Started from the bottom: How hip hop superstar Drake aims to take his OVO brand to a billion dollars!

From a clothing line to cryptocurrencies to sports betting, Drake does a lot more than just make music. The 4 time Grammy award winner has earned a lot more accolades outside the recording studio. This is pretty evident from the fact that the Canadian rapper broke into the top 5 richest rappers on the planet in 2020. According to Forbes, in 2020, Drake’s net worth stood at a cool $150 million! However, this is just the beginning - the hip hop superstar has been quietly building a business empire under his umbrella firm OVO (October’s Very Own) that combines his various interests and passions, ranging from music to fashion to gambling, into a multi million dollar business venture that is designed to last way beyond Drake’s music career. In this article, we explore the story of Drake and his self proclaimed “God’s Plan”.

Before he became Drake, Toronto’s Aubrey Graham got his first shot at fame as an actor, primarily for his supporting role in the popular Canadian TV series Degrassi. Although he had some success in the acting world, Drake had his eyes set on the music industry from the very beginning. He got his first break in the world of music when he was discovered, on MySpace of all places, by Jas Prince, son of the legendary hip hop entrepreneur J Prince. Drake was the top music artist on MySpace at the time. Prince introduced Drake to Lil Wayne, who signed the Canadian star-in-the-making to his record label Young Money in 2009. Wayne, who was at his peak at the time, was wise enough to start thinking about his future beyond music. He took Drake under his wing to foster the next generation of music. His bet paid off big time - 50 billion music streams later, Drake is the biggest recording artist of our generation!

From his MySpace days, Drake has always focused on 2 things - community & collaboration. Along with his co-founder El-Khatib, Drake used MySpace to transition from acting to music, while using the platform to build and cultivate his community & brand OVO. The page on MySpace turned into a blog for the budding artist to post inspiration along with his original work to create a relationship with his fans. When his first album dropped in 2010, it skyrocketed to the top of Billboard 200 thanks to his relationship with his fans. Next he utilized collaborations to further grow his community and brand. For example, in 2013, his clothing label signed a deal with Jordan worth $10 million. The OVO clothing line, which was launched in 2011, had recently entered the athleisure market and the deal with Jordan helped propel the fashion label to $50 million in annual sales as of 2019. Along with Jordan, its parent company Nike is also rumored to have signed a multi year deal with Drake estimated to be worth $460 million!

Although the clothing line is the biggest source of revenue for OVO, it definitely isn’t the only source of revenue - there’s OVO Sound, his record label, and OVO Sound Radio, a radio program. Apart from his passion for music, Drake also has a passion for sports and gambling. He has turned these passions into business collaborations in order to further grow his brand. Case in point - the partnership with his NBA home team, the Toronto Raptors. Drake is the official global ambassador for the Canadian basketball franchise. The Raptors regularly host “Drake Night” and “Drake Zone” where fans get to take home OVO x Toronto Raptors memorabilia. Similarly, he signed a $10 million deal with Warner Bros. to cover both sports and entertainment markets in order to grow his clothing label.?

Gambling is another passion of Drake’s that he has successfully turned into a business. This latest collaboration with cryptocurrency betting platform Stake could actually turn out to be Drake’s biggest deal. An avid gambler himself, Drake’s move into the world of sports betting was inevitable. It’s a win-win deal for both parties involved - Stake gets access to Drake’s fan base, including the 104 million followers on Instagram, while the rapper gets an opportunity to engage and grow his audience beyond music. It would be interesting to see where the rapper turned entrepreneur takes his OVO brand next from here!