Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images, Ricelife/Flickr CC.
Drake may have started from the bottom, but he rose to the top very quickly.
Amara Pope, a Western PhD student, has recently published a paper analyzing the 6ix God himself: Drake.
Pope published “Musical Artists Capitalizing on Hybrid Identities: A Case Study of Drake the ‘Authentic’ ‘Black’ ‘Canadian’ ‘Rapper.'” Pope says her paper represents how Canadian media has gone global.
Amara Pope discusses how Drake’s success stems from his ability to create a hybrid identity.
Pope explains that Drake has a hybrid identity because, “He kind of has these dualistic abilities to relate to different communities. So he’s Canadian, he’s American, he’s biracial, black, white– he’s able to just draw on so many different groups of people that he’s able to just spread his image across so many different communities, which makes him so popular and so relatable to communities.”
Pope says that she analyzed Drake’s lyrics and music videos and she concluded that, “He drew on stereotypical images to relate to so many different people, but also at a more global level.”
Pope says that Drake being so relatable is one of the reasons that the Canadian artist gained success so quickly, and she believes it will help him in the near future for capital gain.
The PhD student continues to analyze artists and how they affect society globally. Pope would like to eventually become a Professor in media studies.
For now, the 6ix God fan hopes that one day soon, Drake will read her paper and sit down with her to discuss his work.
