TheGrio’s 100: Drake, Mixtape master turned rap superstar

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Aubrey “Drake” Graham has been around for a few years, always flying just under the radar. But with the impending arrival of Thank Me Later, his debut studio album, Drake takes a place in the front ranks of songwriters infusing the hip-hop genre with a new vitality, and doing it his way.

Raised in Canada in a family with a musical pedigree, he landed a role in Canadian TV teen drama Degrassi: TNG before developing a flavor and flair for hip-hop, cultivated on mixtapes he created privately and circulated on his MySpace page. Drake’s first success arrived in early 2006 with Room for Improvement, a collection that highlighted his lyrical skills and a sense of songcraft, a thing apart from hip-hop’s often-brittle braggadocio. Comeback Season, released in 2007, took much the same freestyler’s path to prominence.

Drake’s next mixtape, So Far Gone, exploded. The mixtape (also released on Drake’s personal website) reportedly got more than 2,000 downloads in the first two hours of its release. From there, it was up from the underground. Drake’s third mixtape was the perfect springboard for gaining audiences and relationships with some of the best in the business, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige and Jamie Foxx.

Drake personifies the DIY creative experience. Like any of America’s successful musical entrepreneurs, from Too Short to Jay-Z and others, Drake combines musical savvy with a mastery of self-marketing.

MTV’s Shaheem Reid noted last summer: “Mixtapes are a movement. For some, giving away music could mean much more than trying to sell their tunes — but Drake played the game right. He started giving away his mixtape So Far Gone, and the word of mouth spread with fans, his peers and record-company executives.”

In two short years, Drake’s won a pair of BET Hip Hop awards, been nominated for Soul Train and MTV Video Music awards, garnered two Grammy nominations and was signed to a contract after what industry monitor Billboard called “one of the biggest bidding wars ever.”

What’s next? Drake’s no doubt set on making his mark, not just as a singer or an actor or a savvy self-marketer, but a thoroughly modern entertainer with a long view. “Drake is very talented,” said rapper Bun B, a Drake collaborator, to Billboard.com in June. “There’s a difference between trying to be an artist and being one. Drake has the confidence to go very far and the chance to make history.”