November 5, 2021 • 24 mins
Drumma Boy is a two-time grammy award winner American Record producer, rapper, songwriter, and philanthropist.
You have undoubtedly nodded your head along to several of his hits over the last 20 years, as he’s produced for Threesix Mafia, Yo Gotti, Chris Brown, 8ball and MJG, and Gucci Mane just to name a few.
Drumma Boy joins Tanya as he breaks down his successful journey through the music industry and the mindset needed to succeed.
He reveals early music influences, the importance of understanding the culture pushing your music, the value of relationships, venturing into entrepreneurship with Drumsquad, House of fresh clothing, Drumma Boy App, Beauty & the Beat podcast, acting, and so much more.
Host IG: @itatanyatime
Guest IG: @drummaboyfresh
Drumma Boy App : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myseat.drummaboy&hl=en_US&gl=US
House of Fresh: https://www.houseoffresh.online/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, welcome, welcome, drummer boy. It's so great to have
you here. Thank you so much for being here. Absolutely
blessing to be here, blessing. Well, I feel like you
are a kingpan and in the Atlanta scene. You have
(00:22):
put in your time and you've been working, working, working
from day one. Let's start at the beginning. What brought
you into the music business? Oh man, coming from the
city of Memphis, we're known for music. It's his home
of music. Uh. My dad was in the orchestra, Memphis
Symphony Orchestra. My mom was in the opera. Uh what
(00:43):
you are classically trained roots here absolutely man, Beethoven, Mozart, Sebastian, Sebelius,
and you know what I mean, reading, arranging, composing. Um
that that was our first and foremost for me. By
the age of two or three, I had a quarter
in my mouth, started started learning clearing it by five
(01:04):
and uh made the Always Tennessee bands, played piano and
all that. But it's crazy because growing up in the
streets of Memphis, you know, my older brother was in
sane way and a Peter and my big brother but
he that was the motivation of kind of making beats,
you know, he was around the same age as Jazzy
Fade and Carlos Brodie, Sliced Tea, a lot of those
(01:25):
legendary producers from Memphis UM and then Home and Stacks,
you know, Home of the Blues Country right up the
street in Nashville. So music is our life, It's like absolutely.
So you know, I got into music through my mama's womb. Honestly.
She always tells stories about putting her stomach to the
speaker and playing different Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. She said,
(01:49):
you get the kicking when I played Michael Jackson wo
So you know, that's life before life in a sense,
you know what I mean. My ears can hear my
ear so working, I have these dreams of making beats
every day and it's always a sound in my head.
So I found a way to transfer within my mind
to my fans, to your fans. That's a beautiful thing.
(02:12):
It seems like you, like I said, this was your
birth rate, and now you're sharing that gift with the world.
So you almost make it sound like it's easy, and
I know it's not. You know, people look at the
music and entertainment industry and they think, like you know
you just overnight you created some beats and sold them.
Can you talk a little bit about your journey from
the perspective of sort of a business lens Um. Yeah, like,
(02:34):
it definitely wasn't easy. I turned a lot of those
dreams used to be nightmares, and I used to want
to figure out how to get it out of my head.
I used to want it out of my head, not
knowing that I had to transfer and looking through you
know that lens I kind of tapped into being therapeutic
in some way. My grandfather was a principal u at uh.
(02:57):
He was the principle at a fair my Heights in
d C. Marvin Gay was a student a lot of
members thirty years. So I think I pulled a lot
of that being able to guide people in the right
direction from my grandfather, and that that has always been
my vision and allowed me to understand my purpose, which
to me is the ultimate third eye. And once you
(03:19):
can see and understand your purpose, then you can deliver
the results necessary. And that's a message that I hope
people are hearing, because once you're able to align with
that and walking your purpose, the universe just opens up
everything for you. Um. But at the same time, you
were one of the most sought after producers in the
industry by your early twenties. And yes, that's a product
(03:42):
of your talent, of course, but there are plenty of
talented people about there. What was it about you that
set you apart and allowed you to achieve this level
of success? I think, honestly, you know from the sound
of music that we're coming from, which was trapped. I
think me being able to be amongst any trap any
hood across America, I'm respected, uh and and I and
(04:04):
I delivered, and I'm you know, I'm a man of character.
I'm a man of honor. So it's it's not like
I've never robbed anybody in my life, you know what
I mean. I've never taken. I've always earned what's mine,
and I think people respect that. So I've been able
to go in and out of hoods across America and
meet with a lot of these young guys who don't
(04:27):
get the opportunities. And I made the best out of
the relationships that I had. I came up with a
guy by the name of Yo God. And when I
met God that he's in rich Chris. You know what
I mean, I'm from South Memphis, got in North Memphis.
But growing up in Memphis, you know, playing clearing, that
ain't the coolest thing going on, you know what I mean.
(04:48):
So I had to kind of defend my myself in
some situations, almost launched through it should almost kill somebody
with my clarinet case. Get get jumped and woo woo woo,
get into a bad fight. So it's like Frish Prince
of Bella. You know what I'm saying, getting in you know?
You know what I'm saying, You like you know what? Yeah, So,
(05:09):
so my mom moved me to Cordova, which is north
of And how old are you at this point? I'm
like fourteen. So you're fourteen, You're a talented, you know,
trained musician, but you're looking for the beats. You're you're
looking to get into a different sort of aspect of music.
