Canadian rapper and actor Drake is having the time of his life now. And by the looks of the good times are here to stay a while for the 23-year-old.

He was born in Toronto by the name of Aubrey Drake Graham. He rise to fame started when he played the role of Jimmy Brooks, a basketball star who became physically disabled after being shot by a classmate, on the successful TV series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” He parted ways with series in early 2009 after starring in138 episodes and TV movie in the year 2008. Lately he is concentrating on building a career in the music industry.

It was his third album “So Far Gone.” that made him a superstar. He became an instant hip-hop sensation and sold around 2,000 downloads of his mix tape in just two hours after it released on the internet. This bolstered his place in the competitive hip hop industry.

Following the success of “So Far Gone,” he has collaborated with some of hip-hop’s finest artists in the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z and Eminem. Another superstar, Lil Wayne even signed Drake to his own record label, Young Money Entertainment, in June. But the setback in form of a torn ligament is the cardinal cause of delay of his much hyped official debut “Thank Me Later”. But it is finally due out this summer.

More recently Drake is slated to perform at the Bryce Jordan Centre on April 9.

Perhaps the closest artist who has managed to achieve the same reputation as Drake is Kid Cudi who was in Cleveland-born but recently based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Both of them have a similar bouquet of talent from working on television, stunning good looks and a flair for rapping.

Drake’s style of songs is a tad different from his peers, a good example would be his song “Asthma Team,” from “So Far Gone.” which boasts powerful lyrics yet a sense of vulnerability which many rappers try to evade.

But he does have some flaws, his use of the always-evil voice-”enhancing” Auto-Tune, quite noticeable on the track “Forever.” (I thought that we were finished with this? Didn’t Jay-Z rap about the death of it?) .Although it is overall a nice song, it does sound a bit dated.

Drake definitely has a bright future ahead of him, he has all the talent that ensures him a very a long and prosperous career in the music industry. But if “Thank Me Later” manages to get released in June, it could become the highest selling record of this summer, a good example was M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” which was released in the summer of 2008. Certainly, this is one of the most eagerly anticipated albums this summer.