Hip-Hop Media TrainingDrake Graduates From High School At 25, 10 Years After Dropping Out
Apparently, money isn't everything. Rap superstar Drake may rank No. 6 on "Forbes"'s Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, earning $20.5 million from May 2011 to May 2012, but he had some equally important unfinished business to settle — completing his high school education.
The "Best I Ever Had" rapper, who dropped out of Canada's prestigious Vaughan Road Academy at the age of 15 to co-star on the Canadian TV show "Degrassi: The Next Generation," has spent the last five months finishing his studies and is now a graduate.
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The 25-year-old artist shared the news with his 9 million Twitter followers Wednesday. "97% on my final exam. 88% in the course. One of the greatest feelings in my entire life. As of tonight I have graduated high school!" he wrote.
This accomplishment is also good news for Drake's mother, retired educator Sandi Graham. In 2010, the Young Money rapper said his mother was not happy with his decision to quit school.
"At one point in my life, I was a kid who was lost," he told San Francisco radio station KMEL. "I knew I wanted to do music, but I dropped out of high school against my mother's wishes."
Drake continued to follow his heart and his success in acting and music landed him another dream opportunity that ultimately brought him back to his studies.
In 2009, Drake served as a guest coach during the University of Kentucky's Big Blue Madness scrimmage, an invitation from then-new UK coach John Calipari. Drake bonded with the team over the last few years and even received a championship ring when the Wildcats won the 2012 national title.
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Drake credits UK with inspiring him to go back to school. "Kentucky has given me a real home," Drake told cn|2 in September. "I actually dropped out of high school, which I don't know if a lot of people know that. But I dropped out of high school. I never got like a great school experience, and when Coach Cal asked me to come here for the first Midnight Madness it just really gave me a sense of school, a sense of love, a sense of belonging to something. So that's why I feel like I belong to the UK family, and that's why I'm graduating from high school this month. So, I'm actually inspired by UK, inspired by these boys right here."