Did you know you wanted to be producing or managing
(05:31):
at this time or you were just looking to find
other musicians? Oh yeah, No, I was definitely making beats
and whatnot. Like my brother was was a big part
of that. He introduced me to the first studio and
like eleven and twit um so once I saw that
studio and kind of had all of this orchestral knowledge.
I was like, man, like I can transfer that into beats,
(05:53):
And I started making beats and whatnot, um and doing
the warm ups to the basketball. I was on a
varsity team, so I would do the music too, got
warm ups. That's really interesting because that also speaks to
like you're young and you're like, I just want, you know,
these dreams or nightmares that are in my head to
translate out so that other people can hear them. And
you were like, I'm willing to do it anywhere, and
this is I think testament to your determination and drive.
(06:15):
You're like, I just want people to hear my music,
even if it's in a basketball stadium at the high school.
You know, at the high school. Like nothing was you know,
too little to this. You're like, I just need this
out for the people to hear. Oh yeah. And it
was crazy because like you know, people were asking me
for beats. So my first job was just a selling shoes.
When I moved to Cordova, they had just a feed
(06:36):
by the wolf Chase mam and that was my first job.
And my my boy, who uh who hired me, was like, man,
I know you ain't gonna seal shoes all. You're like,
what else you do? What else you gonna do? You
know what I mean? He would always push me, I
see you on the basketball team. I'm gonna come to
some of your games and whatnot. And I told him,
I said, I started. I just started making beats. My
older brothers showed me how to make beats. So he
(06:56):
was like, man, you know main, no beach man maning,
bring the tape up. So I brought a tape to
the job, and next thing you know, it's only one
person listening to people listening. The whole shoe deck ends
up in the back. So the manager comes like, well
what y'all doing. It's people standing on the on the
on the deck with shoes in their hand, trying to
buy shoes and get out of here. You know what
I like, Man, we're missing money. We got climb. But
(07:18):
by the way, we don't call your drummer board because
you're beat patterns your music, yo. Yo. It was all
about the patterns, you know what I mean, even at
the cafeteria table, beating at the cafeteria table there you
go there. So I would be I would always be
the vibe and get people to start freestyling and wrapping
(07:39):
and you know what I'm saying. Next thing, you know,
it's a whole site for going on in the middle
of the cafeteria, you know what I mean. And when
they started playing my music to the warm ups, that's
when I started seeing choreography. That's when I started seeing
young girls putting steps, putting routines together to my music.
And that kind of turned into doing video and selling out, Uh,
(08:03):
the Wimblton Sports Plex complex, Like if you had we
had a room for five people, we sold it out
at six teams. Okay, tell me about that because that
must have been a huge moment when you were really realizing,
like I can make some money here. Oh yeah, it's
understanding the business. Like Yo, we just had five hundred
heads and here everybody paid ten dollars. We just made
(08:23):
five thousand dollars and we only rented the space for
two hundred two hundred bucks. But they was that high
on our on our music. I produced a group out
of Chapel Hill called Trip and that's that was again.
It had I not moved to north of Memphis in Cordosa,
I wouldn't emit these guys and bolted. I wouldn't have
met your Gotti and Rich Chris and Raleigh. You know
(08:46):
what I'm saying. I wouldn't e met uh Luke Chases
and the kids Shine and all of those guys in
uh Germantown. But you seem like you know it was
really important to you to connect and so find where
the talent was. What was it about founding Drum Squad
where you sort of branched it on your own and
wanted to really start your own company. Um? How did
(09:08):
you know that the timing was right and that you
could be successful in running your own company? Um? I
started Drum Squad in two thousand three, and it was
just I had gotten to the point where I had
done enough projects for other people. You know what I mean.
I'm working with your Guiding and working with Profit Posse,
(09:29):
and working with three six Mafia and working with A
Ball and m j G. I'm working with Indog, Gainst,
the pet Gainst, the Black, all of the underground legends
and you know the top level guys in in Memphis
three season month you play a fly. Um, and I
was like to a point where it's like, Okay, now
I gotta start building me up. Like, Okay, you got
three season, MAFI, you got outcash, you got organized Noise,
(09:53):
like all of these production companies that had their their names,
because everybody knew drummer board. So I was like, I'm
a take the root word of me, which is my squad,
drum squad, and you know what I'm saying. It was
just a whole mob was coming out of Memphis coming
to Atlanta, like you know what I'm saying. My manager squeak,
Chris Higgs, nooney as you say, Yeah, the Ogs, the
(10:18):
Pioneers and the games who was just reaching out. And
I always like, man, let me know when you're back,
Let me know when you're back. One of the first
guys I worked with in Atlanta was past the chore
you know what I'm saying, and um, I did a
big strip club record for him. By the time I
was twenty, weren't even old enough to get in the
strip club. And I started understanding that choreography. Going back
to those girls dancing in the gym. Now, when your
(10:40):
music is hot in the strip club, girls would tell me,
I dance to your music on my set. I made
the DJ play your music when I dance. So now
not even I don't even have to be in the
strip club and I'm getting promoted, you know what I mean.
So I would always when I got old enough to
go on the street club, I would go tip and
say thank you brother. It's it's only right. And I
(11:02):
think that's another big part of mine. You realize who
what the culture was that was pushing your music. When
you have people who were like, look, I danced to
your music, I mean, that just helps push it out
and disseminate to everywhere. Like absolutely, I looked at strippers
like the dealers, yeah okay, and if they helped me
make millions of dollars, I'm I'm saying thank you, you
know what I mean. She just helped me make two thousand,
(11:25):
help me make thirty thousand, he go three thousands, thank
you, you you know what I mean. And because of that
it continued. I mean, there's something really interesting about that.
