Drake

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Drake

Q: What are the four main elements of hip-hop?

While there is some debate over the number of elements of hip-hop, there are four elements that are considered to be its pillars: deejaying, or “turntabling”; rapping, also known as “MCing” (emceeing) or “rhyming”; graffiti painting, also known as “graf” or “writing”; and break dancing, or “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body language that philosopher Cornel West described as “postural semantics.” Many also cite a fifth essential component: “knowledge of self/consciousness.” Other suggested elements include street fashion and language.

Q: How did hip-hop get its name?

There are various explanations for the source of the term hip-hop . However, the most popular one involves Keith (”Keef Cowboy”) Wiggins, a member of the rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five . The rapper used the words hip/hop/hip/hop , imitating the sound of soldiers marching, in reference to a friend who had joined the army. According to some accounts, Kevin (”Lovebug Starski”) Smith was with Wiggins and helped create the phrase. Hip-hop was subsequently popularized in songs, notably the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”

Q: Who are the founders of hip-hop?

While a number of people were influential in the creation of hip-hop, much credit is given to Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), a Jamaican immigrant who was the first major hip-hop disc jockey. At a Bronx party on August 11, 1973, he introduced the technique of playing the same album on two turntables and extending the drum section (which became known as the breakbeat). Many recognize this night as the birth of hip-hop. Other pioneering hip-hop deejays include Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash . The three men are often called the “holy trinity” of early hip-hop.

Q: What was the first major hip-hop song?

Although not the first hip-hop song, the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) was considered the first significant single of the genre. Within weeks of its release, it became a chart-topping phenomenon and gave its name to a new genre of pop music. Part of its crossover appeal was attributed to its lighthearted lyrics, which were atypical of most rap songs at the time.

Canadian rapper

Also known as: Aubrey Drake Graham

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: May 2, 2025 • Article History

Quick Facts

Original name:: Aubrey Drake Graham

Also called:: Drizzy

Born:: October 24, 1986, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (age 38)

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News •

Ye Admits to Borrowing Drake’s Flow: ‘I Had Sh– That Was Copies of Drake’ • May 1, 2025, 12:04 PM ET (Billboard)

Drake complains about Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' Super Bowl performance in new defamation claims • Apr. 17, 2025, 6:49 PM ET (AP)

Drake (born October 24, 1986, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to have a successful and influential music career. His trademark sound, which combines singing and lyrical rapping and juxtaposes braggadocio with raw vulnerability, has won him a large following.

Notable Works

So Far Gone (2009)
Thank Me Later (2010)
Take Care (2011)
Nothing Was the Same (2013)
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (2015)
What a Time to Be Alive (2015)
Views (2016)
More Life (2017)
Scorpion (2018)
Care Package (2019)
Dark Lane Demo Tapes (2020)
Certified Lover Boy (2021)
Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
For All the Dogs (2023)
Some Sexy Songs 4 U (2025)

Early life and career

Graham’s parents divorced when he was a small child, and he was raised by his mother. During the summers he often visited his father, a drummer whose family was musically connected. In 2001 Graham was cast as basketball star Jimmy Brooks on the fourth series in the Degrassi franchise. His true interest was music, however, and he began rapping during that time, using his middle name for his “nom de hip-hop.” He self-published his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006. The follow-up, Comeback Season (2007), includes the single “Replacement Girl,” featuring Trey Songz; the track was highlighted on BET’s music video show 106 & Park, increasing Drake’s exposure. In 2008 he left Degrassi to focus on his music career.

So Far Gone, Thank Me Later, and Nothing Was the Same

Drake’s breakthrough came in 2009 with the release of the mixtape So Far Gone and its hit single “Best I Ever Had.” A bidding war between labels soon ensued, and Drake ultimately signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, a subsidiary of Cash Money. Later that year the label put out So Far Gone as an EP. It won the Juno Award for rap recording of the year, and Drake was named new artist of the year.

