, with lead single "Way 2 Sexy" becoming his ninth number one.As an entrepreneur, Drake founded the OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator 40 in 2012. In 2013, Drake became the new "global ambassador" of the Toronto Raptors, joining the executive committee of the NBA franchise, while owning naming rights to its practice facility. In 2016, he began collaborating with American entrepreneur Brent Hocking on the bourbon whiskey Virginia Black; it eventually broke sale records in Canada. Drake has also designed fashion, the most notable including a sub-label collaboration with Nike, alongside other business ventures. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5 per cent (CAD$440 million) of Toronto's CAD$8.8 billion annual tourism income.Among the world's best-selling music artists, with over 170 million records sold, Drake is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States by the RIAA. He has won four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a record 29 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards, and holds several Billboard Hot 100 chart records; Drake has the most top 10 singles (54), the most charted songs (258), the most simultaneously charted songs in one week (27), the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22), and the most continuous time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks). He additionally has the most number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.

Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Dennis Graham, is African-American and a practicing Catholic from Memphis, Tennessee, who worked as a drummer, performing alongside country musician Jerry Lee Lewis. His mother, Sandra "Sandi" Graham (née Sher), is a Canadian of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who worked as an English teacher and florist. Dennis Graham performed at Club Bluenote in Toronto, where he met Sandra Sher, who was in attendance. Drake is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, having American citizenship due to his American father. In his youth, he attended a Jewish day school, and became a bar mitzvah.Drake's parents divorced when he was five years old. After the divorce, he and his mother remained in Toronto; his father returned to Memphis, where he was incarcerated for a number of years on drug-related charges. Graham's limited finances and legal issues caused him to remain in the United States until Drake's early adulthood. Prior to his arrest, however, Graham would travel to Toronto and bring Drake to Memphis every summer. His father later collaborated with Canadian music group Arkells on the music video for a song titled "Drake's Dad". Graham claimed in an interview that Drake's assertions of him being an absent father were embellishments used to sell records, which Drake vehemently denies.Drake was raised in two Toronto neighbourhoods. He lived on Weston Road in the city's working-class west end until grade six, playing minor hockey with the Weston Red Wings. He then moved to one of the city's affluent neighbourhoods, Forest Hill, in 2000. When asked about the move, Drake replied, "[We had] a half of a house we could live in. The other people had the top half, we had the bottom half. I lived in the basement, my mom lived on the first floor. It was not big, it was not luxurious. It was what we could afford."He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he demonstrated an affinity for the arts, first acting while an active student at the school. He later attended Vaughan Road Academy in the city's multicultural Oakwood–Vaughan neighbourhood. Due to the economic status associated with the neighbourhood, Drake described the school as "not by any means the easiest school to go to." Drake was often bullied at school for his racial and religious background, and upon realizing that his busy class schedule was detrimental to his burgeoning acting career, Drake dropped out of school. He later graduated in October 2012.