I grew up in Canada, so understanding the Atlanta culture
and how the strip clubs and trap music, how they're
so intertwined to like pushing that music. It's it's interesting
because it's been so prolific and how you've created this
genre of music and you were right there from the beginning,
(11:48):
and this is all all like, this is what like
the Trap was a location. This is what we call
o trap. This is where we hustle, make our money.
This is our form of exchange, you know what I mean.
And and you know, working with your guy, they working
with Young Jeez, working with Gucci Man and t I though,
(12:09):
that's mount rushmore of the original Trap period. And I'm
heavily involved with these guys. You know. I would be
in the trap and my brother and then would sit
me to the side like man, you but I'm still
seeing what's going on. I'm nine, I'm teeing everybody in
the house other than the guys of but nagked you
(12:33):
know what I mean. And here it is. I'm over
here making music twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen sixteen, just in
the trap, you know what I mean. But thankfully I
had o gs Like when they when they're about to
go make that run or do this or do that,
you stay back. Yep, you know what I mean. So
you appreciate that. Not always I went back. I pulled
(12:55):
my brother out when I moved to Atlanta. I brought
Swizz all, brought insane Wayne to Lenel about a three
bedroom house. Before this, we talked really briefly and you're
mentioning um, and it really stuck with me about just
the drive of how you work, you know, in your
work ethic, and I think it's something that it's important
to share with young people that might be listening on
the podcast. You talked about just like every day, the
(13:16):
hours and time that you put into your music and
the business, et cetera. Can you talk more about that? Yeah,
I mean it's it's understanding what somebody needs, right, and
you can't understand what they need until you give a
full evaluation. So when the music evaluation comes from listening
to your music, what do you have already listening to
(13:39):
some of the songs that you have about or or
that you haven't released, So I understand you better as
an artist, and I understand your capabilities. Do you play
an instrument? Are you good with hooks? Are you a
great performer? Or are you more of a laidback, chill,
brhyming night type of guy? You know what I mean?
And a lot of those people who didn't dance or
do too much, eventually we learned how to play an instrument.
(14:02):
Mm hmm, you know what I mean, so it's like
just being able to evaluate the situation and then fill
in the blanks for the things that that person needs.
So gumman boy. Over the years, you've made it clear
that you're about way more than just music. You've branched
out into entrepreneurship. You have a clothing line, you run
a clothing boutique in Atlanta. You're a brand ambassador for
Moreno bhlv wine. That's just to name a few things.
(14:26):
Why what is it about being this sort of multi stream,
multitalented business mogul that you know gets you excited and
talk more about that? How did all this happen? Um?
I would say a lot of that is inspired by Puff.
You know what I mean. It's it's it's certain things
like I give from Dr Dre as far as the
quality of my music, the mix, the sound, making sure
(14:49):
to beat slaps right, Quincy Jones. I look up to
Quincy for the relationships with musicians and writers as well
as a musician who can read, arrange, composed and you know,
put together different bands and whatnot. Um. And then I
looked up to Puff on the marketing aspect. I said, well,
(15:12):
and even if you look at jay Z Okay, he
makes a billion dollars. Well, okay, out of that billion,
only ten percent of that is music, which is good.
I could live off making a hundred million dollars a year.
But why why why do a hundred billion dollars? And
they still want to go, still want to go, still
(15:33):
want to go, still want to go. It's like, okay,
because you look at what's going out and it got
to the motivation, like, you know, you could be comfortable,
but you could be great, and it's just about get
all of the pie. Why not? And if you have
this platform and if you have the ability to do it,
take it absolutely so. So via Champagne, I've made over
(15:56):
six seven grand, you know, via relationships with clothing designers
and and starting house a Fresh My clothing store. I mean,
we've generated over a million bucks in the fashion industry,
you know what I mean. So these are things that
it's like, Okay, this is elevation. Not only do we
(16:16):
make this two million a year in music or whatever,
but let's add another million on top of that for fashion.
Let's add another six seven hundred thousand over here from
leakuors and and and different hostings and whatnot. You know
what I mean, and then other aspects of drummer Board,
the official app in the app store, we just dropped
(16:38):
you can you can subscribe to my exclusive content for
twenty three dollars a year. Okay, did you all hear
that you can subscribe to his exclusive content? And this
is what I think entrepreneurship really is about. It's about
multiple streams of income that can really make your money
move for you. And this is why, like, we love
having different people from different backgrounds on the show, but
this is you are the epitome of all that. Thank you,
(17:01):
I appreciate absolutely, Definitely go get the app, drummer Board,
the official app. And we just launched my Beauty and
the Beast podcast with Jessica dime A k A. I'm
down peace from Memphis, so to Memphis Legends, you know
what I'm saying, Duty and the Beats, And we just
interviewed Aspect Zavvy. We got Demanti and uh Tammy Revere
(17:23):
coming next week. Stay tuned. We gotta happast. You can
find my podcast on my app, Beauty and the Beasts Podcast,
and it will be in the Apple school right there, y'all.