(Left) Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (Ramon Luis Ayala Rodriguez) perform during the 2017 Billboard Latin Music Awards and Show at the Bank United Center, University of Miami, Miami, Florida on April 27, 2017. (music)

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His first full-length studio album, Thank Me Later, was released in 2010 and catapulted Drake to international stardom. The record was followed by the highly praised Take Care (2011). That album won the Juno Award for rap recording of the year and the Grammy Award for best rap album. Drake’s next studio record, Nothing Was the Same (2013), also took a Juno Award.

Those albums, more commercially oriented than his earlier mixtapes, show the influence of his collaborators, notably Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj.

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Views, and other releases

In 2015 Drake announced via Twitter the surprise release of a 17-track mixtape-cum-album, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Critics praised the record as a return to the personal, emotional, and melodic style of his earliest production. Like his previous releases, it shot to the top of the charts in Canada and the United States, and the album won the Juno Award for rap recording of the year. Later in 2015 Drake and rapper Future released the mixtape What a Time to be Alive. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, as did Drake’s fourth studio album, Views (2016), which features the memorable singles “One Dance” and “Hotline Bling.”

“One Dance” became Spotify’s most-streamed single at the time, and “Hotline Bling” garnered Drake two Grammys, for best rap song and best rap performance—though in interviews Drake insisted that “Hotline Bling” is not a rap song. He stated, “The only category that [the Recording Academy] can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m Black.”

In 2017 Drake did not submit that year’s release, More Life, for Grammy consideration. The record, which Drake called a playlist, brought together different sounds from around the world. It also featured such up-and-coming talents as British singer Jorja Smith and South African producer Black Coffee on the song “Get It Together.” Drake also declined to submit the record for consideration for the Juno Awards. Commentators noted that, while the Juno Awards’ governing body had honored him with such awards as rap recording of the year, it had never conferred its most prestigious awards, including artist, single, and album of the year.

Scorpion, Certified Lover Boy, and additional recordings

Drake’s fifth studio album, Scorpion (2018), features the Billboard Hot 100 single “God’s Plan,” which had first appeared on his EP Scary Hours, released several months earlier. Drake won a Grammy for best rap song for the track in 2019, but the live broadcast cut his acceptance speech short after he criticized the awards. Other tracks on Scorpion respond to the song “The Story of Adidon,” by American rapper Pusha T, who alleged that Drake was hiding a child fathered with artist and adult film star Sophie Brussaux. In “Emotionless” and “March 14,” Drake acknowledged that he had recently become a father and addressed the challenges of co-parenting. Critics largely panned the single “I’m Upset,” however, for its apparent complaint about child support payments.

Subsequent releases include Care Package (2019), a compilation of B-sides, covers, and other tracks; Dark Lane Demo Tapes (2020), which features the Billboard Hot 100 single “Toosie Slide”; and the EP Scary Hours 2 (2021), which includes another Billboard Hot 100 track, “What’s Next.”

Drake’s sixth record, Certified Lover Boy, was released in 2021. Later that year he withdrew the album and one of its tracks, “Way 2 Sexy,” from consideration for the Grammy Awards for best rap album and best rap performance, respectively.

In 2022 Drake released a surprise follow-up, Honestly, Nevermind, which features more vocalizing and dance club beats than on his previous albums. Shortly after, he debuted the video for the album’s first single, “Falling Back.”

OVO and other projects

In addition to creating music, Drake cofounded the Toronto-based collective October’s Very Own (OVO) with his frequent producer Noah (“40”) Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib. It became a record label (OVO Sound) in 2012 and represented such acts as the R&B duo Majid Jordan and Canadian singer, songwriter, and producer PartyNextDoor. Starting with the release of Care Package in 2019, Drake has released all his albums on OVO Sound. OVO has also hosted numerous summer concerts during the OVO Festival (started in 2010) in Toronto.

