Questlove Supreme: DJ Drama Part 2

In part 2 of DJ Drama's Questlove Supreme interview, the Grammy Award-winning DJ and executive opens up about the 2007 FBI Raid that was intended to end his mixtape operation. Instead, Drama adapted. He speaks about building Generation Now and ushering Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow to stardom. Drama also tells Questlove how much The Roots have meant to his journey.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio One.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm QLs listeners and viewers. I see you, Actually I don't.
But anyway, we are back with Part two of Quest
Love Supremes episode with DJ Drama. Now don't forget. This
was filmed on location in Atlanta, Georgia, and we recorded
this episode in TI Studio, which is really a dope spot.
So make sure you've watched or listened to part one.

(00:28):
That's where Drama, you know, my Homide from CAU talks
about his Philly upbringing, his respect for Questlove and the
roots and making critical inroads with TI and GZ and
Fini at driving Atlanta. All right, y'all, let's get ready.
Here we go with part two.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
As a mixtape. DJ, you're locking it down.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
But as far as now, when you're DJing in clubs,
if I'm hiring you to DJ a party in two
thousand and six, two thousand and seven, how long, like
how long is your set? And are you doing just
exclusive stuff that is exclusive to you or are you

(01:19):
still just like doing regularly DJ stuff?

Speaker 4 (01:21):
And so really what wound up happening was around that time,
I actually wasn't doing a lot of gigs because I
then became DJ Drama and I went literally from getting
paid three hundred dollars from doing parties in Atlanta to
them not being able to afford me. And then I

(01:43):
was also tips DJ, so I was on the road,
so I didn't really I wasn't doing a lot of
my own gigs. I would I would here and there,
I would I would get hired, but I would probably
do like a two hour set and I would you know,
but this is all a time when like so I
guess Serrato was already out right, so I would do

(02:05):
like big gigs like I remember when Vibe had like
the Vibe something down here and outcasts perform like they
will book me for that, or like BT would book me,
and you know, I was just I was playing like
I would mix it up. I mean, I would do
what was hot, but I would also, you know, kind
of play some gangster grol ship.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So are you a business in terms of like now
you have a manager and an.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Agent and a staff. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
The office space like definitely, we had a Walker Street
was our was our was our office. Niece Denise, Denise
worked for us. We had I had Jason Brown was
was handling all the distribution. Orlando McGee was my first manager,
and yeah, because then I got, you know, the opportunity

(02:57):
to get an album there. I mean I literally met
with every late Boot at one point as far as
like their interest in signing me as a DJ to
do a Gangster Girls album, you know, and based upon
my loyalty and I hadn't known the building, I signed
to Ground Hustle Atlantic. But but yeah, I definitely had
staff and a manager and you know, the whole nine.

(03:19):
So with dedication, Like how did that come to? I
was on the I was on the bus with Tip.
We were on the Urban Legend tour. He was on
the phone with Wayne. I heard him talking to Wayne
and I was like, Yo, let me holler at him.
So I remember being on my bunk and I just
got on the phone with him and I was like,
what's up.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
I was like, you know, and at that.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Time, Wayne was was doing his squad up mid Squy,
so I was using a lot of those songs on
Gangster Grills, so I knew he was kind of in
his mixtape bag. And I was like, yo, you know,
we got to get one, and he was like yeah,
you know, I mean he was already familiar with me.
And I remember coming off tour for a time and
I went to stank On and met with Wayne and

(04:01):
Tez and we just kind of like went over. I
brought on a bunch of instrumentals, just options and things
to wrap on and things of that nature, and I
literally just came up with the name Dedication, just like
let's call it Dedication and he was like all right, cool.
And Rob Petroso, who used to do all my artwork,
came up with the cover, which was you know, legendary.

(04:23):
And you know, because by that point, Gangster Grills was
a brand, Like you know, when I was moving them
throughout the southeast or up north or what have you,
people were already like okay, if it's a Gangster Grills,
like we need it, we want it. And the Wayne tape,
you know, I remember when he sent me to music
and listening and I was like, Yo, this shit is different.