That's like business brains marketing, right there, you have to
remembers only on my app exclusive content and and it
(17:43):
will be on Apple Music. So we're we're distributing it
through uh, Apple Music, Spotify, all platforms that podcasts can
be heard on. So from clothing to an app to podcast.
What else do you have coming up? Oh, we're working
on a couple of movies. Man. Shout out to Jeez.
He just brought something to the table. We're working on exclusively.
(18:03):
And another film that I'm working on cost seventeen days.
I'm excited about that. The group out of North Carolina.
We're putting together a couple of things. But the movie
is amazing. So are you doing the musical scores? Are
you getting into acting? Yeah, I'm actually in in seventeen
days doing a little acting. Um. Shout out to my
acting coach, Bernard Hiller. I've been taking acting coaches lessons
(18:25):
for about five or six years, and it's it's something
that I've always kind of had in my blood. But
anything that I do, you want to have the skill
sets and the etiquettes behind again to put the polish
on it, but I mean those are just little things
that you slide into conversation that I want people to
understand like you've multitalented, but you're still educating and learning
(18:46):
so that your craft is always elevated to the next level.
Like people have to like really recognize that this doesn't
just come overnight, like you still work for it. Oh yeah,
I love, I love, you know, putting myself through different challenges.
And you know, people look at school like I don't
like doing it. But the only reason we didn't really
like school is because we weren't learning what we really
(19:08):
wanted to learn or what we're interested in. And once
you can have those one on one opportunities with some
of these uh skill set teachers. You know, so many
teachers of different skill set, I say, and it's so
many different things that you can learn and even the
relationships most importantly that you gained. Bernard Hiller, he Leonardo DiCaprio,
(19:33):
uh Sydney Porty A. I mean, this guy has Samuel Jackson,
He's he's touched and put so many people in position.
And he approaches me, grammy weekend, I lose my luggage,
my backpack, everything, A lift rides off of my luggage.
That's a whole another story. And at the moost, just
going to the room and crying and this and the
(19:54):
just oh Man mad about it. I went to the bar,
took a shot, went to my first party. I got
seventeen part parties on red carpet on the list. My
PR just sends me seventeen parties you're approved for. But
I said, well, took the shot and said if it's
how I'm going and yeah, and went to the first
party and killed it. Every spot I went to, I
(20:18):
gave them a hundred percent of me because I didn't
have my backpack on my back, I didn't have the computer,
I didn't have the beats. I didn't you know, we're
so hard on ourselves, like sometimes you forget, Yeah it's
in me. Yeah you don't need all the extra. I
mean it's nice to have, and you know, when you
get your stuff back you'll be happy. But I think
that was interesting because you're like, look, I am my
(20:38):
best light, Like I just this is all I need
to shine, and people people gravitate to that. They gravitate
to that, and they're attracted to that for sure. Absolute
and it's grammy weekend. Nobody really trying to work, Like
I shouldn't have had my backpack computer hard drys but
I'm working hardly, working hard, working hard. So sometimes you
have to understand outside of making the music, promote the
(20:59):
music with your spirit, with your energy. Because I made
those beats so that that that energy came from within me.
And that's what people gravitate too. When they hear I
put on, they hearing my spirit. When they hear no hands,
they're hearing my spirit. When they hear I'm gonna do meet,
they're hearing my spirit. So you know, I get to
the last party and Bernard Hiller approaches me like, I
(21:22):
don't know who you are, young man, but we need
more black actors. Wow, yeah, I'm talking about j Lo.
Came hug remy mom with Peth Poo something. I'm with
such such And then, mind you, this is a this
is a Wanner Chapel party that they weren't even to
let me in. I had to pull out my phone
and show them the publishing check of a hundred and
(21:44):
sixty eight thousand dollars they just paid me. Oh, oh,
we're sorry. Oh you know what I mean. But I
was so piste off about losing my stuff that that spirit,
that energy came out of me on a positive level,
like I'm a humble. I'm a humble man, but I'm
a humble giant. Yes, absolutely, absolutely, But I think there's
(22:07):
like I just love the lesson in that because sometimes
you have to remind yourself and you have to be
because you could have just been like I'm done, I'm mad,
I'm gonna sit in my anger, but you're like, nope,
I'm not gonna do that. It's a good story to
share with people, for sure. So my last question is,
and this you know, this is a tough question because
it's either simple or it's not. When do you find
time to breathe and appreciate your success? When I wake up?
(22:32):
I think, I think that's every time I wake up.
I always wake up like man another day to do
what I love and be inspired. I'll take their breath,
jump in the shower, and then attack the day. You
know what I mean. And you know a lot of people,
you know they might do that at night, but for
me is when I wake up. Boy, it was absolutely
a pleasure and a delight to speak with you today.
(22:53):
Before you leave out, I want you to run through
the list of where people can find you on social
media and the projects that they need to follow that
you are launching right now already, Man definitely first and foremost.
Download the app. Drumma Board the official app in your
app store. Uh, Follow me on Instagram at drummer Boy Fresh,
check out the website drummaboard dot com, and stay tuned Man,
(23:17):
drummer Boy and Friends. The album is on the way,
Young buck back on my Buckshet Volume three is out now.
Bank Roll Freddy the Bank album is out now. Stay
Solid Rocky album out now. And most recent, I did
my first Jamaican tunes Dexter Adapts. I did WiFi for
(23:37):
Dexter Deapts and I also produced scripture featuring Dexter Depts
and de Vito. What I'm Gonna You had me in Jamaica, Africa, Jamaica.
