Long before Drake was a mega-successful rapper, he was one of the stars of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Now, nearly a decade after his final appearance on the teen drama, he’s outlining his plans to return to television.
In his new cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, published online on Wednesday, November 8, the 31-year-old revealed that he’s teaming up with Netflix to revive the short-lived British crime series Top Boy. He will executive produce the show, which begins production in early 2018 and is slated to premiere the following year, alongside his longtime business partner Adel “Future” Nur and NBA star LeBron James‘ SpringHill Entertainment company.
Drake and Nur, 32, are also shopping The Carter Effect, a documentary about former basketball player Vince Carter that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September but has yet to be picked up for distribution rights. In addition, Drake has ideas for an untitled TV series, a project with the film studio A24 and an open-ended partnership with Apple.
“My taste in television or movies is always kind of similar to my approach to music, which is, I like when people really hit the nail on the head with real human emotions,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
The “Hotline Bling” rapper did not disclose the name of his company nor the specifics of his TV and film ventures, though he did hint that he may pause on music for now. “I do plan on expanding — to take six months or a year to myself to do some great films. Music’s always there,” he explained, adding that he may stop making music completely one day if it starts to feel inauthentic. “Hopefully I’ll catch it before I ever get there, right? But right now it feels like we just started, so I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”
For now, Drake is enjoying life — oh, and the Harry Potter books. “Yeah, I read them all,” he told the publication with a smile before revealing that he has been chasing down a $160,000 first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first novel in J.K. Rowling‘s series, for the past four years. “I should get it. My birthday’s coming up. Maybe I’ll buy it for myself as a treat.”
