Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian actor, rapper and singer. He is known for playing Jimmy Brooks, the physically disabled character on Degrassi: The Next Generation. As a rapper, Graham uses the stage name Drake, and is often billed as the new version of The Fresh Prince.[1] He is currently signed to Interscope Records.
[edit] Personal life
Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis; his uncle is musician Teenie Hodges.[2] His father is African American (a native of Memphis, Tennessee) and his mother is a Jewish Canadian.[3][4][5] He attended elementary school at Forest Hill Public School and high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting.[4]
[edit] Career
Since 2001, Graham has played Jimmy Brooks, the student who was injured in a school shooting at Degrassi Community School, making him the first main character with a physical disability on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He also appeared in the film Charlie Bartlett, co-starring Anton Yelchin and Robert Downey, Jr., which was released on February 22, 2008.
As a rapper, Graham has three self-published mixtapes, Room for Improvement, Comeback Season and So Far Gone, under the stage name Drake.[6] Room For Improvement was produced by DJ Smallz.He shot a video for his debut single "Replacement Girl" which features R&B singer Trey Songz.[7][8] He also made a cameo appearance in Trey Songz's "Wonder Woman" video. Graham also has an independent record label called October's Own, and refers to the collective of friends he works with All Things Fresh. ATF consists of T-Slack, Olivier, Jazz Cartier, Photo Will, Future the Prince, Boi-1da, Azuka, hustleGRL,Yung Trane ,Young Tony, 40/40, MarloW. and many more. They are a part of the imprint October's Own. The whole crew stems from Toronto and many of them have ventured off into their own realm of music but still have that dreamteam89 affiliation.[9]
During the process of recording and writing for both mixtapes, Drake worked with a fair amount of artists like,Faizan Tariq, Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, Bub B, Colin Munroe, Voyce, Lykke Li, written with Jazz Cartier, Olivier and Dr Dre to get publicity. Trey Songz was featured on all three mixtapes, and Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke worked on Comeback Season. Drake has been in works with Lil Wayne from since his second mixtape Comeback Season, Man of the Year. And Drake has also been in works with Lil Wayne in 2008 releasing songs such as "Ransom", "I Want This Forever", "Stunt Hard", "Stuntin", "I Can Take Your Girl", "Brand New (Remix)", and "Every Girl". As well as being featured on a new single by Colin Munroe "Cannon Ball". He has recently signed with Interscope Records.[10]
Drake released a new mixtape on February 13 entitled So Far Gone. The mixtape contains 17 tracks, featuring artists such as Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, Peter Bjorn & John, Lloyd, Lykke Li, Santogold, Bun B, and Omarion[11]
No comments:
Post a Comment