I'm proud about that that this this would be my
first reggae you know what I mean, big projects. So
(23:58):
we're re releasing Decks the Depths album. Wow. Look your
deluxe edition. Vent is the name of an album. I'm
all over. Well, thank you, thank you so much, thank you,
please come back again. Wishing you much success and we're
all going to be downloading your app today, so appreciate.
(24:19):
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from
Welcome, welcome, welcome, drummer boy. It's so great to have
you here. Thank you so much for being here. Absolutely
blessing to be here, blessing. Well, I feel like you
are a kingpan and in the Atlanta scene. You have
(00:22):
put in your time and you've been working, working, working
from day one. Let's start at the beginning. What brought
you into the music business? Oh man, coming from the
city of Memphis, we're known for music. It's his home
of music. Uh. My dad was in the orchestra, Memphis
Symphony Orchestra. My mom was in the opera. Uh what
(00:43):
you are classically trained roots here absolutely man, Beethoven, Mozart, Sebastian, Sebelius,
and you know what I mean, reading, arranging, composing. Um
that that was our first and foremost for me. By
the age of two or three, I had a quarter
in my mouth, started started learning clearing it by five
(01:04):
and uh made the Always Tennessee bands, played piano and
all that. But it's crazy because growing up in the
streets of Memphis, you know, my older brother was in
sane way and a Peter and my big brother but
he that was the motivation of kind of making beats,
you know, he was around the same age as Jazzy
Fade and Carlos Brodie, Sliced Tea, a lot of those
(01:25):
legendary producers from Memphis UM and then Home and Stacks,
you know, Home of the Blues Country right up the
street in Nashville. So music is our life, It's like absolutely.
So you know, I got into music through my mama's womb. Honestly.
She always tells stories about putting her stomach to the
speaker and playing different Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. She said,
(01:49):
you get the kicking when I played Michael Jackson wo
So you know, that's life before life in a sense,
you know what I mean. My ears can hear my
ear so working, I have these dreams of making beats
every day and it's always a sound in my head.
So I found a way to transfer within my mind
to my fans, to your fans. That's a beautiful thing.
(02:12):
It seems like you, like I said, this was your
birth rate, and now you're sharing that gift with the world.
So you almost make it sound like it's easy, and
I know it's not. You know, people look at the
music and entertainment industry and they think, like you know
you just overnight you created some beats and sold them.
Can you talk a little bit about your journey from
the perspective of sort of a business lens Um. Yeah, like,
(02:34):
it definitely wasn't easy. I turned a lot of those
dreams used to be nightmares, and I used to want
to figure out how to get it out of my head.
I used to want it out of my head, not
knowing that I had to transfer and looking through you
know that lens I kind of tapped into being therapeutic
in some way. My grandfather was a principal u at uh.
(02:57):
He was the principle at a fair my Heights in
d C. Marvin Gay was a student a lot of
members thirty years. So I think I pulled a lot
of that being able to guide people in the right
direction from my grandfather, and that that has always been
my vision and allowed me to understand my purpose, which
to me is the ultimate third eye. And once you
(03:19):
can see and understand your purpose, then you can deliver
the results necessary. And that's a message that I hope
people are hearing, because once you're able to align with
that and walking your purpose, the universe just opens up
everything for you. Um. But at the same time, you
were one of the most sought after producers in the
industry by your early twenties. And yes, that's a product
(03:42):
of your talent, of course, but there are plenty of
talented people about there. What was it about you that
set you apart and allowed you to achieve this level
of success? I think, honestly, you know from the sound
of music that we're coming from, which was trapped. I
think me being able to be amongst any trap any
hood across America, I'm respected, uh and and I and
(04:04):
I delivered, and I'm you know, I'm a man of character.
I'm a man of honor. So it's it's not like
I've never robbed anybody in my life, you know what
I mean. I've never taken. I've always earned what's mine,
and I think people respect that. So I've been able
to go in and out of hoods across America and
meet with a lot of these young guys who don't
(04:27):
get the opportunities. And I made the best out of
the relationships that I had. I came up with a
guy by the name of Yo God. And when I
met God that he's in rich Chris. You know what
I mean, I'm from South Memphis, got in North Memphis.
But growing up in Memphis, you know, playing clearing, that
ain't the coolest thing going on, you know what I mean.
(04:48):
So I had to kind of defend my myself in
some situations, almost launched through it should almost kill somebody
with my clarinet case. Get get jumped and woo woo woo,
get into a bad fight. So it's like Frish Prince
of Bella. You know what I'm saying, getting in you know?
You know what I'm saying, You like you know what? Yeah, So,
(05:09):
so my mom moved me to Cordova, which is north
of And how old are you at this point? I'm
like fourteen. So you're fourteen, You're a talented, you know,
trained musician, but you're looking for the beats. You're you're
looking to get into a different sort of aspect of music.
Did you know you wanted to be producing or managing
(05:31):
at this time or you were just looking to find
other musicians? Oh yeah, No, I was definitely making beats
and whatnot. Like my brother was was a big part
of that. He introduced me to the first studio and
like eleven and twit um so once I saw that
studio and kind of had all of this orchestral knowledge.
