The ‘Happy Birthday Drake!’ Guide To Understanding Just How Famous Drake Is

By JC Villamere. 24 Oct 2018 6:17 AM

Drake, who turns 32 on October 24, is the biggest entertainer on the planet — and this is a planet that really, really values entertainers. In terms of their impact, entertainers make up about a third of Time magazine’s list of 2018’s Most Influential People, alongside politicians, sports stars, and innovators. But even among influential entertainers, Drake is elite. The Toronto rapper is big in a whole new way, in a way that’s so big that it’s hard to wrap your head around — so we’re here to help you try with this handy guide to Drake’s spectacular success at being super successful — and all before his 32nd birthday.

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Drake Is So Famous That His Dad Is Famous

Drake Is So Famous That His Dad Is So Famous That There's A Song Named After Him

It's Not Enough That Drake Wins All The Awards, They Also Sing About His Dad At Awards Shows

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Enraptured by the Raptors

Remember when Jack Nicholson made it look glamorous to sit court-side? Drake's basketball access makes Nicholson's seem positively D-List — which is unthinkable, but such is the power of Drake! In 2013, Drizzy became the Toronto Raptors’ global ambassador and in this capacity, he opened an exclusive sports club at the Air Canada Centre named Sher Club in honour of his maternal grandparents, the Shers. Anyone who was surprised by the Raptors deal was surprised only in that it took so long to happen. After all, the Toronto Blue Jays saw sales of their caps soar stateside after Drake wore one on the cover of Vibe magazine in 2009. When a newsworthy sales spike occurs because you're pictured with an item, that is Drake-level influence.
The Embassy
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Like other high-end live/work spaces (think: the White House, Graceland, Paisley Park, Buckingham Palace) the place Drake is building in Toronto’s Bridle Path neighbourhood, christened “The Embassy”, is hard for us mere commoners to conceptualize.
...But Let's Try!
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Drake's home will be 35,000 square feet when it's done. For reference, the old-fashioned standard for the average detached home is already pretty big at 2,000 square feet and this is, like, 17 average detached homes stuck together. Imagine you live in a house that size. Now imagine you live alone in one. It's all yours. All the bedrooms are yours. Everything. You can set it up and decorate it however you want. Drake’s place will have a four-bedroom guest wing and a trophy room and a snack lounge (which would be a cool rebrand for the word 'kitchen' except in Drake's case it's in addition to the kitchen), and a 10-car garage and a pair of saunas and just basically everything you could dream of, times two, and then throw in a specially-designed jersey room to house your fave basketball memorabilia. Now you have a house that’s Drake level.
"Iconic duos rip and split at the seams" Drake raps on "Emotionless" from his summer smash record 'Scorpion' and that line made us automatically think of his on-again-off-again-definitely-off-right-now-for-sure romance with fellow icon Rihanna. Drake doesn't have to be part of a famous couple to be famous but it doesn't hurt.
Drake Is So Famous That His Dad Is Famous

Here's Drake's dad, Dennis Graham, hanging with Canadian star the Weeknd. Graham captioned this pic: "Abel in the house last night at the AMA's after party 🙏🏼." And yes, most of Graham's Instagram posts are this great. It's no wonder Drake's dad is verified and has nearly 400,000 followers.
Drake Is So Famous That His Dad Is So Famous That There's A Song Named After Him

Yes, that's Drake's dad, Dennis Graham, appearing in the video for the 2016 Arkells jam "Drake's Dad", which features these lyrics:
"And there we met Drake's dad/ Told him we came from Hamilton/ He said he knew a Canadian girl/ Who had a thing for Americans".
It's Not Enough That Drake Wins All The Awards, They Also Sing About His Dad At Awards Shows

Arkells, surrounded by a gospel choir, delivered a performance of “Drake’s Dad” at the 2017 Junos that was so full of joyful intensity that it blew the roof off the joint.

Overall, Drake has won 105 awards from 474 nominations, including six Juno Awards in 20 nominations. Remember when he hosted the Junos in 2011? So great.
When Drake was featured on the cover of British GQ in 2017, his dad Dennis took to Instagram to share the magazine cover and a wish for an iconic, movie-franchise-starring role: "My guy dressed to impress, fly guy, no one does it better 🙏🏼💯🎩, I still think James Bond is your call," wrote Mr. Graham. We'd watch that reboot. But even more importantly, Drake has leveraged his impeccable personal style into the OVO clothing brand, which is expected to reach $50 million in revenue this year. That news again: Drake has built a $50-million fashion brand, and that's not even what he's famous for.
He's Bieber-Level

In 2010, it was reported that Justin Bieber and his legion of fans use up 3% of Twitter's server infrastructure at any given time, so Bieber's got his own major marks of success. Here's a look back at Bieber and Drake, along with Selena Gomez in 2011, the same year Bieber and Drake were nominated for the 2011 Juno for 'Artist of the Year'.
You could say that Drake and Bieber tied, in that they both lost to Neil Young.
Star Of Stage And Meme

“No celebrity understands the mechanisms of internet obsession better than Drake,” the New York Times breathlessly reported in 2015, just as Drake’s “Hotline Bling” became a pop culture obsession. “The 'Hotline Bling' video is built exactly for that task. It’s important at its full length, but even more so in the screenshots and few-seconds-long GIFs that it’s designed to be broken down into. It’s less a video than an open source code that easily allows Drake’s image and gestures to be rewritten, drawn over, repurposed.” Drake told Instagram's @music blog that he's become the "most memed person aside from the Michael Jordan crying face."
You'd Be Happy, Too

Drake has broken so many records that breaking records is de rigueur for him, but here's his latest:
On Monday, Drake broke the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 songs in a year, breaking a record set by the Beatles in 1964.

How can we measure that record-smashing accomplishment? In addition, Drake has had more than twice as many songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart than the Beatles did with their 71 career hits. It’s astounding when you think that, for over 50 years, the Beatles’ accomplishments have provided a handy measuring stick against which we can gauge the success of other artists. Until now. Rolling Stone declared, "Drake is the king of the pop world, and all before his 32nd year."

The ‘Happy Birthday Drake!’ Guide To Understanding Just How Famous Drake Is

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