Drake - Cross Media Case Study Presentation. A2 Media Studies

1. By Ghanshyam Shiyani
DRAKE
CROSS MEDIA CASE STUDY

2. EARLY CAREER
• Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24 1986 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Aubrey
is known professionally as Drake and he is a rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer,
and an actor. Drake started his fame on the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next
Generation in the early 2000s. In 2007 he left the TV show inorder to pursue a career in
Rapping. He then released his debut mixtape, “Room for Improvement”. He then released
two further independent projects before he signed to Lil Wayne's record label Young
Money Entertainment in June 2009.
• Drake released Thank Me Later in 2010 and it debuted at number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200 and was soon certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA). Drakes next two releases Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same
(2013), achieved worldwide successes and it earned him his first Grammy Award for the
Best Rap Album.
• Drakes fourth album, Views, in 2016 broke many record. Views sat a the top of the
Billboard 200 for ten weeks in a row, becoming the first album by a solo male to remain at
number one the longest in over 10 years. Views also made Drake lead in the Billboard Hot
100 and the Billboard 200 simultaneously for eight weeks, breaking the previous record of
seven held by both Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. It also achieved double
platinum status in the U.S., and earned over 1 million album equivalent units in the first
week of its release.

3. RECORD LABELS
• List of Drake’s Record Labels: OVO Sound, Young Money, Cash Money, Republic, Aspire,
Universal Motown and Boy Better Know (BBK).
• OVO Sound is a Canadian Record Label founded by Drake and Noah “40” Shebib in
2012. OVO Sound is a subsidiary of Warner Music Group's Warner Bros. Records.
• In May 2016, the news was struck to know that Drake signed for Skepta’s Record Label
Boy Better Know (BBK). The Famous Canadian Rapper signed for a Small British Record
Label founded in North London by Grime Artists Skepta and JME.

4. BIGGEST HITS
• Chart History of Hot 100 as of August 2016:-
1. One Dance
2. Best I Ever Had
3. Hotline Bling
4. Hold On, We’re Going Home
5. Find Your Love
Drake – Hotline Bling Music Video: https://youtu.be/uxpDa-c-4Mc

5. ALBUM ART
Some of his Album Art has images and paintings of the artist and some just have text or a
image. They all vary in style, some stand out and some are bland and plain. Drake mainly
uses his songs and lyrics to promote himself instead of amazing album arts.

6. ALBUM PROMOTION
Drake has both Online and Print promotions of his new album tour.
It has the album cover, Drake and Future’s name in Bold as this
album was partnered with Future. It also has the release dates for
each area of the tour.

7. DRAKE’S WEBSITE
Drakes Signature
Information about his
music and himself
A video about his progress to fame
and promoting his new album
“Views”

8. LATEST MUSIC VIDEO
• Drake - Hotline Bling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-4Mc

9. HOTLINE BLING MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS
• The Hotline Bling music video had the use of a lot of cinematography and shots. At the start
there is a dolly track shot walking with the girl and the girls on the phone showing it’s a hotline
call center. The actually music then starts with a zoom in and out shot where the camera zooms
into the artist who is singing and dancing to his song and then starts to zoom back out to add
an effect. There’s also many close up, mid shots and long shots of the artist, this is to show
that this is his song and it promotes himself through the video. There were also uses of many
extreme long shots showing drake sitting on stairs or dancing on his own with no one else. This
links to the lyrics because his talking about someone who used to call him but not anymore and
now his alone.
• There was also a bit of editing used in this music video but it wasn't heavily edited. It had bright
bold white text to show the artist name, video creator and title of the song. The scenes and
shots just had simple cuts between them and some quicker and slower cuts depending on the
music so it is well synchronized with each other. The video also starts and ends with a opening
effect like sliding doors. Some shots were in slow motion such a the shots of the models.
• The music video had the use of Mise-en-scene as well. Drake was wearing a jumper with a logo
of his record label to promote the record label which shows the demands of the record label.
The use of lighting was heavily used on the artist to show who it is clearly and also coloufrul
RGB lights were used to create the video to be more visually pleasing.

10. GOODWIN’S THEORY ANALYSIS
Close ups of the artist
throughout the whole
music video.
Visuals synchronized with the
beat and pace of the music.
This is done to make the
video more entertaining for
the audience.
Shots of Artist wearing the logo of
the record company, this shows the
demands of the record label.

11. CONCLUSION
• Drake is heavily promoted throughout his Website and music videos, with bright colours
and various close ups of himself and his record label branded throughout his website and
his video. The music video had no stage performances or live performances.
• Drake has promoted his new album with music videos and promotional fliers and videos
throughout his site about his new album. Drake started as a small time actor and rapper
who has now become one of the most famous artists due to the money he has spent on
promotion and simple word of mouth through social media and his website. Drake and his
record label is heavily promoted through his sites and videos to generate more revenue
and to attract a mass audience.