Nice for What? Drake's Sky-High Net Worth Makes Him One of the Richest Rappers of All Time
Since he stepped onto the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi more than 20 years ago, Aubrey Drake Graham, aka just Drake, has been a star. The best-selling Canadian rapper has had a whirlwind career spanning across genres and mediums from appearances on the big and small screens to winning major awards for his highly regarded music. Today, the "God's Plan" singer is widely regarded as one of the best rappers of all time (regardless of what fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar has to say amid their notorious beef) and has made a name for himself across the world.
Below we break down Drake's many business ventures, net worth, and the career that landed him a spot on the list of wealthiest rappers.
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Drake's Net Worth
From his noteworthy career as an actor in his younger years to the chart-topping albums and singles that have come out of his time as a singer/rapper, Drake has been dominating the entertainment industry for decades. With this success has come an estimated $250 million net worth, according to Celebrity Net Worth. While this figure is unconfirmed, it would make him one of the richest rappers of all time (he'll still have to get behind Jay-Z and Dr. Dre).
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From Degrassi to the Grammys
When Drake was just 14 years old, he got his start on the hit Canadian television show Degrassi playing Jimmy Brooks, a high school basketball player whose life changed forever when a classmate shot him in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. The series focused on the students of Degrassi Community School as they move through their high school years wrestling with the ups and downs of relationships, friendships, the pressures that come with drugs and alcohol, and more.
Drake played Brooks for seven years, from 2001 to 2008, before pursuing a music career full-time. As for how he got his start in the industry, the "One Dance" singer credits it all to his charisma.
"I was in class, and I used to always crack jokes in class. I was a good liar and a good talker," he told GQ in 2012. "And this kid in my class was like, 'Yo, my dad is an agent. You should go talk to him because you’re good and you make people laugh.' I was just good. I was my father’s son. I was slick, you know? When it comes to knowing what to say, to charm, I always had it."
But his plan was never to be an actor, though it helped pay the bills for him and his mom for many years. According to him, he always had rap in mind.
"That’s all I wanted to do, at first. I loved music," he told GQ. "I just didn’t necessarily believe in music being the focus right away. But I used to watch, at the time, young kids that were poppin’—it was B2K and Bow Wow. It was that generation of the R&B group, and the sort of every song is a 'girl' song—it was all targeted towards screaming girls—the Scream Tour."
While he took inspiration from the musicians of his time as well as the ones that came before him, when he officially stepped into the rap game, he knew he wanted to do it differently. He didn't want to be known for his six-pack like the Bow Wows and Chris Browns of the time and instead wanted to make music that people could easily relate to. With that, he borrowed money from his uncle and recorded his first mixtape Room for Improvement in 2006.
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Just a few months after the release, Jas Prince—the son of James Prince, who founded one of hip-hop’s most influential labels, Rap-A-Lot Records, in Houston—found Drake on MySpace. Initially, he presented the then-up-and-coming rapper to his father before ultimately showing Lil Wayne his music. Convinced he could be a star, Prince flew Drake from Toronto to Houston to introduce the two artists.
When Lil Wayne first met Drake, one of the first things he told him was to be himself.
"I was the one to tell him: Don’t change anything," Lil Wayne told Complex. "Don’t think ’cause you’re coming over here by me that you gotta rap about the things I rap about… Please rap about your little TV show… rap about girls, ’cause that’s what you’re good at… Don’t start singing about killin’ nobody. Don’t start singing about the streets. Keep it Canadian."
Drake made it big with his 2010 debut studio album, Thank Me Later. When the album was released, you would have been hard-pressed to turn on radio without hearing two of the album's popular singles—“Over” and “Find Your Love.” (That's to say nothing of his feature on Rihanna's "What's My Name?") That same year, Drake embarked on his Away From Home Tour and launched his OVO Fest in Toronto, an event that still occurs in the city once a year.
The next year he released his second LP, Take Care, which landed the singer at No. 1 on various charts in multiple countries and earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
In 2012, Drake founded his very own record label, OVO Sound. Since starting the label, his music career has only grown, with his album Nothing Was the Same earning six platinum records from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Since the release of his first three albums, the "Keep the Family Close" singer has delivered more memorable music than we can list. In 2016, he released Views, while More Life came in 2017, Scorpion and Scary Hours in 2018, Dark Lane Demo Tapes in 2020, Certified Lover Boy in 2021, and on and on. He doesn't have plans to stop anytime soon.
"I’m obsessed with perfection. I want to work. I don’t want to take this for granted," he told GQ. "I don’t want to sit out here and say, well, I could stop right here and say, 'Okay. I own this. You know, it’s cool. I could stop,' but why? I don’t want to stop. I want to take advantage and make myself the best possible me that I can be. So I’m going to work in the gym two hours a day. And try and be up there on stage, looking strong, looking iconic."