There aren't many artists who can claim to have given their hometown a new name. Through his numerous record-breaking sales and streams, Drake has cemented Toronto’s reputation in the early twenty-first century as a hotbed for new music.
From an early start in Canadian television on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Drake has become a global presence and a global brand. With 42 Grammy nominations and three JUNO Awards under his belt, Drake is among the world’s best-selling artists, with the world’s highest-certified digital singles by any artist.
When Drake began to refer to Toronto as “The Six” or “the 6ix”, it wasn't long before the rest of the world did too.
Drake has come a long way from Degrassi Street.
A young Aubrey Drake Graham poses with his father and mother.
Courtesy of @champagnepapi, Instagram, July 6, 2014
Origins
Born in Toronto in 1986, Aubrey Drake Graham was raised in a family steeped in music. His father, Dennis Graham, had worked as a drummer for famous rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis. His parents had met after Graham had performed at Toronto’s Club Bluenote on Yonge Street.
Although his parents divorced when Drake was five, he remained close to both of his parents. Living with his mother in Toronto, he chose to go by his middle name (Drake), which his father had given him.
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Drake earned national attention through his portrayal of Jimmie Brooks on the popular and long-running Degrassi: The Next Generation, a television show that depicted teenage life in the city.
Drake spent seven years (2001–2008) as a regular cast member on the show, which was filmed at the Epitome Pictures studios in Toronto.
The cast of the popular CTV television show “Degrassi: The Next Generation”. Drake played the role of Jimmie Brooks, seen in the above cast photo in centre-left of the photo wearing a dark red shirt.
Courtesy of Epitome Pictures
Room For Improvement
While Drake was a cast member on Degrassi: The Next Generation, he recorded and released a mixtape in 2006 called Room for Improvement. Drake was an unsigned artist at the time of the mixtape's release. Little to no press accompanied its initial release and the mixtape sold an estimated 6,000 copies.
This early work shows Drake experimenting with musical styles, collaborating with American and Canadian producers and musicians, such as soul band Slakah the Beatchild as well as some of his fellow Degrassi cast members, such as Mazin Elsadig, who played Damian Hayes on the show.
Listen: City Is Mine
Even in his early work, Drake featured Toronto in his music. Listen to him call out Toronto on the “City is Mine” track from his 2006 mixtape “Room for Improvement.”
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From "Room for Improvement", 2006. Courtesy of All Things Fresh.
View Transcript
♪This the record that my backpack underground fans get to get to skippin
Back pack, Southern town fans get to tippin
Chasin fat stacks, runnin down grands and submission
I don't back track, every single sound for me different
I don't own no ice, I just got clean rap
Don't ever two step, I just rock, lean, snap
We could take it out to Houston where the rides all glossed up
Anybody I'm standin beside's all bossed up
Burgular *minor they say I'm servin them rhymers*
And me and Nickel F go together like burgers and diners, yes
I'm like a waiter if you somethin like a hater
With trays in both hands, place an order I can cater uh
I got the diamonds in my teeth flow
Memphis is the reason that my rhyming and my *chopped voice* speech slow
Peep though, * when I get fed up it's sped up Ridin through the streets just reclinin' in my seat ho uh
Them city lights is lookin brightest
3 am in the morning
And the pen is like lighter
I'm just a writer flamin' pages of a notebook book
My rachel mcadams get at 'em when I ignite her
Yup soon as a couple plan a trip
You smell gasoline I'll be burnin' all up and down the strip strip
I done said it I get you to unlet it
Just tip me if your tanks empty come get it
Yo, the city is mine (which one?)
T-O-R-O-N-T-O
D-R-A-K-E that's me
You know how the story goes
Pull up, range rove, yo' chick wanna roll
And I play myself in the stereo
And I make 'em wanna
Shake shake it, drop it drop it, bounce it bounce it, wop it wop it
Girl, move that thang like you gettin money for college, go!
Shake shake it, drop it drop it, bounce it bounce it, wop it wop it
Girl, move that thang like you gettin money for college, go!