One of the company’s greatest sources of revenue, however, is its fashion line. It began in 2010 when OVO collaborated with the outerwear brand Canada Goose on a limited-edition bomber jacket. Other partnerships soon followed, including those with Nike and Timberland. The success of the OVO fashion line led to the opening of its first retail location in Toronto in 2014 and subsequent expansion into such cities as Los Angeles, New York, and London.

After leaving Degrassi in 2008, Drake took on a few acting roles, one of which was the voice of a teenage mammoth in the animated film Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012). He later garnered rave reviews for his comedic turn as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 2014 and 2016.

In 2019 Drake became an executive producer of the HBO series Euphoria, starring Emmy Award winner Zendaya.

2024 rap feud

In early 2024 Future and producer Metro Boomin released two collaboration albums containing features by artists such as The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and Rick Ross, who all dissed Drake—but none more so than Kendrick Lamar on the track “Like That.” Drake’s response, “Push Ups,” fired back at all his opponents—even Metro Boomin, who produced the diss tracks—while focusing on Lamar.

The feud between Drake and Lamar went viral as the two publicly battled it out over multiple songs. Although the scathing bars began as relatively benign, they quickly devolved into sobering accusations. Notably, in the smash hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar accused Drake of hiding another child, this time a daughter. He also called him a pedophile. Drake vehemently denied both allegations while claiming that Lamar physically abused his own fiancée.

Famous Rap Beefs

The feud between Lamar and Drake has been compared to previous rap rivalries such as:

Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
Jay-Z and Nas

Drake used artificial intelligence (AI) to make his voice sound like that of Tupac Shakur—one of Lamar’s idols—on the diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle.” He was forced to take the track down after Shakur’s estate threatened to sue. Metro Boomin responded to Drake’s attack on “Push Ups” by releasing an instrumental titled “BBL Drizzy,” which features an AI-generated sample. Rappers all over the world took the opportunity to record Drake disses using the instrumental. Eventually, Drake himself rapped over the beat for a feature verse on Sexyy Red’s song “U My Everything.”

In January 2025 Drake sued his own label, Universal Music Group (UMG), for defamation and harassment, claiming that UMG’s promotion of “Not Like Us” undermined “the safety and well-being of its artists.” The following month, however, he dropped Some Sexy Songs 4 U, a studio album collaboration with PartyNextDoor that was released under OVO Sound and UMG’s flagship label Republic Records.

Ad Hominem

Coined by Rick Ross, “BBL Drizzy” is a somewhat unsavory nickname that implies Drake had plastic surgery—specifically, buttock augmentation, also known as a Brazilian butt lift.

Recent technological advancements have made the 2024 feud between Drake and Lamar unique in hip-hop history. Not only have Drake and Metro Boomin used AI to produce diss tracks themselves, but inauthentic AI-generated diss tracks that imitate the principal actors have circulated online. Furthermore, the dominance of audio streaming services has enabled both artists to drop response tracks and reach an enormous audience almost instantly. Listeners have not had to wait months to hear the next installment, unlike in previous rap beefs. Meanwhile, social media serves as a space for hip-hop fans to spread the word following each surprise release as well as to share information as to whether a release is legitimate or an imitation. Of course, social media also hosts endless debates concerning which rapper is on top while providing platforms for content creators who have become de facto authorities on the feud. That both artists have weaponized controversy in addition to lyricism also speaks to a new age of rap beef.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by René Ostberg.

hip-hop

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hip-hop

music and cultural movement

Written by Greg Tate, Alan Light•All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 14, 2025 • Article History

Key People:: Eazy-E; Antwan André Patton; Kanye West; Ice-T; Mac Miller

Related Topics:: social movement; break dancing; rap; trap music; grime music

On the Web:: Al Jazeera - Black power and ‘edutainment’: The political roots of hip-hop music (Apr. 14, 2025)

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What are the four main elements of hip-hop?

How did hip-hop get its name?

