Drake is known for being a sensitive and emotionally in-touch rapper who has turned his fame into a fortune.
The Toronto-born entertainer has been using his career to branch into other careers since he was a teenager.
He may have started as a young actor, but he has become a music producer and a top-of-the-line whiskey crafter.
Drake continues to expand his career to this day, never settling for less than he is capable of.
What Is Drake’s Net Worth?
Drake has a net worth of $180 million.
Through his work as both a rapper and actor, Drake has become one of the wealthiest rappers in the world.
Although rapping has earned him a major of his fortune, it was his early years of acting that earned him his career and fame he has today.
Drake first broke out onto the scene when he starred in the teen drama show Degrassi: The Next Generation.
While Drake may be more than comfortable now, he wasn’t incredibly wealthy growing up.
His father was a drummer and his mother raised him by herself.
When he was five years old, Drake’s parents got divorced, and his father left Toronto for Memphis,
Tennessee in hopes of finding work.
His mother raised the future rapper in the Jewish faith, sending him to Jewish day school as a child and ensuring that he had a Bar Mitzvah.
Because of his racial and religious identity, Drake was constantly harassed at school.
The bullying was so bad that he eventually dropped out of school.
Drake’s childhood may have been a struggle for him, but his perseverance through life rewarded him greatly in his early adult life and has only continued to reward his dedication.
Things would begin to turn around for the better when one of his father’s high school friends became Drake’s acting agent.
Drake had his first major role by the time he was 15 years old in Degrassi: The Next Generation, where he played disabled athlete Jimmy Brooks.
After his time on the teen drama, Drake would release his first mixtape Room for Improvement, in 2006.
Drake would go on to achieve a massively successful musical career, using his reputation to help him find his way into other roles in multiple industries.
His Musical Success
Drake began getting into hip-hop when he was a teenager, while he was still appearing on the show Degrassi: The Next Generation.
By the time he was 17 or 18 years old, Drake had begun studying flow and rhyme as he worked on filling notebooks with song lyrics.
Young Drake had his first studio in his basement bedroom in the house he lived in with his mother and grandmother.
By the seventh season of the show, Drake was able to show off his skills as his character Jimmy when Jimmy freestyle raps for a school talent show.
The young actor was inspired to rap while his father was in prison for two years.
His father had a cellmate that nobody ever called or spoke to, so Drake’s father would let his cellmate talk to his son and the man would rap for Drake.
The two rappers would begin writing new lyrics and would rap for each other, setting Drake up for even more success than he had already found.
By the eighth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Drake’s schedule was too hectic to balance both his time on the television show and his musical career.
Drake released Room for Improvement, his first mixtape in 2006, and his second mixtape, Comeback Season, came out the following year.
The new rapper wouldn’t find success until the release of his third mixtape in 2009.
So Far Gone was the first musical project that was produced and released by Drake’s own recording label, October’s Very Own Sound.
It was this album’s single Best I Ever Had that brought Drake into the limelight.
Drake wouldn’t release his own album until 2010, which was called Thank Me Later.
He would go on to release the albums Take Care, Nothing Was the Same, Views, Scorpion, and Certified Lover Boy.
His Luxurious Homes In Los Angeles
With all the wealth that Drake has been able to amass from his musical career, he has managed to purchase four massive homes.
Three of his houses are in Los Angeles, but his most grandiose home is located in his hometown of Toronto.
The first property that Drake purchased was The YOLO Estate, which he originally bought in 2012.
The estate is named after his hit single The Motto and holds to the name “party anthem.”
The YOLO Estate started as a 12,500-square-foot mansion located in California’s Hidden Hills.
Hidden Hills is a celebrity hub that has been home to many of the biggest pop culture stars, such as Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and many more.
Drake’s party house has six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a basketball court, a tennis court, a horse stable, a mechanical bull, and a 25-seat movie theater.
One of the biggest features of the property is the gigantic pool that wraps around the property.
This area includes statues that line the pool, flat-screen televisions, multiple waterfalls, plenty of wet bars, an 80-foot water slide, and a man-made grotto.
The estate originally sat on three acres of land, but Drake had to expand his property as part of a promise he made.
When purchasing the house, Drake promised his neighbors that he would buy their houses if his parties got too wild for their taste.
