If you want to sit on the diamond-studded rap throne, you better have a tremendous record to back you up. Drake has spent the past 17 years meticulously crafting his own body of work, and at this moment, his status as a musical legend is without dispute. True to the boastful line from his 2013 song “Tuscan Leather”—”This is nothin’ for the radio, but they’ll still play it though/’Cause it’s that new Drizzy Drake, that’s just the way it go”—his fans devour everything he puts out. In terms of listeners and influence, Drizzy is unquestionably at the top of the charts now. Indeed, he had to begin at the very bottom.

It’s crazy to think that The 6 God’s debut mixtape, 2006’s Room for Improvement, only sold 6,000 sales whereas 2009’s So Far Gone EP sold a whopping 500,000. Drake first rose to prominence as a result of his innovative fusion of rap and R&B. By the time his first album, Thank Me Later, came out in 2010, he had already cemented his position as the undisputed master of melodic rap. Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013), both fueled by his invigorating sing-song style, are now considered modern classics.

In 2015, the 6 With the release of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and What a Time to Be Alive with Future, God graduated from the ranks of the inexperienced to those of the seasoned veterans. When he was at the pinnacle of his game, Drake released a string of critically acclaimed albums and EPs that were staples of everyone’s music library, from 2017’s More Life to 2018’s Scorpion to 2019’s Care Package.