University in Canada offers course about Drake and The Weeknd
If you ever wanted to ask Drake or The Weeknd the famous Tagalog expression “How to be you po,” well, you might just have all the answers soon. That is if you get to enroll in a course about the two Canadian artists being offered in a university in Ontario.
That's right. Ryerson University in Ontario, Canada is offering a course called “Deconstructing Drake & The Weeknd” in the winter semester starting January 2022.
It will be offered as one of the flagship courses for The Creative School's Professional Music BA Program, which the university says is the "first transdisciplinary professional music undergraduate program” in Canada.
In an interview with CNN, professor for the said course, Dalton Higgins, emphasized the significance of studying the musical careers of Drake and The Weeknd.
"It's time to get our Canadian rap and R&B icons recognized and canonized academically or otherwise," said Higgins. "And it is critical for scholars and historians to examine the Toronto music scene that birthed Drake/Weeknd and helped create the conditions for them to become mega-successful."
Higgins has authored six books about Black music and hip-hop and has also given lectures on the topic in a number of universities.
The professor also reveals that one of the interesting parts of the course is dissecting the lyrics of both artists' music.
"What people tend to forget about Drake is that he's actually a great writer. In his rhymes he employs all kinds of literary devices like metaphors, iambic pentameter, similes, so we're going to deconstruct his lyrics and examine how he puts his songs together," the professor said.
Moreover, the course will also explore the entrepreneurial side of Drake and The Weeknd.
"When you peel back the layers, you're going to notice how their branding and entrepreneurship is actually insane. For example, Drake with his OVO clothing line, which generates a ton of revenue, or his role as the global ambassador to the Toronto Raptors, Canada's NBA team," Higgins shared.
Higgins also said that the two Canadian music icons are truly inspirational and learners will have great takeaways once they take the course.
"When you have these two Black Canadian artists from Toronto who are performing rap, R&B and pop, and are arguably on their way to becoming billionaires at some point in the future, there is a lot to learn from them,” he added.
Drake, or Aubrey Graham in real life, started out as an actor in the Canadian teen drama TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation from 2001 to 2007. He then went on to pursue a musical career in 2006 with his debut mixtape “Room for Improvement.”
His career milestones so far included winning a total of 192 awards, such as 29 Billboard Music Awards and four Grammy Awards.
Plus, Drake also has eight number 1s on the Billboard 100 chart and six UK number 1s.
Some of his most iconic hits include “In My Feelings,” “Hotline Bling,” “Hold On, We're Going Home,” “Seeing Green,” and “Started from the Bottom.”
Meanwhile, The Weeknd, who's real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, started his musical career by anonymously releasing music on YouTube in 2009.
In 2011, he co-founded XO Records and released his debut mixtape “House of Balloons.”
He has since achieved several career milestones, including winning three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, 15 Juno Awards, and one Brit Award.
Moreover, songs from his 2020 album After Hours hold several worldwide chart records. “Blinding Lights” is the first song in Billboard Hot 100 history to spend a full year in the chart's top 10.
Plus, The Weeknd became the first male artist in history to achieve three No. 1 hits on Billboard Hot 100 from the same album in three different years: “Heartless” in 2019, “Blinding Lights” in 2020, and “Save Your Tears” in 2021.
Some of his other earlier hits include “Can't Feel Face,” “The Hills,” and “Starboy.”
Without a doubt, Drake and The Weeknd are equally iconic and it won't come as a surprise if many students enroll in the said course to thoroughly study their life, career, and artistry.
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Did you know that The Weeknd dressed up as The Nutty Professor last year for Halloween? See his amazing transformation and other awesome Halloween costumes of Hollywood celebrities below.