Wish that guy did not delete his Degrassi thread because I wrote up a nice little summary. Making my own thread and posting here. A lot of people already know, some don’t.

Degrassi did not scare executives away from Drake. Lyor Cohen tried to sign Drake, but he was in too deep with cash money young money by then.

Just adding that to say he was wanted in the music industry and the Degrassi work was not seen as some slight. Drake was not rapping about his mob ties back then lol.

“Room for Improvement, which is “hosted” by DJ Smallz, a Florida DJ known for his Southern Smoke series, reflects Drake’s formative experiences in Toronto’s then-underexposed rap scene. After Room for Improvement, Drake continued to build momentum.

DJ Smallz referred him to Louisiana entrepreneur Terral T. Slack, who subsequently became his manager and helped arrange recording sessions with rising R&B star Trey Songz.

Other high-wattage cameos like Malice from Clipse (who jumped on a remix to Room for Improvement’s “Do What U Do”), neo-soul veteran and frequent Kanye West collaborator Dwele (“Don’t U Have a Man”) and Canadian hip-hop pioneer Kardinal Offishal (“The Last Hope”) ensured that the aptly titled Comeback Season would resonate beyond MySpace and Okayplayer.com’s message boards.” (Rolling stone)

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mixtape-primer-drakes-pre-fame-output-and-post-fame-return-195085/amp/

Jas Prince, son of J Prince, found Drake on MySpace in 2007 after comeback season. Drake paid out of pocket to get a Trey Songz feature on the album which created some internet buzz for him. That Trey Songz co-sign was major, the music video was on BET, and Drake was looked at as a MC influenced by Phonte before anything else.

https://www.thefader.com/2015/06/11/how-drake-met-lil-wayne-jas-prince-interview

THEN….. Jas connected Drake to Wayne & the rest is history. Ransom was the first time I heard a Drake song, and did not realize he was the dude from Degrassi until Best I Ever Had.

Jas was the most important piece in the puzzle IMO.