The distinguishing characteristic of Drake's Degrassi High character Jimmy was that he was in a wheelchair, victim of a rare Canadian school shooting.
Drake wasn't feeling the wheels.
According to the show's writer/producer/creative consultant James Hurst, Aubrey Graham threatened to leave Degrassi if they didn't get his character back on his feet.
“There was a letter from a law firm in Toronto, and it was from Aubrey,” Hurst told The AV Club. “It was an odd letter that said, ‘Aubrey Graham will not return to Degrassi Season 6 as Jimmy Brooks unless his injury is healed, and he’s out of the wheelchair.’”
Hurst asked to meet with Drake, and Drizzy admitted he wanted out of the chair because his rap friends were teasing him about it.
“I said, ‘Get him down here.’ He came in and was like, ‘What letter? I don’t know about that,’” Hurst recounted. “And I said, ‘All right, I understand. But how do you feel about the wheelchair?’ He’s like, ‘All my friends in the rap game say I’m soft because I’m in a wheelchair.’ And I said, ‘Well, tell your friends in the rap game that you got shot. How much harder can you get? You got shot, and you’re in a wheelchair.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’”
Hurst then told Drake that he was making life easier for kids in wheelchairs by giving them representation. Hurst said Drake got it, and backed down from his demand.