Artist to Watch 2009: Drake

Twenty-two-year-old biracial Canadian actor-rapper Drake has just negotiated a monster of a record deal, giving him total control over the music he'll record for Lil Wayne's Young Money label. "They'll say this is the worst deal in music history as far as the label goes," he tells Rolling Stone. "Probably one of the best deals for me at the moment."

Drake (born Aubrey Drake Graham) got his start on Degrassi: The Next Generation playing a paraplegic teen for seven seasons. When he decided to break into rap, he first reached out to mixtape DJ Smallz, who helped him put out his first project Room for Improvement. A year later, he released a second mixtape that featured a major coup for an unknown: Weezy himself. Wayne took Drake under his wing, and the rest is soon to be chart history.

"Best I Ever Had," Drake's first breakout hit from his So Far Gone mixtape, blends a tender chorus with some dirty-dog bragging, and its video doesn't skimp on sex. But Drake, who sings his own hooks, cites some unlikely artists as inspiration — he says he's been listening to a lot of Passion Pit, David Bowie and Bob Dylan. "I think you should really listen to some Dylan so you're not afraid to be honest," he says. "When I listen back to my raps I just hear myself being that vulnerable. I still get shy around women, I'm not fully comfortable in the position that I've been blessed with but I think that's what makes me me."

Read Christian Hoard's full story in the new issue,
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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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