Drake’s unique blend of R&B and hip-hop has made him the most successful artist over the last decade. His intoxicating marriage of sounds have helped him sell over 200 million records, and there’s one artist he thanks for convincing him to sing.
Drizzy has topped the Billboard 200 on ten occasions, with six studio albums and four mixtapes which is a feat that signifies the magnitude of his dominance over the last decade. Whenever Drake releases something, the whole music world comes to a stop, and whether you love him or loathe him, there’s no denying his standing within the game.
His journey began with his self-released mixtape, Room For Improvement, in 2006, and it didn’t take long for him to be at the centre of a bidding war by labels.
Reflecting on his journey with Rap Radar, Drake revealed in 2020 that one song, in particular, helped him shape his sound. He said, “’21 Questions’ will probably be my most inspiring example of a guy who’s not supposed to be singing, singing”.
50 Cent was elated with the news that he’d helped inspire Drake’s artistry and piled on the praise on the Canadian. In fact, Fiddy’s explanation of why he chose to sing also explains why they’ve both enjoyed astronomical levels of success and have a universal appeal. “Drake was saying recently that I had influenced him to start singing, which was the coolest shit in the world for him to say, because I can’t sing as good as he sings,” Cent told Variety.
“I was always just trying to outline the melody. Because once you have a broad enough audience, you’re gonna have people who don’t speak English, so all they can follow is the melody. […] And when you’re writing [lyrics], I mean: ‘Go shorty, it’s your birthday’—that’s not rocket science. Every day is somebody’s birthday.”
Meanwhile, Drake also explained that Kanye West came a close second on his inspiration list. At the time of his proclamation, the two were in the middle of their beef, and even their rivalry couldn’t prevent Drizzy from showing appreciation to Ye.
“Another major example, which is 808s. A guy who’s known for his bars and rapping,” Drake explained. “Comical rapping on College Dropout and Late Registration going straight to basically a singing album inspired by genres and music that maybe people in rap maybe didn’t even know about. I’ll always give credit where credit is due so I credit all those people with that movement.”
50 Cent and Kanye both showed Drake that hip-hop didn’t need to be this binary beast, and he could sing if he wanted to without the worry of losing his rap credentials.
