S. Samuel
Young Money's Drake is making some positive headlines moving into the weekend after reportedly digging into his pockets to pay for a Philadelphia school to receive a recording studio.
According to reports, the Toronto native broke the big news to Philly students this week.
It’s maybe not what Philly’s Strawberry Mansion High School needs most, but it’s still a whole lot. And it’s what rapper Drake is giving. In a segment that aired on ABC News Wednesday, Drake visited the North Philly public high school to announce that he’s going to build a recording studio at the chronically underresourced school. “This about you,” the rapper told the screaming students. “This about your principal. This about your future. I love you. I care about you. I want to see you succeed.” (Color Lines)
In his ABC News segment, the rap star explained what inspired the unexpected decision.
“I caught this piece that Diane did and I was like by the end of it I was so heavily affected that at the end I started questioning like major aspects of my life. It just really changed a lot about me.” (ABC News)
The school has reportedly received donations and seen achievement amongst its students since recent news coverage.
It changed a lot of people. Now, Strawberry Mansion High School represents hope – not only to its students, but to the community. This year, 55 of this year’s senior students were accepted to college, twice the number of acceptances from last year. And when ABC News reported in the spring that some of those students wouldn’t be heading to school this fall because they could not pay their deposits, kind-hearted viewers stepped in and helped out. According to ABC, donations received after the first broadcast helped to provide 13 college scholarships, as well as paying for school uniforms, textbooks, notebooks and calculators (click here for more information on making a tax-deductible donation). (Forbes)
Last year, Drake sparked attention by graduating high school after dropping out nearly ten years prior.
“I reached a point in my life where I realized there aren’t material things that can give me the excitement that I’m looking for,” he told his cheering peers. “There’s a void in my life that I need to fill and I need to sit and think long and hard what that was. It was the fact that I had left a gaping hole in my story of following through.” He concluded the speech by dedicating his new diploma to his mother, “because she’s a retired teacher and always wanted me to graduate,” he said. “I think I’ll sleep a little better tonight knowing that I found a way to follow through.” (Rolling Stone)
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Check out Drake’s announcement:
