Teach me how to Jimmy. Te-te-teach me how to Jimmy.
Everybody’s favourite bar mitzvah-ed rapper debuted a new, signature dance move live in California last Thursday. The Wheelchair Jimmy, an homage to his career-starting role on Degrassi, rolled out on stage, and looks exactly as hilarious as it sounds. Stylin’.
A possible inspiration for the “Wheelchair Jimmy?”
Sure, Drake’s street cred is far from traditional, but he has never been one to shy away from his less-than-humble Forest Hill roots. Instead, he’s embraced his role as rap’s anti-thug, clad in an array of Cosby sweaters.
Drake parodies his anti-thug image on Saturday Night Live.Since blowing up with Best I Ever Had in 2009, Drake has shown Toronto nothing but love. Unapologetically Canadian, he’s altered the city’s logo to promote his latest album, Take Care, has shot music videos in and around the city, and constantly features local artists and producers in his OVOXO crew like Boi-1da and The Weeknd.
Drake just hanging out in the Skydome for the Headlines music video.Though he wears his Maple Leaf pride on his sleeve, the artist formerly known as Aubrey Graham, pulls double duty when representin’; continuing to tip his cap to his Jewish heritage – something many entertainers try their best to disguise.
True to form, on Monday, Drake released an image of him clad in Tallis, a Jewish prayer shawl one receives when they’ve become a “man.” He’s so against type, it just works.
Of course. Image: Aubrey Drake Graham’s Facebook Page.The image was taken on set of Drake’s new video, “HYFR” (Hell Yea F*ckin Right), which filmed inside a synagogue.
What other actor-rapper can do everything wrong, and end up with everything right?
Here are five of the greatest snippets of Drake’s self-referential street cred:
1) Drake’s first Vibe cover, December 2009.
Just a casual monochromatic Toronto Blue Jays cap, Chai necklace and five o’clock shadow. No big deal.
2) Drake on Jimmy Kimmel Live, June 24, 2010
Choice takeaway: “It’s like [I’m the] guy you never want to hear rap from in your life. Like the Canadian, Jewish child actor.”
3) On Women, his April 2012 GQ Cover, and his flirtations with date-as-interview journalism
As against-type as he may be, in his April 2012 GQ cover story, Drake nonchalantly talks about the number of women he’s bedded, but says, “just getting pussy” just “doesn’t work” for him. Naturally, at the end of the interview, he tried to seduce the female reporter profiling him. Oh, Aubrey.
4) Drake on Rap City, January 2011
When MuchMusic’s iconic Rap City returned after a long hiatus, Drake was the show’s first guest. Sitting down with his longtime friend and Rap City host, T-Rexxx, Drake drops some “truth bombs” on music, love, sex, acting, and, well, loving his mom in spite of past sandwich mix-ups.
Choice takeaway – his New Year’s resolution: “I forgot to call my mom when the clock hit 12 a.m., and those types of things are like, ah, man! You can’t start the new year like that! So I took her out to dinner tonight, and made up for it as best I could. Those are things, personally, I got to be a little bit more in tune and in touch with my life, and realize that my life, and the life, are not the same thing.”
5) Drake on his Bar Mitzvah, August 2009
Just another nice Jewish boy from Forest Hill, keeping it real.
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Either way, it looks like Michelle Obama will be doing the Jimmy in no time.
Besides, everybody loves “the Drake.”
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Joanna Adams writes the Morning Cable, and lots more, for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at †@nowstarringTO.
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