Who are the founders of hip-hop?

What was the first major hip-hop song?

hip-hop, cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and ’90s and also the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movement’s most lasting and influential art form.

Origins and the old school

Although widely considered a synonym for rap music, the term hip-hop refers to a complex culture comprising four elements: deejaying, or “turntabling”; rapping, also known as “MCing” or “rhyming”; graffiti painting, also known as “graf” or “writing”; and “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body language that philosopher Cornel West described as “postural semantics.” (A fifth element, “knowledge of self/consciousness,” is sometimes added to the list of hip-hop elements, particularly by socially conscious hip-hop artists and scholars.) Hip-hop originated in the predominantly African American economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s. As the hip-hop movement began at society’s margins, its origins are shrouded in myth, enigma, and obfuscation.

Graffiti and break dancing, the aspects of the culture that first caught public attention, had the least lasting effect. Reputedly, the graffiti movement was started about 1972 by a Greek American teenager who signed, or “tagged,” Taki 183 (his name and street, 183rd Street) on walls throughout the New York City subway system. By 1975 youths in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn were stealing into train yards under cover of darkness to spray-paint colorful mural-size renderings of their names, imagery from underground comics and television, and even Andy Warhol-like Campbell’s soup cans onto the sides of subway cars. Soon, influential art dealers in the United States, Europe, and Japan were displaying graffiti in major galleries. New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority responded with dogs, barbed-wire fences, paint-removing acid baths, and undercover police squads.

DJ Kool HercJaimaican American deejay, 2019.

The beginnings of the dancing, rapping, and deejaying components of hip-hop were bound together by the shared environment in which these art forms evolved. The first major hip-hop deejay was DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), an 18-year-old immigrant who introduced the huge sound systems of his native Jamaica to inner-city parties. Using two turntables, he melded percussive fragments from older records with popular dance songs to create a continuous flow of music. Kool Herc and other pioneering hip-hop deejays such as Grand Wizard Theodore, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash isolated and extended the break beat (the part of a dance record where all sounds but the drums drop out), stimulating improvisational dancing. Contests developed in which the best dancers created break dancing, a style with a repertoire of acrobatic and occasionally airborne moves, including gravity-defying headspins and backspins.

In the meantime, deejays developed new techniques for turntable manipulation. Needle dropping, created by Grandmaster Flash, prolonged short drum breaks by playing two copies of a record simultaneously and moving the needle on one turntable back to the start of the break while the other played. Sliding the record back and forth underneath the needle created the rhythmic effect called “scratching.”

American quartet Boyz II Men (left to right) Shawn Stockman, Wanya Morris, Nathan Morris and Michael McClary, 1992. (music, rhythm-and-blues). Photographed at the American Music Awards where they won Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist, Los Angeles, California, January 27, 1992.

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Kool Herc was widely credited as the father of modern rapping for his spoken interjections over records, but among the wide variety of oratorical precedents cited for MCing are the epic histories of West African griots, talking blues songs, jailhouse toasts (long rhyming poems recounting outlandish deeds and misdeeds), and the dozens (the ritualized word game based on exchanging insults, usually about members of the opponent’s family). Other influences cited include the hipster-jive announcing styles of 1950s rhythm-and-blues deejays such as Jocko Henderson; the Black power poetry of Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron, and the Last Poets; rapping sections in recordings by Isaac Hayes and George Clinton; and the Jamaican style of rhythmized speech known as toasting.

Rap first came to national prominence in the United States with the release of the Sugarhill Gang’s song “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) on the independent African American-owned label Sugar Hill. Within weeks of its release, it had become a chart-topping phenomenon and given its name to a new genre of pop music. The major pioneers of rapping were Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and the Cold Crush Brothers, whose Grandmaster Caz is controversially considered by some to be the true author of some of the strongest lyrics in “Rapper’s Delight.” These early MCs and deejays constituted rap’s old school.