When Drake decided to feature a number of his former Degrassi classmates in his music video back in 2018, it put any rumors to rest about his feelings about being on the Canadian teen soap. Given the fact that Drake has become one of the most accomplished and recognizable musical talents on the planet, it's easy to forget that he actually started his career as an actor. And the long-running Degrassi spin-off, Degrassi: The Next Generation, was the launchpad for his success.
While Drake could've easily blown-off his days on Degrassi, he deiced to honor his past and his co-stars by including them in his music video for "I'm Upset". Here's the truth of the situation...
Finding Out That Drake Needed Them For One Of His Most Memorable Music Videos
Nobody would've blamed Drake for wanting to leave his Degrassi days in the dust. While the Canadian teen soap series is beloved by millions, it's clearly not the most sophisticated of shows. Still, Drake, who played Jimmy, clearly is appreciative of Degrassi and, at the very least, his classmates. According to an article by Toronto Life, Drake (whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham) reached out to Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev, Jake Epstein (Craig), Stefan Brogren (Snake/Mr. Simpson), Pat Mastroianni (Joey Jeremiah), Miriam McDonald (Emma), Shane Kippel (Spinner), and several other cast members to star in the "I'm Upset" music video about his young life and the TV show that broke him into stardom.
The music video was a massive success and has garnered over 100 million views. But when the former cast of Degrassi was contacted about doing the music video, they had no idea just how big it would be. In fact, they were just surprised by the fact Drake was reaching out to them.
"I was out on a run when my phone rang. It was a friend who worked on publicity for Degrassi," Shane Kippel told Toronto Life. "He was like, 'Shane, where are you? Are you sitting down?' And then he told me that Drake had this idea for this high school reunion video. At first, it seemed a little too cool to be true. But sure enough, two weeks later we made the video."
While Shane was someone a little more casual when he heard the news, Miriam McDonald was literally listening to her former-colleague when she found out.
"By sheer coincidence, I was actually listening to Drake on my headphones when I got the email about doing the video," Miriam explained. "My response was yes, with seven exclamation points. I still see him as the guy I grew up with, but I’m also a big Drake fan.
Shooting The Music Video With Drake
While Drake could've acted like the big star on the set of his music video, this seems to be the furthest from the truth.
"It’s kind of like there are two different people. Before the shoot, Cassie Steele and I laughed about not knowing what to call him. Aubrey? Drake?" Miriam said.
Jake Epstein, who played Craig, also agreed that he wasn't sure who he was hanging out with on the set of the music video. On one hand, he recognized the handsome actor/rapper as one of the most famous men on the planet, while on the other hand, he was acting as though they were still shooting Degrassi all those years ago.
"[Shooting the music video took] three days in total," Shane explained. "I was in the driving scenes with Aubrey, so it was cool that we got to hang out. And I got to keep the suit."
"I brought in my own suit because I wasn’t sure what they were going to give me for Mr. Simpson. They said, 'No, you can’t wear that because it’s going to get ruined.' I didn’t know there was going to be spray painting," Stefan Brogren said. "I was actually on set when I found out this was going to happen. Iain Christensen, who worked on Degrassi with all of us, asked if I wanted to smoke weed in a Drake video with Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. I was like, of course! That weed was absolutely fake, but it was definitely a party on set. There were lots of bars set up, and lots of expensive champagne."
The truth is, Drake and his team provided the set with a ton of alcohol and music (for one of the scenes) that distracted the cast from remembering that cameras were even on them. It felt like a real reunion as opposed to a staged one. But this is precisely what Drake had intended.
"They brought in a DJ from LA who was playing music through the whole thing because he really wanted to keep the party vibe going," Stefan said.
While filming the whole thing was epic and fun, many of the participants still don't really know what the plot of the video actually was.
"I feel like it centers around the friendship between Spinner and Jimmy," Miriam said.
"The idea is that it was supposed to be the day after the Raptors lost. That’s why Drake wakes up in the ACC. The cool thing was that he was Drake in the video, but he was also Jimmy," Shane said. "So there’s this illusion that we’ve all been hanging out since high school and then end up crashing the high school reunion."