Both neighbors on each side of him took him up on his offer, selling their houses to the rapper for $3 million and $4.5 million, respectively.
These property purchases resulted in the expansion of The YOLO Estate to 6.7 acres and cost him $15.2 million in total.
However, this property doesn’t even begin to compare to his $100 million mansion in Toronto.
Drake’s $100 Million Home
While his Los Angeles home may be perfect for throwing parties, Drake’s Toronto home is the perfect place to host a ball.
The YOLO Estate is the fun house, but the rapper’s Bridle Path home is nothing short of regal.
Bridle Path is the most prestigious and wealthy neighborhood in Toronto, but Drake’s 19th century limestone mansion is still one of the most breathtaking houses in the neighborhood.
The 50,000-square foot manor has exotic wood framing around the windows, and the exterior walls are a combination of limestone, granite, and marble.
The house was renovated and designed by Ferris Rafauli and every inch of the house is dripping with luxury.
As soon as the front gates open, guests are greeted by a black-and-white limestone courtyard.
The majority of the light fixtures are gold chandeliers that look like they would fit right in at a grand opera house.
One chandelier that hangs over a concert piano, designed by Ferris Rafauli and Takashi Murakami, was indeed meant for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
The floors of the manor are all limestone, but each room in the manor has its own theme.
The lounge room takes on a darker tone and features a ceiling with glistening stars, creating a relaxing experience.
No expense was spared when it came to Drake’s bedroom, including his master bathroom which has a 4,000-pound pure black marble bathtub.
His master bedroom includes a two-story closet and a whiskey and champagne bar that comes out from the headboard of his bed.
Being the spokesperson for the Canadian basketball team Toronto Raptors, Drake’s house wouldn’t be complete without his professional-sized indoor basketball court that also features a massive skylight above.
The house also includes a recording studio, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and separate halls for his trophies and awards.
Creating Fine Whiskey
Just like many popular celebrities before him, Drake used the alcohol industry to help boost his net worth.
In 2014, Drake met alcohol connoisseur Brent Hocking.
Hocking had a history of introducing rappers to the alcohol industry, having sold his last alcohol company, DeLeón Tequila, to famous rapper Diddy.
What gave Hocking the competitive edge to creating alcohol was his love for fine drinks and his unique sense of smell.
After the successful sale of his last company, Hocking used his wealth to create his next alcohol company, Virginia Black whiskey.
Just as Diddy had started with DeLeón Tequila, Drake was given an equity stake after investing his money into the whiskey distiller.
Drake also served as the face of the company, which was perfect for the brand of whiskey that was attempting to appeal more to women.
Everything from the bottle design to the name was meant to attract female consumers to the whiskey brand.
At first, many consumers were confused by the name because neither Hocking nor Drake comes from Virginia, and the whiskey is brewed in Indiana.
The name was actually chosen to resemble a woman’s name.
Virginia Black is another way that Drake is attempting to climb Forbes’s list of most wealthy people.
Although the whiskey has had mixed reviews, all consumers can agree that it is nothing but pure whiskey.
Companies in the alcohol industry often just flavor the alcohols that they intend to market towards women.
Virginia Black doesn’t try to disguise what whiskey is by flavoring it, choosing to simply make the marketing and packaging more elegant.
Drake and Hocking hope to show more people the elegant side of whiskey and that it isn’t just your grandfather’s drink.
The rapper features the whiskey brand at many of his concerts.
Producing OVO Sound
Drake started the record label, OVO Sound, with Noah Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib.
The record label’s primary objective is to release Drake’s albums, but OVO Sound hosts other entertainers such as PartyNextDoor, DVSN, Majid Jordan, Roy Woods, Popcaan, Baka Not Nice, and Smiley.
Drake isn’t ashamed to admit that he is simply following in the footsteps of rappers who came before him, such as Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z.
He saw opening his own recording label as the next natural step towards further success as a musician.
Drake isn’t the only rapper of his generation to go towards this kind of career progression, joining his rivals Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole as an owner of a record label.
Although Drake has been able to bring his fans the acts that he appreciates, he is still the only act that has managed to have any mainstream popularity.
