Aubrey Drake Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Sandi and Dennis Graham, a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis; he is the nephew of musicians Larry Graham and Teenie Hodges.Graham's father is an African American from Memphis, Tennessee, while Graham's mother, an educator, is a white Jewish Canadian (Graham had a Bar Mitzvah).His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother in Toronto's wealthy Forest Hill neighbourhood. Graham attended high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting, but did not graduate. He spent most summers with his father in Memphis.
Graham planned to release his official debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2009, but the album's release date was postponed, first to March 2010, then May 25, 2010.Universal Motown then stated the album had been pushed back three weeks for a June 15, 2010 release. The album has confirmed collaborations with the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.On March 4, 2010, Graham released the first single from his Thank Me Later album, also known as "Over".
On March 12, 2010, a version of K\'naan\'s "Wavin\' Flag" recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti was released. Graham is featured in the song, performing a solo verse near the end of the song.
On April 29, 2010, it was announced that Graham has finished Thank Me Later. According to reports, Graham announced the completion of the album to a crowd during his April 26, 2010, show at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. His camp has since confirmed that Drake was finished with the final track to the album and the next single from the album would be titled "Find Your Love".
In 2001, Graham began his acting career, playing the role of Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the show, Brooks is a basketball star who became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate. His role on the show ended in 2009, when his character graduated from Degrassi. He appeared in 138 episodes. He appeared in the 2008 television movie Degrassi Spring Break Movie.
In February 2006, Graham released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. In 2007, he released another
mixtape, Comeback Season, spawning a single and a music video for "Replacement Girl" featuring Trey Songz. Also in 2007, Graham became the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first single, "Replacement Girl" was featured as the "New Joint of the Day" on April 30, 2007. It also contained a freestyle over a song with Lil Wayne, a remix of "Man of the Year" originally by Brisco and Flo-Rida. In 2008, Lil Wayne was given some of Drake's music from Rap-A-Lot founder, J. Prince\'s son, Jas Prince, and he immediately called Graham to invite him to fly to Houston and tour with him. Graham and Wayne recorded a couple of songs during this time, including "Ransom", the original version of "I Want This Forever", and the remix to Drake's song, "Brand New". Though now part of Lil Wayne's crew, Young Money, Drake was not signed.
