"[He] can't cope with rain. If it drizzles he would be calling it a thunderstorm and be like, 'Man, it's so cold.'" --Mr. Hudson

Kanye West's British protege must be super-tight with his historically sensitive mentor. He basically called him a sissy girl.

You Oughta Know is your weekly introduction to a wide range of new Canadian artists who are either about to blow up ... or really oughta.

The Internet long ago changed the music industry's star-making machinery, but perhaps nobody has benefitted by the new bottom-up food chain quite as much as Toronto rapper Drake.

He's hardly an undiscovered nobody, having spent eight years as wheelchair-bound shooting victim (and, of course, aspiring rapper) Jimmy Brooks on the cult-smash TV series 'Degrassi: The Next Generation.' But over the past few months, 22-year-old Aubrey "Drake" Graham has ascended to the top of the hip-hop mountain -- including entering the Billboard charts with top ten hits with 'Best I Ever Had' and the Young Money posse cut 'Every Girl' -- without so much as a record deal, much less a commercial album release.

Now that the reportedly $2 million major label bidding war for his debut album has finally ended (he just signed with Lil Wayne's Universal-distributed Young Money imprint) Drake is poised to become not just Canada's biggest-ever rapper, but the biggest rap star of 2009 -- from anywhere.

A seemingly impossible feat, even without the 'Degrassi' baggage.

At a press conference on day two at Bonnaroo, comedian-actress Janeane Garofalo said that when someone plays the festival, they need to match its vibe. "We all saw what happened with Kanye last year," she said. "It didn't work."

She was referring to Kanye West's disastrous set in which he kept the crowd waiting for three hours in the field, performing his "Glow in the Dark" show as the sun was coming up for a thin, largely unimpressed crowd. Metallica, on the other hand, "were humbled to be Bonnaroo," said Garofalo. Their excitement and energy matched "the vibe" and paid off via an unforgettable set of classics and rarities that even patchwork-wearing hippies got down to.

"There are so many people who I think are a waste of skin and he's up there." --Pink

The outspoken singer and animal rights activist says she was "grossed out" by Kanye West when the rapper complained that there wasn't enough fur at a recent fashion show.



Download Pink Songs | Download Kanye West Songs

"I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph." --Kanye West

How does the self-professed "proud non-reader" expect to sell his (you guessed it) book, 'Thank You and You're Welcome,' with slander like this? Also, a book's autograph? Really, Kanye?


Download Kanye West Songs

Kanye West isn't the only person to have a Twitter impostor; it's a nuisance that has been annoying a lot of celebrities lately. Naturally, West would like everybody to know that he doesn't tweet. He does, however, have a Mac with a caps lock, and he has a blog, and he's using both -- again -- to further demonstrate his need for anger management classes.

"EVERYTHING THAT TWITTER OFFERS I NEED LESS OF," he says, or rather, shouts, in his latest entry. "I'M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BUSY BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME AND IF I'M NOT AND I'M JUST LAYING ON A BEACH." He claims he blogs only about five percent of his activities, so you know this must really get him going.

The Rules for Battle: Each week, we pit versions of the same song by two different artists in a head-to-head death match for musical supremacy. (Sometimes it will be the original recording vs. a cover version; other times it will be two different covers.) Then it's up to you to decide: Listen to and vote on which version you think should emerge victorious and which should be sent packing. May the best band win!



The Song: 'Heartless' (original version by Kanye West)

The Contestants: Kanye West vs. the Fray

In This Corner -- Kanye West: On last year's '808s and Heartbreak,' listeners heard a new side of the pompous rapper; instead of slick jams, the album found Mr. West, um, singing, about his broken heart. On this song, West croons and laments about a woman as cold as "the winter wind when it breeze." Heartache never sounded so cool.

Kanye West, 'Heartless'