by Danielle Berrin, Jewishjournal.com

Meet Aubrey “Drake” Graham, the biracial Jewish-Canadian rap artist whose star is quickly rising on the hip-hop scene.

Though fans have followed him since his days as basketball star Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian soap “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” a recent spate of press has introduced the 23-year-old artist to the broader public. And public take note: The New York Times declared the young, emotionally vulnerable artist “the most important and innovative new figure in hip-hop.”

Drake released his first album “Thank Me Later” earlier this week, though his mixtapes have been widely circulating since 2006. In fact, Drake earned the unusual distinction of being nominated for 2010 Grammys without the release of an album. To his credit, he’s been traveling the right company: Rap star Lil Wayne was the first mainstream act to incorporate Drake into his touring routine and served as a kind of mentor to the fledgling artist.

But Drake’s fast rise isn’t the most interesting thing about him. In a culture of misfits and outsiders, he is the ultimate outsider – the rare black Jewish rapper. (UPDATE: In an earlier version of this article, I referred to Drake as the “first ever” black Jewish rapper, but it has since been brought to my attention - and rightly so—that Y-LOVE, the Orthodox black hip hop artist also fits this description, though Drake remains the first-ever biracial Jewish Canadian rapper.)

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