Drake Praised as a ‘Genius’ by a Legendary Hip-Hop Pioneer
Drake first entered the public eye as an actor on the hit Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the mid-2000s, Drake transitioned his career from TV to music as he launched a career as a rapper with the mixtapes Room For Improvement and Comeback Season. In the decade-plus since then, Drake has become one of the biggest hip-hop stars in the world with an indelible impact on the music industry. His years of hard work left a strong impression on a hip-hop pioneer who came before him.
Drake has been rapping for over a decade
Drake continued to work hard as an up-and-coming rapper in the late 2000s and getting on stages whenever he could; once, he opened for rapper Ice Cube for just $100 of pay.
In 2009, Drake released his breakout mixtape, So Far Gone. He caught the attention of Lil Wayne, who signed the Canadian rapper to Young Money Records. Drake’s debut album Thank Me Later arrived in 2010. He followed it up with Take Care in 2011 and Nothing Was the Same in 2013.
Drake continued his reign over the hip-hop world throughout the 2010s with the albums Views and Scorpion. He earned his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in with his 2016 single “One Dance,” and went on to earn No. 1s with “God’s Plan,” “Nice for What,” “In My Feelings,” “Nonstop,” “Laugh Now Cry Later,” “What’s Next,” and “Jimmy Cooks.” In the past two years alone he’s released three albums: Certified Lover Boy, Honestly, Nevermind, and the 21 Savage collaborative album Her Loss.
Grandmaster Flash called Drake a ‘genius’
Drake’s success is in large part due to the rapper’s commercial appeal, creating hits that can play on the radio just as well as they can at home. This has resulted in a massive net worth for the rapper north of $200 million today.
Drake’s success garnered praise from hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash, who helped form hip-hop’s modern sound in the 1980s as a part of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
“He is probably the only rapper, and I want to speak on his talent because he’s a great rapper, but he’s the only one, in my opinion, that’s daring enough to rap on a trap beat, to rap on a disco beat, to rap on ballad beat,” Grandmaster Flash told Billboard on the red carpet at the 2023 Grammy Awards. “I would call it like a Prince formula. When Prince makes records, it does not sound like his last record. Drake is daring enough to rap on all different types of beats. I think he’s a consummate genius.”
Later that night, Grandmaster Flash performed as part of the Grammys’ massive tribute to hip-hop in advance of the genre’s 50th anniversary in 2023.
Grandmaster Flash keeps up with new artists
Though Grandmaster Flash’s time in the music industry dates back over four decades, he’s continued to keep up with contemporary artists, including the new crop of women in hip-hop that rose in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
In 2022, Grandmaster Flash praised Coi Leray for sampling Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” in her song “Players.”
“When I got a call saying this girl wanted to resurrect the beat of a song from my past – I wanted to learn more,” he wrote on Instagram last year. “Then when I spoke with and met Coi Leray, I TOTALLY got it. Go listen to ‘Players’ by Coi Leray now.”
