Drake earns his high school diploma

By August Brown

Oct. 18, 2012 12 AM PT

The rapper Drake has never lacked for confidence, but his latest feat warrants special congratulations. Ten years after dropping out of high school for his famed role on the Canadian television show “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” he finally earned his high school diploma after studying with a private tutor.

“97% on my final exam. 88% in the course. One of the greatest feelings in my entire life. As of tonight I have graduated high school!” he tweeted last night. “Thank you to my teacher Kim Janzen for spending the last 5 months working tirelessly with me!! OVO SOUND.”

The MC’s academic career at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute was sidetracked at 15 while he starred as Jimmy Brooks, a high school athlete and victim of a school shooting, on the show. Simultaneously, he worked on his rap game, released several lauded mixtapes, and the rest is swaggering-but-sensitive history.

Drake has never shied away from his scholastic stalling, rhyming in “Crew Love” that “I guess we’ll never know what Harvard gets us/But seeing my family have it all/Took the place of that desire for diplomas on the wall.” But as self-assured as he is, it must have been both humbling and validating to finish high school at 25 with more money and renown than most artists can conceive.

Given that he’s thrown himself a second bar mitzvah, now’s a great time for a belated graduation party as well.

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