What’s In A Name? D-R-A-K-E

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Before “rapper” Drake was throwing signs and wearing matching Louis Vuitton accessories (above 2009) he was “actor”, Aubrey Graham from Degrassi: The Next Generation (below 2005).  Graham always played it a little cool on Degrassi as “Jimmy”, the school basketball star who dabbled in hip-hop, but as a star of a squeeky-cleanish Canadian tween show Graham faced an uphill battle for respect as a true rap talent from fans and the industry alike.   Just as Melissa Gilbert posed nude for Playboy to abolish her typecast as pigtailed Laura Ingalls in Little House On The Prairie, Graham went raunchy to make his way to number 1. on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs Hot Rap Track Billboard charts with “Best I Ever Had”. He also adopted the name Drake to distance himself from his unsordid past.

Working with Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and Eminem, Drake has come into his own and we look look forward to Thank Me Later, expected in 2010.

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