I was like, man, like I can transfer that into beats,
(05:53):
And I started making beats and whatnot, um and doing
the warm ups to the basketball. I was on a
varsity team, so I would do the music too, got
warm ups. That's really interesting because that also speaks to
like you're young and you're like, I just want, you know,
these dreams or nightmares that are in my head to
translate out so that other people can hear them. And
you were like, I'm willing to do it anywhere, and
this is I think testament to your determination and drive.
(06:15):
You're like, I just want people to hear my music,
even if it's in a basketball stadium at the high school.
You know, at the high school. Like nothing was you know,
too little to this. You're like, I just need this
out for the people to hear. Oh yeah. And it
was crazy because like you know, people were asking me
for beats. So my first job was just a selling shoes.
When I moved to Cordova, they had just a feed
(06:36):
by the wolf Chase mam and that was my first job.
And my my boy, who uh who hired me, was like, man,
I know you ain't gonna seal shoes all. You're like,
what else you do? What else you gonna do? You
know what I mean? He would always push me, I
see you on the basketball team. I'm gonna come to
some of your games and whatnot. And I told him,
I said, I started. I just started making beats. My
older brothers showed me how to make beats. So he
(06:56):
was like, man, you know main, no beach man maning,
bring the tape up. So I brought a tape to
the job, and next thing you know, it's only one
person listening to people listening. The whole shoe deck ends
up in the back. So the manager comes like, well
what y'all doing. It's people standing on the on the
on the deck with shoes in their hand, trying to
buy shoes and get out of here. You know what
I like, Man, we're missing money. We got climb. But
(07:18):
by the way, we don't call your drummer board because
you're beat patterns your music, yo. Yo. It was all
about the patterns, you know what I mean, even at
the cafeteria table, beating at the cafeteria table there you
go there. So I would be I would always be
the vibe and get people to start freestyling and wrapping
(07:39):
and you know what I'm saying. Next thing, you know,
it's a whole site for going on in the middle
of the cafeteria, you know what I mean. And when
they started playing my music to the warm ups, that's
when I started seeing choreography. That's when I started seeing
young girls putting steps, putting routines together to my music.
And that kind of turned into doing video and selling out, Uh,
(08:03):
the Wimblton Sports Plex complex, Like if you had we
had a room for five people, we sold it out
at six teams. Okay, tell me about that because that
must have been a huge moment when you were really realizing,
like I can make some money here. Oh yeah, it's
understanding the business. Like Yo, we just had five hundred
heads and here everybody paid ten dollars. We just made
(08:23):
five thousand dollars and we only rented the space for
two hundred two hundred bucks. But they was that high
on our on our music. I produced a group out
of Chapel Hill called Trip and that's that was again.
It had I not moved to north of Memphis in Cordosa,
I wouldn't emit these guys and bolted. I wouldn't have
met your Gotti and Rich Chris and Raleigh. You know
(08:46):
what I'm saying. I wouldn't e met uh Luke Chases
and the kids Shine and all of those guys in
uh Germantown. But you seem like you know it was
really important to you to connect and so find where
the talent was. What was it about founding Drum Squad
where you sort of branched it on your own and
wanted to really start your own company. Um? How did
(09:08):
you know that the timing was right and that you
could be successful in running your own company? Um? I
started Drum Squad in two thousand three, and it was
just I had gotten to the point where I had
done enough projects for other people. You know what I mean.
I'm working with your Guiding and working with Profit Posse,
(09:29):
and working with three six Mafia and working with A
Ball and m j G. I'm working with Indog, Gainst,
the pet Gainst, the Black, all of the underground legends
and you know the top level guys in in Memphis
three season month you play a fly. Um, and I
was like to a point where it's like, Okay, now
I gotta start building me up. Like, Okay, you got
three season, MAFI, you got outcash, you got organized Noise,
(09:53):
like all of these production companies that had their their names,
because everybody knew drummer board. So I was like, I'm
a take the root word of me, which is my squad,
drum squad, and you know what I'm saying. It was
just a whole mob was coming out of Memphis coming
to Atlanta, like you know what I'm saying. My manager squeak,
Chris Higgs, nooney as you say, Yeah, the Ogs, the
(10:18):
Pioneers and the games who was just reaching out. And
I always like, man, let me know when you're back,
Let me know when you're back. One of the first
guys I worked with in Atlanta was past the chore
you know what I'm saying, and um, I did a
big strip club record for him. By the time I
was twenty, weren't even old enough to get in the
strip club. And I started understanding that choreography. Going back
to those girls dancing in the gym. Now, when your
(10:40):
music is hot in the strip club, girls would tell me,
I dance to your music on my set. I made
the DJ play your music when I dance. So now
not even I don't even have to be in the
strip club and I'm getting promoted, you know what I mean.
So I would always when I got old enough to
go on the street club, I would go tip and
say thank you brother. It's it's only right. And I
(11:02):
think that's another big part of mine. You realize who
what the culture was that was pushing your music. When
you have people who were like, look, I danced to
your music, I mean, that just helps push it out
and disseminate to everywhere. Like absolutely, I looked at strippers
like the dealers, yeah okay, and if they helped me
make millions of dollars, I'm I'm saying thank you, you
know what I mean. She just helped me make two thousand,
(11:25):
help me make thirty thousand, he go three thousands, thank
you, you you know what I mean. And because of that
it continued. I mean, there's something really interesting about that.
