I don't watch Degrassi, let alone know what happens on Degrassi Street. But I know Drake is an actor in the show. He plays a student in a wheelchair who was hit by a bullet.

I know that much about Drake as an actor.

I am an adult, so I know Drake by his music: his Comeback Season mixtape, and the occasionally annoying but sometimes hugely impressive So Far Gone, an internet sensation that became an instant contemporary classic of hybrid sing-rap blog-hop, taking over the urban mainstream....now.

The barrier Kanye West and Lil Wayne broke down for pop rappers in the past year is kind of an arty one: They don't have to rap anymore. At least not all the time. Rappers can break into song whenever they want, like musical theater. Line: blurred. Maybe it always has been.

I think Drake's mastered that duality, as evidenced by the big mainstream crossover song, the one that's breaking Drake, the one with the Kanye West-directed video starring mostly Latina breasts (that you can easily find on the internet but I don't feel comfortable posting on seattletimes.com), "Best I Ever Had."

(The song has swearing. Don't listen if you don't like swearing.)

Click To Play

I don't know if he really did sign a $2 million dollar deal with a major record company. Maybe that's made up. But I almost believe it's possible. Drake makes me dare to dream.

He's also such a salesman on some of the loverman tracks off "So Far Gone," I wouldn't put any marketing scheme past him. He's an incredible lying truth-teller. That's what "Best I Ever Had" is all about: telling truth-lies to women, telling them they're special and meaning it and not meaning it at the same time.

Sometimes I get a cold vibe from Drake on "So Far Gone" -- he's smarmy.

But there's no denying his embrace and employ of the hook/verse writing process, and that his extremely flexible, multipurpose voice is a critical asset. With his octave-spanning range at the beck and call of his songwriting skills, and his songwriting skills apparently 3/4 really good, he might aim for a pop mini-reign.

Drake's done this incredible thing with (exceptional) singing and (derivative, capable) rapping abilities: split his personalities and become a one man band. And his band knows how to write a hit.