Drake's Discography

Before the three official albums, Drake released two mixtapes. One entitled Room for Improvement, released in 2006. The second, Comeback Season,was self-released in 2007.

Drake on emotions and leaving a legacy:

I wish that we lived in a time and a generation where people would stop viewing my honesty as overly emotional. People always act like I spend my life crying in a dark room. I don't, I'm good. I'm a man. I want to be remembered as an artist that gave you a piece of me, as opposed to some surface bullshit. I don't think people realize that we die, we leave here, and either they forget about you or remember you. And how they remember you is up to you. I just want to be remembered as a poet that was open and honest because I wake up every morning and I'm me.

So Far Gone
This album is technically a mixtape. However, the artist himself counts it as his first album. This album helped Drake to gain an international following. So Far Gone has since been hailed as one of the best mixtape releases of modern music, and was universally well received by professional critics and hip-hop fans across the board.

Thank Me Later
This album was Drake's first album officially recorded in-studio with his record label. This album was released in June 2010 on Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart, selling 447,000 copies in the United States in its first week. The album went platinum in Drake's home country, Canada, within its debut week.

Actor, rapper. Drake, the world's only black Jewish Canadian rap star, was born Aubrey Drake Graham on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada. Drake grew up with music in his blood. His father, Dennis Graham, was a drummer for legendary rock star Jerry Lee Lewis, and Drake says that his mother, Sandi Graham, also hails from a "very musical" family. Drake comes from an eclectic and unique racial and religious background. His father is an African-American Catholic and his mother is a white Canadian Jew. Speaking about his personal identity, Drake says, "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." Drake's parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and he was raised by his mother in Forest Hill, an affluent and predominantly Jewish Toronto neighborhood. He had a Bar Mitzvah at age 13 and observed the Jewish High Holy Days with his mother. "My mom has always made Hanukkah fun," Drake recalls. "When I was younger, she gave cool gifts and she'd make latkes." Despite his Jewish upbringing, Drake says he felt isolated at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, his virtually all-white high school. Drake remembers, "Nobody understood what it

was like to be black and Jewish." However, he also adds, "being different from everyone else just made me a lot stronger." It was one of Drake's classmates at Forest Hill who gave him his start in the entertainment industry. "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." Shortly afterward, in 2001, Drake landed a role on the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake played the part of Jimmy Brooks, a basketball star who becomes permanently wheelchair bound when he is shot by a classmate. Drake starred on the show for seven years starting in 2001, earning a 2002 Young Artist Award for Best Ensemble in a TV Series. While still on Degrassi, Drake began attempting his transition into the world of hip-hop. He released his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006, achieving modest sales around approximately 6,000 copies. He followed that with the 2007 release of another mixtape, Comeback Season which included Drake's first hit single and music video, "Replacement Girl.

In 2008, the producers of Degrassi overhauled the cast, eliminating Drake's character. Without his steady source of income, and not yet making significant money as a rapper, Drake was on the verge of looking for a day job. "I was coming to terms with the fact that ... I might have to work at a restaurant or something just to keep things going," he remembers. But early in 2008, Drake received an unexpected call from rap star Lil Wayne, who asked Drake to board a flight to Houston that night to join his tour. Since that phone call, Drake has enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top of the music world. After touring and recording with Lil Wayne, Drake released his third mixtape, So Far Gone, in February 2009. Since then, Drake's barrage of catchy, R&B-infused hip-hop songs have dominated radio airwaves. By mid-2009, Drake had inked a record deal with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment. On June 15, 2010, Drake released his first full studio album, Thank Me Later, which debuted at No. 1 on both American and Canadian album charts and has since been certified platinum. Drake's new persona as the cocksure prince of hip-hop ("Last name ever, first name greatest," he brags on one track) seems to clash with his middle-class Jewish

Take Care
Drake's official sophomore album was released in November of 2011. This album had experienced several delays to its release date. Nine days before its scheduled release it was leaked onto the internet. However, the album still debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

upbringing and former career as a teenage soap-opera star. Nevertheless, Drake attempts to fuse these seemingly incongruous stages of his life into one persona. On the December 2009 cover of Vibe magazine, Drake sports a diamond-crusted Chai, a hip-hop style shout out to his Jewish roots. As his rap career moves forward, Drake hopes that his unconventional rise to hip-hop fame will continue to prove an asset, not a hindrance. "This whole thing is unusual at this point," he says, "so we're just rolling with the fairytale vibe."