The goal of October’s Very Own Sound is to show off the best of Toronto’s hip-hop scene, in hopes of giving back to the city and improving the music scene in Canada.
While Drake has managed to secure nearly all of the recent Toronto rappers to his record label, some of his record deal offers have been turned down publicly.
In 2012, Drake asked The Weeknd to join OVO Sound, but the other rapper turned down the offer and then went on to create his own record label, XO Records.
The Weeknd told Drake that he didn’t feel comfortable recording under another artist whom he believed that he could equal or possibly even exceed in popularity.
As the years have gone on, October’s Very Own Sound has been dedicated to increasing the reach and influence that Drake has.
As a result, the recording label has very little time to dedicate to the growth of its other musicians.
Becoming A Figurehead In Esports
Drake has never been shy about his love for video games, but his love for the popular battle royale game Fortnite got the rapper interested in a whole new career.
With the rise in popularity of competitive gaming streamers, traditional entertainment investors have begun taking an interest in the competitive gaming scene.
Similar to how fans will line up for traditional sports games like those hosted by the National Football League or the National Basketball Association, esports fans have proven to have the same level of dedication and willingness to buy tickets for games and merchandise.
To get his own slice of his industry, Drake and musical producer Scooter Braun invested in professional gamer “Nadeshot” Matthew Haag’s competitive gaming company 100 Thieves.
Unlike Haag, Drake and Braun see 100 Thieves as an apparel company first, a lifestyle brand second, and a competitive gaming company third.
Getting into the world of esports was more than just a financial investment for Drake.
It was also an opportunity to appeal to the younger generations.
Aligning himself with the YouTube gaming scene that Nadeshot was popularized in and the ever-popular Fortnite scene has allowed Drake to be a part of the things that are going to bring in his next generation of fans.
To help increase his online presence even further, Drake has also befriended one of the most popular Fortnite streamers on the internet, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins.
While Nadeshot may be a great connection to the YouTube crowd for Drake, Ninja has been popular on every platform he appears on, most notably Twitch.
Since joining 100 Thieves, Drake and Braun have managed to convince Cleveland Cavaliers chairman Dan Gilbert to join the company.
Drake is one of many rappers to join the competitive gaming industry, like longtime rival Pusha T.
Designing Shoes For Nike
Nike was willing to do anything to get Drake to join them for a collaboration, and they made sure to treat the famous sneakerhead well.
Drake and Nike have had a long history, with the brand often showing up predominantly in his music videos.
The rapper was taken on a tour through Nike World Headquarters, which is a rare honor.
Nike’s tour concluded with a shopping spree in the company store, which exclusively holds sneakers that you can’t find anywhere else.
Drake and his companion seized the opportunity to purchase as many of the rare shoes as possible and were spotted with multiple loaded shopping bags after their trip.
Many sneaker fans speculate that Drake took the Nike deal after his split from Adidas who was most successful selling other celebrities’ shoes.
Since signing on with Nike, Drake has secured exclusive shoes that only he and his friends have ever had access to.
There have been a few sales of his name-branded shoes, but Drake’s loyal fans and sneakerheads are nearly rabid when it comes to in-store sales of Drake’s Nike shoes.
The first shoe specifically designed for Drake was the Air Jordan 3 Anaconda, which featured an elephant print made from lenticular film and was what Drake wore when he appeared in Nicki Minaj’s music video Anaconda.
They were designed by Mark Smith, who has been a longtime designer for Nike.
Nike also made special sneakers for Drake and Lil Wayne for their Drake vs Lil’ Wayne tour.
The shoes were identical in design, except that Drake’s shoes were white and Lil Wayne’s shoes were black.
Drake’s most famous pairs of Jordans are his Jordan Air 3 Gold pair, which popularized gold shoes in 2014 when Drake wore them to his music festival, OVOFest.
Becoming More Than His Predecessors
Drake is one of the most driven musicians in the entertainment industry, which has helped him become one of the wealthiest rappers in the world.
The life that Drake has come to know is vastly different than how poor he grew up.
The rapper serves as an excellent example of why you should never be ashamed of who you are, despite what naysayers may have to say about you.
Drake may have been bullied as a child, but he is now one of the most successful modern musicians, even managing to break records that The Beatles put into place.
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