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Not since LL Cool J has been there been a true hip-hop heartthrob: someone with rhymes tight enough to impress rap fans and a face cute enough to grace bedroom-wall posters. Teenage girls who enjoy the intersection of raps and dreamy romance enjoyed a brief shining moment in 1987, when LL released “I Need Love,” but have been ass out ever since—that is until little Jimmy Brooks from Degrassi: The Next Generation ditched his wheelchair and picked up a microphone. Rapper-singer Drake has blown up thanks to the success of his mixtape “So Far Gone,” a blend of semi-sappy tracks made for his Degrassi fanbase, and pensive autobiographical rhymes that have earned him some respect as a serious MC. Drake has summed up his dual appeal thusly: “When my album drop/Bitches will buy it for the picture/And niggas’ll buy it too and claim they got it for they sister.” Perhaps, but the inverse is actually a better indicator of Drake’s broad appeal: many women buy a Drake CD just for the rhymes and plenty of dudes buy it for the pictures. DRAKE PERFORMS AT 8 P.M. AT LOVE NIGHTCLUB, 1350 OKIE STREET NE. $30-200. (202) 636-9030. —Sarah Godfrey