Aubrey Graham (Drake)
This paper is about Aubrey Graham, famously known as Drake. He is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, executive producer, actor, and entrepreneur. Drake is one of the most famous musicians worldwide. His music has been a source of fame ever since when he started singing. The kind of songs that he sings makes him have large traffic, all interested in listening to his songs. The choice of words he uses in his songs also contributes to him having many fans. Music is not the only factor that promotes his fame but his race as well. The fact that Drake is a black American but has hit this level of fame works as an inspiration to many black people who previously believed to be inferior. His physical attractiveness further contributes to his fame as some have acknowledged that he is handsome and can attract anybody to his side.
Drake was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada, and is currently 33 years old. He began his career at a tender age of 15 years when he featured on Canadian teen drum series Degrassi known as “The Next Generation.” He released his first-ever debut mixtape, Room for Improvement. This was just the beginning of his career as he went on to release more mixtapes, including ‘Comeback Season’ in 2007, ‘So Far Gone’ in 2009. More followed thereafter with songs being released year after year. Despite music life, Drake is also a business person with various business ventures, including Virginia Black, Toronto Raptors, Ovo Sound, among others. Drake currently resides in Hidden Hills, California, and has lived here since 2012. Beside where he lives, Drake also owns a property in Toronto adjacent to CN Tower and a Boeing 767 airplane.
Drake comes from a unique ethnic and religious background, being born of an African American Catholic father and a white Canadian Jew. Such is the twist of his family background, although his love for black culture dominates any other attribute that he may possess. His parents divorced when he was still young at only the age of 5, and this prompted his mother to raise him on his own in Forest Hill. Forest Hill is a Jewish neighborhood in Toronto, and this made him follow most of the Jewish teachings during this time. His paternal uncles are also popular, with one Larry Graham being a guitarist while the other Teenie Hodges is a musician. He has dated singer Rihanna off-and-on between 2009 and 2016, but things have not worked out for the two to settle down. Drake also has a son, Adonis, born of a French artist, Sophie Brussaux, on October 11, 2017.
Life in Forest Hill was not that easy for Drake when he finally enrolled in school. He went through psychological torture due to his skin color, religious background, as well as wealth. The now popular singer acknowledges that life was challenging during this period of his life. He attended schools that had no black children, and this automatically translated to isolation. He says that the children would come to school with private jets, yet his mother could barely afford it. Most white children, if not all, do not like hanging around with blacks. Things were even more complicated for him as he was black and, at the same time, a Jew, so difficult to understand. Despite the tough and challenging life that Drake lived during his early ages, he acknowledges that being different from everybody else made him stronger. Without this tough background, then probably we wouldn’t don’t have him as a popular figure.
In 2012, Drake was involved in some legal issues with singer Ericka Lee who filed a lawsuit against Drake for the usage of her voice on “Marvins Room.” She claimed to have provided the female vocals in the song and was also owed songwriting credits and royalties. The matter was resolved in 2013 when they agreed to settle it on their own without involving the court. In 2014, he was sued for $300,000 for sampling “Jimmy Smith Rap,” a 1982 single by jazz musician, Jimmy Smith. He was sued by Smith’s estate for using some lines of the song without permission, but Drake won the lawsuit in 2017. He further caused a nightclub in Oklahoma City to close down, due to his usage of marijuana and other illegal drugs being rampant at the club. He has been involved in several cases that have landed him in court with him winning or paying fines.
Drake has not had any poor medical records in his entire life. Despite being brought up by a single mother after the divorce, his condition has never been affected. Even though her mother used to smoke cigarettes very much, this did not affect the child’s health condition. On tracking his records back to when he was born, when he first appeared as an actor and where he is currently, his medical condition can be argued to be perfect. Being a popular figure, he is closely monitored; this means if he had any condition that was not normal, then the entire world would be aware. Reporters are always around him, and news of such a condition cannot go unnoticed. He has always gone for check-ups, which are necessary as he visits different places from time-to-time, but no serious medical complications have been reported so far. The only exemption is a few cases of mild pains, which many would say is normal, especially considering the kind of work he is doing.
All musicians and actors love going out and clubbing, hanging out with friends and visiting foreign countries. Drake’s case is not much different, either. He likes socializing with friends in big restaurants and clubs and going out on parties as well. Clubbing is one of the things he loves doing; this is like a norm to him as he must take his friends to clubs to enjoy themselves. His bodyguards are always around him anywhere; he goes just to guarantee his social security. Despite being a subject of racial discrimination, Drake did not take it personally and did not discriminate against other races. He hangs with any race, black or white, and he is ever open and jovial with everybody. His social life may probably be shaped by his career, which requires him to travel often and perform in various events. He, therefore, ought to be open-minded and ready to enjoy going out on vacation.
Drake has been a subject of abuse by one Laquana Morris. The lady reported Drake to the law courts as having sired with him a child, but Drake was against the accusations. He claimed that the lady in question was just looking for a means of extracting money from him. He confirmed that they had had sex, but it was protected, and therefore there was no way she would have got pregnant. She threatened to leak her conversation messages with Drake if he didn’t give him the attention she needed. Her main agenda was to extract money from him as he had not impregnated her. This can be confirmed by the turn of the story when she came up again to claim that he had forced her to have oral sex while in Manchester against his will. Drake counters this by noting that the two had willingly agreed for the act and that Laquana Morris was only after tainting his name and extorting money from him, a move that never succeeded as Drake was cleared by the court.
Drake has personally confirmed that he abuses drugs to cope up with the stress of being a celebrity. The issue of drug abuse should, therefore, not call for debates as he publicly confirmed it. He noted that he smokes weed and sips codeine, and one can guess for how long he has been doing this. As he rose to fame quite a number of years back and he claims he uses drugs to ease the tension, then it means he has been on drugs all along. He, however, confirmed that even though he uses drugs and substance, he does so in limited amounts as he is responsible. He takes only that which will not affect him in the long run. He also notes that he takes such things as weed only when he is about to perform but regularly takes wine, although in limited portions. Drake has therefore abused drugs, and in one way or the other, he is still using them.
Considering diagnoses based on course learning and DSM V, Drake has no history of any mental disorder. He has developed and grown just like any other normal child with no complications of any kind. He is able to reason properly and make rational decisions. His brain’s condition is also much okay as his close allies would have already informed the entire public audience. He progressed perfectly through his education, just like other students in his class, and didn’t have special lectures that may result from a mental disorder. If he had any mental disabilities, then the condition would have been noticed during the early stages of his growth, but nothing like that happened. Furthermore, such things like accidents that would lead to damage to the brains can also result in these disorders, but his doctors have never confirmed such. This, therefore, implies that he is mentally fit.