Drake (Wikipedia bot test)

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), known mononymously as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, and actor. An influential figure in popular music, he has been credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists. Gaining recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2008), Drake began his recording career in 2006 with the release of his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement (2006). He followed up with the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.

Drake's first three albums, Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013) each debuted atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top ten singles "Find Your Love", "Take Care" (featuring Rihanna), "Started from the Bottom", and "Hold On, We're Going Home" (featuring Majid Jordan). His fourth album Views (2016) lead the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks and contained the singles "Hotline Bling" and the US number one "One Dance" (featuring WizKid and Kyla), which has been credited for helping popularize dancehall and Afrobeats in contemporary American music. Views was followed by the double album Scorpion (2018), which included the three US number-one singles: "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". His sixth album, Certified Lover Boy (2021), set the then-record (9) for most US top-ten songs from one album with its lead single, "Way 2 Sexy" (featuring Future and Young Thug), reaching number one. In 2022, he released the house-inspired album Honestly, Nevermind and his collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, which yielded the number-one single "Jimmy Cooks". His eighth album, For All the Dogs (2023), featured his twelfth and thirteenth number ones, "Slime You Out" (featuring SZA) and "First Person Shooter" (featuring J. Cole). In 2024, Drake was involved in a high-profile rap feud with Kendrick Lamar, producing the songs "Push Ups, "Taylor Made Freestyle", "Family Matters", and "The Heart Part 6" as disses to Lamar. As an entrepreneur, Drake founded the OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator 40 in 2012. In 2013, he became the "global ambassador" of the Toronto Raptors, joining their executive committee and later obtaining naming rights to their practice facility OVO Athletic Centre. In 2016, he began collaborating with Brent Hocking on the bourbon whiskey Virginia Black. Drake heads the OVO fashion label and the Nocta collaboration with Nike, Inc., and founded the production company DreamCrew and the fragrance house Better World. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5 percent (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 units sold, Drake is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He has won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards. He has achieved 13 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, a joint-record for the most number-one singles by a male solo artist (tied with Michael Jackson). Drake holds further Hot 100 records, including the most top 10 singles (78), and the most charted songs (338). From 2018 to 2023, Drake held the record for the most simultaneously charted songs in one week (27), the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22);[15] and held 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 parents are Sandra, a school teacher, and Dennis Graham, an African-American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Drake's parents got a divorce when he was five years old. He spent most of his time at his mother's house in the Weston Road area of Toronto while he also made summer visits to his father's house in Memphis. Drake's uncles are also part of the music business. His uncle Larry Graham was a bassist for Sly and the Family Stone and his other uncle Mabon "Teenie" Hodges was a guitarist and songwriter who wrote hit songs such as "Take Me to the River" and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" for soul singer Al Green. He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute for high school, and attended Vaughan Road Academy in Toronto. At Vaughan Road, Drake took part in their Interact program and was classmates with actor Elliot Page. He dropped out because it took too much time away from his music and he was getting bullied for his race but he eventually earned his high school diploma in 2012.

Early in his music career, Drake was in a hip hop group called The Renaissance with Grammy Award-winning singer Melanie Fiona. The first recorded song he put out was called "Do What You Do" on The N Soundtrack for the The N. He uploaded music to his MySpace account including a demo track of a song called "Brand New" which was first meant for another artist. On February 14, 2006, Drake self-released his first mixtape Room for Improvement.[30] It sold around 6,000 copies. After this, Drake performed at his first huge concert, opening for Ice Cube in Toronto at the Kool Haus nightclub on August 19, 2006. Around this time, Drake created his own record label called October's Very Own. He released his next mixtape, Comeback Season, on September 1, 2007. The mixtape included the single "Replacement Girl" with American R&B singer Trey Songz. On the set of the music video for "Replacement Girl", Drake met his future producer Noah "40" Shebib. In 2008, Drake began to focus more on his music career after his character Jimmy Brooks along with many others were written out of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake befriended Jas Prince and through his connections, Prince ended up playing Drake's music for American rapper Lil Wayne. Wayne was impressed and brought Drake along with him on his Tha Carter III tour. On February 13, 2009, Drake released his third mixtape So Far Gone. The album was successful, with the singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful" both entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart and both reaching Platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was later re-released as an extended play on September 15. The EP version won Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards. After the success of the albums, a bidding war took place between record labels to sign him. Drake eventually signed with Lil Wayne's label Young Money Entertainment on June 29, 2009.

Drake is a father to a son named Adonis with French artist Sophie Brussaux. In March 2020, Drake contracted COVID-19. He became one of the first high-profile celebrities to contract the virus. He mentioned that the virus had caused him to lose his hair which later came back. He later had to postpone some Young Money reunion shows with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj because he had contracted COVID-19 again. In October 2023, Drake signed a letter along with other artists which called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.