You can now take a course to learn everything there is to know about Drake and The Weeknd, two of the most popular singers from Toronto, Canada.
Dalton Higgins, a music professor in residence at Ryerson University in Toronto, announced the course he will teach in early 2022.
Students at Ryerson University can now take a course that delves into two of Toronto’s most influential musicians: Drake and The Weeknd. The course, titled Deconstructing Drake & The Weeknd, will look at the artists’ careers as well as their lyrics.
“Drake and the Weeknd are two of the biggest artists in the world and it’s overdue for them to be canonized academically”
“When you have two Black artists born and bred in Toronto who perform rap, R&B; and pop, and who are arguably well on their way to becoming billionaires at some point in time, there is apparently a lot to learn”
“Remember, they both blew up despite being products of a local Canadian music scene that does very little to foster the growth of its Black music practitioners” said Higgins
Drake is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 170 million records sold, and is the RIAA’s highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States. He has four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a record 29 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards, in addition to several Billboard Hot 100 chart records.
Drake has the most top 10 singles (54), the most charted songs (258), the most concurrently charted songs in one week (27), the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22), and the most time spent on the Hot 100. (431 weeks). He also holds the record for the most number-one singles on the R&B;/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.
Among the world’s best selling music artists with over 75 million records sold, The Weeknd has won three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, fifteen Juno Awards, one Brit Award, has been nominated for an Academy Award, and holds several Billboard chart records.In 2020, The Weeknd was listed by Time as one of the world’s most influential people.
The Weeknd released his fourth studio album, After Hours, in 2020, which included the worldwide chart-topping single “Blinding Lights,” as well as the number-one singles “Heartless” and “Save Your Tears.”
