The rapper starred on the Canadian teen drama series long before his music career took off.
Started from Degrassi, now he's here. Drake is looking back at his time on the Canadian teen drama series, and his state of mind when he went in to audition for the role Jimmy Brooks.
In a voice memo shared to Instagram on Wednesday, the 36-year-old rapper claims that he "got high" before he went in to read for the part that would ultimately change his life.
"Someone asked me the other night what my biggest fear is, and I've never really had a good answer for it, but my answer was that all this is for nothing," he shares. "The idea that one day life ends and it just all goes black."
Drake says this question sent him on a "deep spiral of thought," and he started remembering the events that took place before his big Degrassi audition.
"I go back to this day when I was, like, 13 or 14. I had an audition for a TV show that ultimately shaped my life," he says, referring to the series. "Before my audition, I went to this kid's house. And I, out of, I guess, a desire to be accepted, I would succumb to peer pressure, and I got high with these kids right before my audition."
Drake says he can't help but wonder how different his life would be if "something bad" would've happened that day, or even if the life and success he actually has is really just a figment of his imagination.
He explains, "You know, maybe I'm still high, maybe I'm in some coma. And this is just, like, me playing out my ideal life. That concept has stuck with me for a lot of years."
Drake says his life "feels like reality, it feels tangible," but admits, "I definitely wonder sometimes."
Before his rap career took off, Drake starred on Degrassi from 2001 to 2009, and portrayed Jimmy, a basketball player who becomes paralyzed from the waist down after a classmate shoots him.
Degrassi ran for 14 seasons from 2001 to 2015, and focused on Degrassi Community School students who were learning to deal with relationships, disorders, drug and alcohol addictions, gambling problems, pregnancy scares and much more. In addition to Drake, the series also starred Shane Kippel (Spinner), Miriam MacDonald (Emma), Lauren Collins (Paige), Cassie Steele (Manny), and Nina Dobrev (Mia).
The rapper hasn't forgotten his Degrassi days and makes sure his fans haven't either. In 2018, he paid tribute to the show by making his "I'm Upset" music video a cast reunion. In the music video, the stars of Degrassi are back at school for their reunion, including Ephraim Ellis, who played Rick, the student who shot Jimmy. The show's theme song is even included at the end, along with new shots of the cast spliced with archive footage from the original Degrassi.
For more on Drake and Degrassi, check out the links below.
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