Drake

As the story goes, Aubrey “Drake” Graham got his start acting, famously appearing as the quadriplegic former basketball star Jimmy Brooks in the teen drama series Degrassi. The Toronto-born musician got his start as a rapper by releasing a string of well-received mixtapes, showcasing his knack for blending a vulnerable and melodic R&B sensibility into his music. Drake’s third mixtape So Far Gone arrived in 2009 with what seemed like divine timing, as a nascent generation of listeners, weaned on rap blogs and MP3s were primed for the genre-bending Drake was serving. So Far Gone, for instance, featured samples from indie darlings Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John.

Drake would align with Lil Wayne’s Cash Money Records, where he released his debut album Thank Me Later in 2010, followed by the critically acclaimed Take Care in 2011. That record solidified Drake’s place as one of the genre’s greats, a kaleidoscopic collection of emotional upheaval in the face of becoming the type of superstar the rapper had seemingly always dreamed of. Drake followed up with Nothing Was The Same in 2013, asserting his place at the top of the rap world.

For the years to follow, Drake would expand upon his rap universe, collaborating with an eclectic cast of innovative figures. From his early link-up with Atlanta’s Migos for their “Versace” remix to his joint tape What a Time to Be Alive with Future as well as collabs with rappers from the U.K., dancehall artists from Jamaica, and Afrobeats musicians from Nigeria, Drake became prolific in the 2010s as a global powerhouse. However, that didn’t come without its drawbacks. By 2016, when Drake released Views, the target on his back grew larger, as an array of rap world conflicts, first with Meek Mill in the summer of 2015, then with Pusha T and Kanye West, started to chip away at Drizzy.

Still, even going into the 2020s, Drake’s reliability as a hitmaker remains unmatched. From Certified Lover Boy to his joint project with 21 Savage Her Loss, and a side-quest of a dance music LP in Honestly, Nevermind, and a return to form with For All The Dogs, Drake remains the blueprint for longevity in the music world, consistently adapting to the changing pace of the culture. — Jeff Ihaza