Toronto rapper Drake is one of the most decorated artists in hip-hop. With four Grammy awards, 13 BET awards and a whopping 34 Billboard awards, the Young Money artist has broken all kinds of musical records. In fact, for his work in the 2010s, Drake was awarded the accolade of ‘Billboard Artist of the Decade’, beating pop-music powerhouses such as Rihanna and Adele.
During the 2010s, Drake was unstoppable. With four Grammy awards, 13 BET awards and a whopping 34 Billboard awards, the Young Money artist broke all kinds of musical records and was even awarded the accolade ‘Billboard Artist of the Decade’.
However, before the rapper (real name Aubrey Graham) achieved mega-stardom, he performed shows for minor fees. Not too long ago, hip-hop historians from The Flyer Vault took to Instagram to post some lost paperwork about the rapper and fans were shocked.
Taking to Instagram, The Flyer Vault posted old contracts from 2006. The papers revealed a small $100 payment to Drake for his performance as the opening act for an Ice Cube show. Playing at a Toronto venue called Kool Haus, Drake was granted a meagre half-hour set before Ice Cube took the stage. During this period, Drake had not yet signed to Young Money and was no longer acting. However, the rapper was instead building a local Toronto buzz.
The post caption read, “On August 19th, 2006, Ice Cube headlined the Kool Haus with supporting act Drake in what was likely his first-ever concert. The Boy got paid a handsome sum of $100 and performed cuts from his debut mixtape Room For Improvement which was released earlier that year. Classic history!”
Prior to Room For Improvement, as an actor, Graham played the role of Jimmy Brooks in the Canadian teen drama series Degrassi but 2006 was a vital year for Graham as it was when he finally made his official transition from acting to music. Following his ’06 mixtape Drake released Comeback Season in 2007. Two years later he proceed to drop So Far Gone which secured him his Young Money record deal.
With regard to the paperwork, Drake eventually caught wind of the photo and himself took to social media posting, “This is for anybody getting $100 a show right now. Keep going.” Since 2009, it is pretty safe to assume that Drake has never performed for the sum of $100. However, it is obvious from his post that he still believes that those who are can achieve what he has. You can watch a HipHopDX news report that breaks down Drake’s career growth since the 2006 performance in the video below.
