Degrassi: The Next Generation

Drake Revived His Classic ‘Degrassi’ Character During His Apollo Theater Concert

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Drake December 2022
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Drake postponed his first-ever shows at the Apollo Theater from early December to Saturday, January 21 and Sunday, January 22, and the general consensus is that he could have postponed them to January 2024 and the wait would have been worth it. From performing an exhaustive set list to teasing a potential new project, Drake brought everything to the stage.

According to Billboard, Drake’s set was just as much a visual chronicle of his journey as it was a musical one. Drake opened the show with “Over My Dead Body” from 2011’s Take Care while wearing the same basketball jersey worn by Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake starred in the role from 2001 to 2009 — when he was still best known as Aubrey Graham — and he also mocked his haircut from that time elsewhere in the show.

“I wanted to make this show about gratitude,” Drake told the crowd near the top of the show, per Billboard. “This is a little story we put together about my deep love for my family, for my dear friends and for each and every one of you that have been supporting me for a long time.”

Drake also shared the stage with his Her Loss collaborator 21 Savage, Dipset, and Lil Uzi Vert across the two nights. Check out clips below.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Drake’s Reluctant Portrayal Of A Paralyzed Student Receives Praise From The Nonprofit Wheelchairs 4 Kids

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After Drake’s reluctance to allow his Degrassi character Jimmy to be paralyzed after an episode about a school shooting became public, his portrayal is now being praised by the leader of an organization dedicated to kids with mobility issues for helping normalize wheelchairs. Madeline Robinson, executive director of Wheelchair 4 Kids, told TMZ that Drake’s role — however reticent he initially was to play it — gave kids in wheelchairs confidence. “When was the last time you went to a mall and saw a kid in a wheelchair hanging out with other kids?” she wondered, saying it’s rare.

“It is great when we see our kids being represented,” Robinson asserted. That was the logic that the show’s producers used to get Drake on board with the character development when the actor threatened to quit after seeing the script, worried that it would have a negative effect on his then-nascent rap career. In AV Club’s oral history of Degrassi: The Next Generation, writer James Hurst recalled telling Drake, “Aubrey, there’s some kid somewhere in a wheelchair, who’s completely ignored, who’s never on television, never gets represented. I need you to represent this person. You’re the coolest kid on the show, and you can say there’s nothing wrong with being in a wheelchair.”

Drake is now arguably the biggest star in hip-hop, so it’s clear he’s surmounted his worries, however well-founded they may have been.