Break it down like you working for your tuition at Howard
Mama, get it how you live, that thang that you working is power
Tryna be generous, so honey here's a tip
Now-a-days it's gettin cheaper to put 20's on the whip
So if you a opportunist look for 20's in the clip
And if you find 'em attractive and funny, that's when you dip, dip
And it's a trip, my city broke into sections
Up North I got me a couple of troubles, couple connections
And it's nothing that I created on purpose, there's people that gotta problem
But they scared to let it surface, uh
Ya boy say this, that, and the third to 'em
See me out and they never utter a word to 'em
Expect me not to draw a card from the deck
Anybody in my city going hard I respect but,
You gotta debt and you choose not to pay that
Imma hop ya fence, come into your yard and collect, lect uh
It ain't a problem of concern bruh, I always end up with exactly what I earn bruh
This ain't last year, money like a cashier, so hand your receipt if you tryna make a return bruh
Yessir, I live in a city where a lot of people don't get shine, shine
And, I be on by the fence as soon as anybody stepping out of line, line
And I got way too much love, for the city I can never get too much of
And if anybody hatin on me, I deport 'em, the city is mine boy
Yo, the city is mine (which one?)
T-O-R-O-N-T-O
D-R-A-K-E that's me
You know how the story goes
Pull up, range rove, yo chick, wanna roll
And I play myself in the stereo
And I make 'em wanna
Shake shake it, drop it drop it, bounce it bounce it, wop it wop it
Girl, move that thang like you gettin money for college, go!
Shake shake it, drop it drop it, bounce it bounce it, wop it wop it
Girl, move that thang like you gettin money for college, go!
Break it down, break it break it down
Break it down, break it break it down
Break it down, break it break it down
Break it down, break it break it down, break it down ♪
Yo the city is mine.
— Drake, "City is Mine", 2006
Which one?
T-O-R-O-N-T-O
So Far Gone
Drake released a series of independent projects and mixtapes from 2007 to 2009, often collaborating with artists and featuring in their songs or music videos. In February 2009, he released his third official mixtape, So Far Gone. Still unsigned to a major label, the cover art for the mixtape marked the debut of October’s Very Own, what would become Drake’s personal brand and entertainment company. The mixtape’s title stemmed from Drake’s experiences with fame, both as a child actor and as a burgeoning musician.
The mixtape was overwhelmingly successful: “Best I Ever Had” became Drake’s first top-ten song and was nominated for two Grammy Awards as well as the JUNO Award for Song of the Year in 2009.
The cover of Drake’s third mixtape “So Far Gone” released in 2009. Drake chose the label to evoke his childhood dreams of success. The album art also features one of the first appearances of “October’s Very Own”, Drake’s brand and entertainment company.
Courtesy of October’s Very Own
Many of the tracks on the So Far Gone mixtape explore Drake’s concerns with success and his experiences of fame. "Successful", the second track on So Far Gone, directly explores these themes.
As Drake's career developed, he also began to use his music videos to reveal additional facets to his songs. He chose to film the music video to “Successful”, a collaboration with Trey Songz and Lil Wayne, in his hometown of Toronto. The music video featured contemplative themes against a backdrop of Toronto city scenes. Directed by Jack White, the video won the 2008 MuchVibe Hiphop Video of the year.
Drake ends the video to "Successful" with a quotation about the meaning of success.
Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way.
The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
—Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
A poster for the second annual OVO Fest, held in August 2011 in Toronto. Notable appearances included the debut of The Weeknd and Rick Ross.
Courtesy of the Flyer Vault
OVO Fest
Thanks to the success of his mix tapes and music videos, Drake was an artist with a global fan base. In 2010, Drake released his first studio album, Thank Me Later, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200. In Canada, Thank Me Later was certified platinum (indicating over 100,000 sales) in its debut week.
The same year as his debut album was released, Drake launched OVO Fest, an annual music festival in Toronto coordinated by his expanding entertainment company, October’s Very Own (OVO).