I grew up in Canada, so understanding the Atlanta culture
and how the strip clubs and trap music, how they're
so intertwined to like pushing that music. It's it's interesting
because it's been so prolific and how you've created this
genre of music and you were right there from the beginning,
(11:48):
and this is all all like, this is what like
the Trap was a location. This is what we call
o trap. This is where we hustle, make our money.
This is our form of exchange, you know what I mean.
And and you know, working with your guy, they working
with Young Jeez, working with Gucci Man and t I though,
(12:09):
that's mount rushmore of the original Trap period. And I'm
heavily involved with these guys. You know. I would be
in the trap and my brother and then would sit
me to the side like man, you but I'm still
seeing what's going on. I'm nine, I'm teeing everybody in
the house other than the guys of but nagked you
(12:33):
know what I mean. And here it is. I'm over
here making music twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen sixteen, just in
the trap, you know what I mean. But thankfully I
had o gs Like when they when they're about to
go make that run or do this or do that,
you stay back. Yep, you know what I mean. So
you appreciate that. Not always I went back. I pulled
(12:55):
my brother out when I moved to Atlanta. I brought
Swizz all, brought insane Wayne to Lenel about a three
bedroom house. Before this, we talked really briefly and you're
mentioning um, and it really stuck with me about just
the drive of how you work, you know, in your
work ethic, and I think it's something that it's important
to share with young people that might be listening on
the podcast. You talked about just like every day, the
(13:16):
hours and time that you put into your music and
the business, et cetera. Can you talk more about that? Yeah,
I mean it's it's understanding what somebody needs, right, and
you can't understand what they need until you give a
full evaluation. So when the music evaluation comes from listening
to your music, what do you have already listening to
(13:39):
some of the songs that you have about or or
that you haven't released, So I understand you better as
an artist, and I understand your capabilities. Do you play
an instrument? Are you good with hooks? Are you a
great performer? Or are you more of a laidback, chill,
brhyming night type of guy? You know what I mean?
And a lot of those people who didn't dance or
do too much, eventually we learned how to play an instrument.
(14:02):
Mm hmm, you know what I mean, so it's like
just being able to evaluate the situation and then fill
in the blanks for the things that that person needs.
So gumman boy. Over the years, you've made it clear
that you're about way more than just music. You've branched
out into entrepreneurship. You have a clothing line, you run
a clothing boutique in Atlanta. You're a brand ambassador for
Moreno bhlv wine. That's just to name a few things.
(14:26):
Why what is it about being this sort of multi stream,
multitalented business mogul that you know gets you excited and
talk more about that? How did all this happen? Um?
I would say a lot of that is inspired by Puff.
You know what I mean. It's it's it's certain things
like I give from Dr Dre as far as the
quality of my music, the mix, the sound, making sure
(14:49):
to beat slaps right, Quincy Jones. I look up to
Quincy for the relationships with musicians and writers as well
as a musician who can read, arrange, composed and you know,
put together different bands and whatnot. Um. And then I
looked up to Puff on the marketing aspect. I said, well,
(15:12):
and even if you look at jay Z Okay, he
makes a billion dollars. Well, okay, out of that billion,
only ten percent of that is music, which is good.
I could live off making a hundred million dollars a year.
But why why why do a hundred billion dollars? And
they still want to go, still want to go, still
(15:33):
want to go, still want to go. It's like, okay,
because you look at what's going out and it got
to the motivation, like, you know, you could be comfortable,
but you could be great, and it's just about get
all of the pie. Why not? And if you have
this platform and if you have the ability to do it,
take it absolutely so. So via Champagne, I've made over
(15:56):
six seven grand, you know, via relationships with clothing designers
and and starting house a Fresh My clothing store. I mean,
we've generated over a million bucks in the fashion industry,
you know what I mean. So these are things that
it's like, Okay, this is elevation. Not only do we
(16:16):
make this two million a year in music or whatever,
but let's add another million on top of that for fashion.
Let's add another six seven hundred thousand over here from
leakuors and and and different hostings and whatnot. You know
what I mean, and then other aspects of drummer Board,
the official app in the app store, we just dropped
(16:38):
you can you can subscribe to my exclusive content for
twenty three dollars a year. Okay, did you all hear
that you can subscribe to his exclusive content? And this
is what I think entrepreneurship really is about. It's about
multiple streams of income that can really make your money
move for you. And this is why, like, we love
having different people from different backgrounds on the show, but
this is you are the epitome of all that. Thank you,
(17:01):
I appreciate absolutely, Definitely go get the app, drummer Board,
the official app. And we just launched my Beauty and
the Beast podcast with Jessica dime A k A. I'm
down peace from Memphis, so to Memphis Legends, you know
what I'm saying, Duty and the Beats, And we just
interviewed Aspect Zavvy. We got Demanti and uh Tammy Revere
(17:23):
coming next week. Stay tuned. We gotta happast. You can
find my podcast on my app, Beauty and the Beasts Podcast,
and it will be in the Apple school right there, y'all.
That's like business brains marketing, right there, you have to
remembers only on my app exclusive content and and it
(17:43):
will be on Apple Music. So we're we're distributing it
through uh, Apple Music, Spotify, all platforms that podcasts can
be heard on. So from clothing to an app to podcast.
What else do you have coming up? Oh, we're working
on a couple of movies. Man. Shout out to Jeez.
He just brought something to the table. We're working on exclusively.
(18:03):
And another film that I'm working on cost seventeen days.
I'm excited about that. The group out of North Carolina.
