Music Blogs and Rock & Roll Blood-The Secret To Drake’s Success?
Drake
Many fans credit the success of Drake to his flow, infectiously melodic vocals, and contagious female attracting swagger. While these are all very bankable factors for any of today’s MCees, it is likely that Drake should also credit the combo of a good home up brining and his Rock & Roll lineage for helping shape him into the layered artist he is today. While his MCee and song writing skills show a strong talent all their own that are clearly heard on record by millions, few fans know that his musical roots can also be traced back to the golden age of Rock & Roll by his own blood. As confirmed by several sources of Bio information, Aubrey “Drake” Graham is the racially mixed son of a mother described as, a white Jewish educator, and musician Dennis Graham, best known for his work drumming for Jerry Lee Lewis. In fact, his family’s musical tree also include Uncle, Larry Graham, bass guitar player for Sly and The Family Stone, and Uncle, Mabon Lewis “Teenie” Hodges, guitarist and song writer for Soul star, Al Green.
His musical bloodline was coupled by him being raised primarily by his mother in the up scale Toronto neighborhood of Forest Hill. Granted the freedom to spread his artistic wings and eventually become an actor, Drake navigated through the biz with a natural easy beyond his years, scoring him the role he is best known for, “Jimmy Brooks” on the Canadian Teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Capitalizing on his TV fame and his own genetically given skills, the entertainer that would bloom into one of Hip Hop’s best for a generation, placed himself amongst the greats, earning respect worthy of an industry veteran several years before his debut album.
As many fans at this point know, it was through meticulous use of his personal blog that allowed him independently release his own home made albums, and capitalize on the phonominon of free hip hop mixtape marketing. This is what would lead him to become a phonominon himself.
He was able to release three indepent mixtapes in four years. The buzz he grew even allowed him to become the first unsigned Canadian rapper to be featured as a ”New Joint” on BET’s 106 & Park. The video was for his 2007 single “Replacement Girl” Featuring Trey Songz. This all happend while he was still a regular cast member of Degrassi: The Next Generation. After leaving the show, he also continued to make eight guest appearances, all while his fame as a rapper was growing.
Known now from songs like “Best I Ever Had” and, “Successful,” his work is a perfect testament that nothing worth having comes easily, or at least not over night. Those songs broke him through to the mainstream, and allowed him to sign to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Records. His final mixtape, “So Far Gone” was even later rereleased for commercial sale by Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown, after 2,000 downloads in 2 hours independently. His monetary value then became ridiculously obvious after songs from the album recieved heavy rotation on major market Pop stations across the country. What was not as obvious however, was that the success of “So Far Gone” was the culmination of four years of earlier hard work, to be met with the opportunity of working with Lil Wayne, and the expanding Cash Money/Universal brand. While he made his name through the influence of the web, he’s far from a microwavable instant artist and should be around for along time.
Only now preparing to release his first official full length debut album, his work continually shows that focusing on craft, and attention to detail, can help boost your odds at becoming successful in a failing music business, while continuing to remain innovative as an artist.
Drake’s first album, Thank Me Later is scheduled for a May 2010 release. Check out the album’s first single, “Over” HERE 