Festival performers featured an ever-expanding list of Drake’s collaborators and friends, including Nicki Minaj, Jay Z, Stevie Wonder, and more. Fellow Torontonian and rising star The Weeknd made his festival debut in 2011, opening for Drake.
In 2011, a mysterious billboard appeared on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto. Very similar in colour and style to the official Toronto city logo, the billboard advertised Drake’s second studio album, "Take Care", which was released in November 2011. Take Care became Drake’s best-selling album by far, certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry of America and winning Best Rap Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
...Drake's relentless focus on the point where money empties out happiness isn't merely autobiographical. It's emblematic of our moment of crashed markets and occupied streets, and it speaks to a generation beginning to question whether the All-American, celebrity-endorsed credit card lifestyle will make them anything but bankrupt…
— Ann Powers, Review of "Take Care", NPR, 2011
Listen: Take Care
I know you've been hurt by someone else
I can tell by the way you carry yourself
If you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you— Drake featuring Rihanna; lyrics by Aubrey Graham, Noah Shebib, Anthony Palman, Jamie Smith, Brook Benton
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Album art for Drake’s fourth studio album, “Views”, released in 2016. The album’s title had previously been released as “Views from the 6”, a reference to Drake’s nickname for Toronto.
Courtesy of OVO Sound
The Six
Drake’s fourth studio album, Views (2016) introduced the world to the nickname he had adopted for his hometown of Toronto: the Six (alternatively known as the 6ix).
The album cover featured Drake sitting on Toronto’s most iconic structure: the CN Tower. When asked about why Drake had given the city a number for a nickname, Drake offered two explanations.
The nickname riffed on a common tactic in hip hop to refer to a city by its area code. In Toronto’s case, Drake had chosen to focus on a single digit (referring to either 416 or 647). He later gave an alternate explanation: that the number referred to the six areas that collectively make up the modern Greater Toronto Area (GTA): Old Toronto, Scarborough, East York, North York, Etobicoke and York.
Whatever its origins, the nickname stuck.
Everywhere I go, I'm like, 'I'm from Toronto.' They respect that and love that so much.
— Drake, 2011
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Drake collaborated with Nike to design these limited-edition Air Jordan x OVO 12s. This pair of all black high top sneakers features suede uppers and imitation stingray leather, as well as embossed leather accents above the midsole on the sides. Drake's OVO branding in gold is inside the heel on the footbed. Not seen are the gold JUMPMAN details on the aglets at the end of the black shoelaces. Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto
Drake's Jordans
In developing his brand and label October’s Very Own (OVO), Drake expanded into clothing and shoe design in the early 2010s. Always featuring his iconic stylized owl logo, OVO apparel could be seen everywhere from Toronto to Beijing.
Drake also showed an interest in blending two of his loves: sneakers and basketball. As an enduring fan of the Toronto NBA team, the Raptors, he chose to design a series of sneakers released in conjunction with the 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend.
Drake also wore a pair of these sneakers on the European leg of his fifth headliner tour "Boy Meets World" in 2017.
Watch: Toosie Slide
In April 2020, following the global outbreak of COVID-19, Drake released a video for his song “Toosie Slide” as part of his Dark Lane Demo Tapes. The video showed landmark spots in Toronto empty of people and vehicles, such as the Gardiner Expressway and Queen Street West, reflecting a city on lockdown from the pandemic. Drake appears in the video in a mask, potentially a reference to the pandemic. He provides viewers a curated look inside his newly built Toronto mansion.
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This online exhibition uses third-party applications including Spotify and YouTube. Check with your organization’s web administrator if you are unable to access content from these channels in the exhibition.
Lyrics: Aubrey Graham and Ozan Yildrim Video Director: Theo Skudra; Video Producer: Christian Taylor; Director of Photography: Theo Skudra; Video Editor: Theo Skudra for Colossale; Courtesy of UMG; Please note: this third-party video does not provide closed captions.