We're putting together a couple of things. But the movie
is amazing. So are you doing the musical scores? Are
you getting into acting? Yeah, I'm actually in in seventeen
days doing a little acting. Um. Shout out to my
acting coach, Bernard Hiller. I've been taking acting coaches lessons
(18:25):
for about five or six years, and it's it's something
that I've always kind of had in my blood. But
anything that I do, you want to have the skill
sets and the etiquettes behind again to put the polish
on it, but I mean those are just little things
that you slide into conversation that I want people to
understand like you've multitalented, but you're still educating and learning
(18:46):
so that your craft is always elevated to the next level.
Like people have to like really recognize that this doesn't
just come overnight, like you still work for it. Oh yeah,
I love, I love, you know, putting myself through different challenges.
And you know, people look at school like I don't
like doing it. But the only reason we didn't really
like school is because we weren't learning what we really
(19:08):
wanted to learn or what we're interested in. And once
you can have those one on one opportunities with some
of these uh skill set teachers. You know, so many
teachers of different skill set, I say, and it's so
many different things that you can learn and even the
relationships most importantly that you gained. Bernard Hiller, he Leonardo DiCaprio,
(19:33):
uh Sydney Porty A. I mean, this guy has Samuel Jackson,
He's he's touched and put so many people in position.
And he approaches me, grammy weekend, I lose my luggage,
my backpack, everything, A lift rides off of my luggage.
That's a whole another story. And at the moost, just
going to the room and crying and this and the
(19:54):
just oh Man mad about it. I went to the bar,
took a shot, went to my first party. I got
seventeen part parties on red carpet on the list. My
PR just sends me seventeen parties you're approved for. But
I said, well, took the shot and said if it's
how I'm going and yeah, and went to the first
party and killed it. Every spot I went to, I
(20:18):
gave them a hundred percent of me because I didn't
have my backpack on my back, I didn't have the computer,
I didn't have the beats. I didn't you know, we're
so hard on ourselves, like sometimes you forget, Yeah it's
in me. Yeah you don't need all the extra. I
mean it's nice to have, and you know, when you
get your stuff back you'll be happy. But I think
that was interesting because you're like, look, I am my
(20:38):
best light, Like I just this is all I need
to shine, and people people gravitate to that. They gravitate
to that, and they're attracted to that for sure. Absolute
and it's grammy weekend. Nobody really trying to work, Like
I shouldn't have had my backpack computer hard drys but
I'm working hardly, working hard, working hard. So sometimes you
have to understand outside of making the music, promote the
(20:59):
music with your spirit, with your energy. Because I made
those beats so that that that energy came from within me.
And that's what people gravitate too. When they hear I
put on, they hearing my spirit. When they hear no hands,
they're hearing my spirit. When they hear I'm gonna do meet,
they're hearing my spirit. So you know, I get to
the last party and Bernard Hiller approaches me like, I
(21:22):
don't know who you are, young man, but we need
more black actors. Wow, yeah, I'm talking about j Lo.
Came hug remy mom with Peth Poo something. I'm with
such such And then, mind you, this is a this
is a Wanner Chapel party that they weren't even to
let me in. I had to pull out my phone
and show them the publishing check of a hundred and
(21:44):
sixty eight thousand dollars they just paid me. Oh, oh,
we're sorry. Oh you know what I mean. But I
was so piste off about losing my stuff that that spirit,
that energy came out of me on a positive level,
like I'm a humble. I'm a humble man, but I'm
a humble giant. Yes, absolutely, absolutely, But I think there's
(22:07):
like I just love the lesson in that because sometimes
you have to remind yourself and you have to be
because you could have just been like I'm done, I'm mad,
I'm gonna sit in my anger, but you're like, nope,
I'm not gonna do that. It's a good story to
share with people, for sure. So my last question is,
and this you know, this is a tough question because
it's either simple or it's not. When do you find
time to breathe and appreciate your success? When I wake up?
(22:32):
I think, I think that's every time I wake up.
I always wake up like man another day to do
what I love and be inspired. I'll take their breath,
jump in the shower, and then attack the day. You
know what I mean. And you know a lot of people,
you know they might do that at night, but for
me is when I wake up. Boy, it was absolutely
a pleasure and a delight to speak with you today.
(22:53):
Before you leave out, I want you to run through
the list of where people can find you on social
media and the projects that they need to follow that
you are launching right now already, Man definitely first and foremost.
Download the app. Drumma Board the official app in your
app store. Uh, Follow me on Instagram at drummer Boy Fresh,
check out the website drummaboard dot com, and stay tuned Man,
(23:17):
drummer Boy and Friends. The album is on the way,
Young buck back on my Buckshet Volume three is out now.
Bank Roll Freddy the Bank album is out now. Stay
Solid Rocky album out now. And most recent, I did
my first Jamaican tunes Dexter Adapts. I did WiFi for
(23:37):
Dexter Deapts and I also produced scripture featuring Dexter Depts
and de Vito. What I'm Gonna You had me in Jamaica, Africa, Jamaica.
I'm proud about that that this this would be my
first reggae you know what I mean, big projects. So
(23:58):
we're re releasing Decks the Depths album. Wow. Look your
deluxe edition. Vent is the name of an album. I'm
all over. Well, thank you, thank you so much, thank you,
please come back again. Wishing you much success and we're
all going to be downloading your app today, so appreciate.
(24:19):
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