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Drake · S1 E5
The Audition
A friend's father is a talent agent. A fifteen-year-old walks into a casting room and changes his life
A casting room in Toronto, 2001. A kid who has never acted professionally reads three lines of dialogue, and the casting director looks up from her clipboard.
Drake's "Nonstop" opens Scorpion with pure momentum. Directed by Karena Evans at London's Barbican Centre, the video moves with the same relentless energy Drake brought to everything after his audition. "I just flipped the switch" is exactly what happened in 2001.
Nonstop (2018)
Tay Keith's beat is blunt, aggressive, and built on a booming 808 pattern that hits like a door being kicked open. The video, directed by Karena Evans, was shot at London's Barbican Centre with Drake moving through corridors in relentless forward motion. Listen for the way his flow shifts between singing and rapping mid-bar, switching registers the way an actor switches between characters.
The Connection
It starts with a classmate. Drake's friend from school has a father in the entertainment business who agrees to meet the kid from the basement apartment. One conversation leads to a talent agent, the agent leads to a casting call, and the casting call leads to Degrassi: The Next Generation.
TAP TO REVEAL: How much did Drake actually earn on Degrassi?
“Degrassi was never the plan. I wanted to make music. But my mom needed help paying the bills, and suddenly I could do that. I wasn't about to say no to a steady paycheck.”
— Drake, interview with The Fader, 2009
Cameras / Good Ones
From Take Care (2011). A song literally called "Cameras" for an episode about a teenager stepping in front of them for the first time. The track is cinematic and reflective, Drake looking back at a relationship through the lens of being watched, observed, and recorded.
Cameras, Drake (2011)
Read the lyrics while you listen. A song literally called "Cameras" for the episode where a teenager steps in front of them for the first time. Drake looks back at a relationship through the lens of being watched.
What TV show did Drake star in as a teenager?
Aubrey has the part, and now he needs to become someone else. Next: Jimmy Brooks, the wheelchair, the shooting storyline that traumatized a generation of Canadian teenagers, and the moment Drake realizes acting is not enough.
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