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.

Self-professed crunk rocker Trouble Andrew's self-titled debut album is out Feb. 10, and he knows full well it'll draw comparisons to fiancé Santi White -- aka Santogold -- when it drops.

"We're both doing progressive music," he tells Spinner. "We're both just trying to do something new and creative. We're both pushing the boundaries, and that's probably why we're attracted to each other -- beside the music [and] just on the day-to-day basis."

Andrew, a professional snowboarder and Olympic vet, met Santogold through mutual friends one day during a Burton trip to New York, just more than four years ago. "I left for Switzerland or something the next day, and we just stayed in touch for a year and just clicked," he said.

"[Someone wrote] 'I hate your lesbian techno rap.' When I get stuff like that, I know I am doing a good job." --Santogold

In a recent interview, the singer identified her favorite kind of MySpace feedback adding, "I'm getting people freaked out."

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel have signed on for an Obama benefit in New York. The show is the first time they have ever been billed for the same concert.

Santogold will open for Kanye West during his European tour in November.

Perry Farrell, former frontman of Jane's Addiction, has penned a new song called 'Go All the Way' to be featured in the film adaptation of 'Twilight.'

The Hold Steady, who recently canceled the UK leg of their tour, revealed the reason: guitarist Tad Kubler is in the hospital with pancreatitis.

Lilith Fair has long come and gone. Now we celebrate the new generation of women who have taken up the torch passed by Sarah McLachlan, Fiona Apple and other ladies of Lilith, and who continue to redefine what it means to be a woman who rocks.

Who: Santogold
Sound: Indie rock

Santi White's 2008 eponymous debut found her whipping up '80s-glazed, effervescent tracks that marry her roots with reggae, electro ... well, you name it, really. Not only did Santogold score the opening slot on Coldplay's world tour -- and her own headlining tour -- but her bouncy tracks can currently be heard in several TV commercials.
Listen to 'Creator'

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Santogold launched her first headlining tour this past Friday, with a complete live band and DJ in tow. The dancehall chanteuse (real name, Santi White) reports to Spinner so far, so good. Her exact words, actually, were, "So far, it's been a great tour." Previously, Santogold opened a North American arena run for Coldplay and, of course, hit the festival circuit. Her current tour sees her anchoring classic club rooms such as the House of Blues (multiple locations) and the Fillmore (ditto).

"It's the first time I've been consistently playing in front of an audience who really knows all the words and all the songs, and the energy has been great," she says. "Plus, after doing festivals in Europe, it's a nice change to be in a more intimate club environment."

Kanye West performed a new song, titled 'Love Lockdown,' at Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards. The tune is off his forthcoming as-yet-untitled new album, which features West singing on each track, due in December.

Radiohead's final North American show, which was webcasted live from Santa Barbara, Calif. on August 28, will stream on NPR in its entirety today.

Santogold will launch a North American tour on September 19 in NYC, in support of her self-titled debut album. The 16-city jaunt is set to wrap on October 14 in L.A.

The Mountain Goats and Kaki King will release a dual six-song EP, titled 'Black Pear Tree.' The release comes in support of their co-headlining fall jaunt, dubbed 'The Last Happy Night of Your Life,' which kicks off October 13 in Chicago.