A Course Focusing On Drake Is Coming to Montreal's Concordia University This Fall

Class is in session, and Drake is the subject.

This fall, Montreal's Concordia University will be offering a special edition of its FFAR 256 "Hip-Hop: Past/Present/Future" course titled "Drake: Media, Myth and Manhood," focusing on the Toronto rapper's career and global impact. Drake is the latest hip-hop or comedy star to become a case study for the fine arts elective, which has previously been centred around the careers of Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Dave Chappelle and more.

Taught by Iraqi Montreal-based rapper and professor Yassin 'Narcy' Alsalman, the university course uses hip-hop artists as a lens for exploring diverse topics including power dynamics, politics, definitions of culture, artist vs. industry and much more.

"This is an elective arts class that touches on philosophy, rap, art, consumerism, capitalism, music, celebrity and idolatry through Drake and his work. We will be both celebrating and questioning our role in the public conversation around the arts, as well as the responsibility of the artist. This has always been my modus operandi," Alsalman said in an exclusive statement to Billboard Canada.

The upcoming edition will explore Drake's career from his early success with Take Care up until his recent album trilogy, relating different albums in his catalogue to a weekly overarching topic. It will equally draw from scholarly readings and multimedia material including Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Hanif Abdurraqib's They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us and a Rolling Stone MENA cover story interview with Drake's longtime producer and close collaborator, Noah "40" Shebib, led by Narcy.

Per a syllabus sample posted by Alsalman, the course will also explore the growth and impact of Drake's October's Very Own / OVO brand and how it has become an "international recognized music label, a lifestyle brand and a curated approach to the cultural landscape of Toronto to the world." The brand was born from community and continues to strive to cement itself as a lasting legacy brand rooted in its Toronto origins, as CEO of OVO Derek "Drex" Jancar, the recipient of the Impact Award winner at Billboard Canada Power Players 2025, explained to Billboard Canada in an interview last year.

“It's the nucleus of everything. It's the thing you constantly come back to and think about: 'Does this represent us, honestly and authentically?'” he explains. “It's where everyone worked on their skills and put blood, sweat and tears into their career paths. We obviously are global thinkers, but we're always coming from that place. That's our identity. It's shaped us and it's what makes us unique.”

Drake has already cemented himself as a global Canadian icon over the last 17 years, and he continues to dominate the charts with new records including 16 No. 1 albums on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart and being tied with Taylor Swift for the most No. 1 songs on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 with 14. He also charted a record 42 songs on the chart following the release of his Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti album trilogy. His most recent No. 1 hit "Janice STFU" spent three weeks at No. 1 in Canada, becoming his longest-running No. 1 of the 2020s decade.

It's a run for the books, and it's now hitting the classroom from August-November 2026.