View Transcript[Exterior shots of empty city streets and roads in Toronto. Cut to interior of a luxurious mansion. Drake, wearing a black face mask and sweatshirt with its hood pulled up, walks through the various rooms in the mansion while singing and dancing. The end of the video features him walking to the exterior of the house and watching a series of fireworks go off in the distance].
Drake: Black leather gloves, no sequins
Buckles on the jacket, it's Alyx shit
Nike crossbody, got a piece in it
Got a dance, but it's really on some street shit
I'ma show you how to get it
It go, right foot up, left foot slide
Left foot up, right foot slide
Basically, I'm saying either way, we 'bout to slide, ayy
Can't let this one slide, ayy
Don't you wanna dance with me? No?
I could dance like Michael Jackson
I could give you thug passion
It's a Thriller in the trap where we from
Baby, don't you want to dance with me? No?
I could dance like Michael Jackson
I could give you satisfaction
And you know we out here everyday with it
I'ma show you how to get it
It go, right foot up, left foot slide
Left foot up, right foot slide
Basically, I'm saying either way, we 'bout to slide, ayy
Can't let this one slide, ayy (who's bad?)
Two thousand shorties wanna tie the knot, ayy, yeah
Two hundred shooters on my brother's block, whoa, yeah
Petal off a rose like, I love her her not, maybe not
I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't stop, whoa, yeah
Won't stop, whoa, yeah, never stop
Got so many opps, I be mistakin' opps for other opps
Got so many people that I love out of troubled spots
Other than the family I got, it's either you or me
That's just how I think, it's either you or me
This life got too deep for you, baby
Two or three of us about to creep where they stayin'
Black leather gloves, no sequins
Buckles on the jacket, it's Alyx shit
Nike crossbody, got a piece in it
Got a dance, but it's really on some street shit
I'ma show you how to get it
It go, right foot up, left foot slide
Left foot up, right foot slide
Basically, I'm sayin' either way, we 'bout to slide, ayy
Can't let this one slide, ayy (who's bad?)
Toosie slide, then I hit it double time
Then I hit a spin 'cause we spun their block a couple times
If it's not the right time, there'll always be another time
I'm not even trippin', we'll just see 'em in the summertime, whoa, yeah
Can't describe the pressure I be puttin' on myself, yeah
Really I just can't afford to lose nobody else, yeah
If they movin' shaky, we'll just do this shit ourselves, whoa
If I'm movin' shaky, Chubbs'll do this shit himself, yeah
Solo n****, on they YOLO for real
Heard a lot about you, but we don't know for real
Next time, guarantee the truth'll get revealed
Black leather gloves, no sequins, yeah
Buckles on the jacket, it's Alyx shit
Nike crossbody, got a piece in it
Got a dance, but it's really on some street shit
I'ma show you how
It go, right foot up, left foot slide
Left foot up, right foot slide
Basically, I'm saying either way, we 'bout to slide, ayy
Can't let this one slide, ayy
Don't you wanna dance with me? No?
I could dance like Michael Jackson (Jackson)
I could give you thug passion (passion)
It's a Thriller in the trap where we from (where we from)
Baby, don't you want to dance with me? No?
I could dance like Michael Jackson (Jackson)
I could give you satisfaction ('faction)
And you know we out here everyday with it
I'ma show you how to get it
It go, right foot up, left foot slide
Left foot up, right foot slide
Basically, I'm sayin' either way, we 'bout to slide
(Who's bad?)
A Rising Tide
Drake is a tide: He has lifted, if not all boats, then dozens and dozens of boats. The Weeknd, PartyNextDoor, Boi-1da, Majid Jordan, Nineteen85…
Even more important than his commercial impact on the city, though, is a subtler change that he's brought about in Toronto's cultural landscape.
It's a sound. A distinctive style of music that echoes its hometown.
Eric Andrew-Gee, The Globe and Mail, 2016
Dive Deeper
Mark V. Campbell. Everything Remains Raw: Photographing Toronto's Hip Hop Culture from Analogue to Digital. Toronto: Goose Lane Editions, 2018.