(04:45):
This is not the wobbledy wobbley dropping like his hot kid,
like he's on some shit, like some real bars on here.
And you know, when I did the tape and I
kind of I had known like, yeah, this this is
this is a moment. You know what I'm saying, and
then it really turned into a moment and so it

(05:05):
was like it was like back to back from me
because I just did Trap or Die and then Dedication
happened and it was like Wayne was on fire from
you know Carter to dedication to you know, coming into
his own and so here I am again, this kid
from Philly went to school in Atlanta, who's now the
king of the mixtapes with Tip GZ and Wayne or

(05:28):
like who were the hottest guys not only in the
South but now in the hip hop And it was
like I'm in the mix, like I'm the platform for
you know, what's what's getting these niggas hot?

Speaker 1 (05:39):
In your mind?

Speaker 3 (05:41):
And this is before you know the fans and Rico stuff,
but like in your mind, what.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Was the end game? Are you? Like a great question?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Let me start, like when do you You're like, hey,
I need to be puffy or I need to start
my label or I need like because in your mind you're.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Like, whoa, I'm just in college.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know, in fact seven years ago now, like I
determined what the future.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know what it really was when when I first
got hot or got popular or became that guy. The
only thing that I told myself, is yo, okay, you
got here like from ninety two to zero five, like
there was a lot of legwork to get here.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
You gotta stay.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Here drama Like I didn't know how or what it
was gonna be, but I just told myself like, yo,
like you gotta stay relevant, like somehow, some way, And
it happened in a lot of forms. I mean, my
brother over here, like when at the time when Gangster
Grills was known for trap music and southern hip hop

(06:54):
to an extent, you know, at the same time, like
they they're per it was at Apache Cafe or yin
Yank Cafe. It was Apache and they Little Brother had
a show and the bus was outside of the venue
and I came on a bus and we sat down
and I told them like, yo, I'm a huge fan.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
I have been for some time.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
And then you know, they told me the same in return,
and they were like, what do you think about doing
a Gangster Grills And I was like, what.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
What are we waiting on?

Speaker 4 (07:28):
But around the same time, I was getting pushback from
various people like wait, you're gonna do a tape with
who Little Brother and Pharrell like that's not Gangster Grills. Like,
how does that make sense? And you know, I've always
looked at myself like John Singleton and Martin Scorsese like

(07:50):
I make I can make boys in the hood, but
then I can go and make poetic justice, and I
can make higher learning, and I can make baby boys.
So that was how I approached it, so that the
the fact that people were like pushing against this is
not a platform for Little Brother was like so like

(08:10):
not only like what are y'all saying my ship's and
I say on the table, Yeah, it wasn't gonna sound
good on.

Speaker 5 (08:16):
This, yeah, Like, and that was our mentality going into
it too, because hence the name separate but equals.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
It's so iconic in so many ways, like how.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Are you talking Wayne into because you know, to be
it was kind of perplexing.

Speaker 5 (08:31):
That he chose that beat. Really he chose that. You
didn't even know I was going to ask you first.
He chose that beat, all right, Wayne chose And that
just shows Wayne rhymed over loving it. Well no, no, no,
I'm sorry. Well yeah, like he.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Round of a Star and I'm like, god, damn, like
he's killing our ship more than our ship.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
I was so anti Wayne back then.

Speaker 6 (08:54):
I ain't none of it.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
It's crazy you missed dedication I was.

Speaker 6 (08:58):
I was on the radio is very anti these things,
and that's what I was known for.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
So but I heard that little brother, but a little brother,
so you wasn't a gangster girl? Oh yeah, she's one
of the ones like when are you gonna do another automatic?

Speaker 7 (09:16):
But so what like because that's exactly exactly like but
I'm saying, like, like the for my mind, I was like,
did you I was like, man, maybe helped Wayne to gunpoint,
like you better run over this Philly track like he.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Was just from a big giant is a head hip hop?
Yeah you know?

Speaker 4 (09:39):
And and then and then for me it was my
like again also coming from making automatic relaxations or coming
from wanting to do this because if y'all like when
Little Brother approached me and when Pharrell approached me, it
was so exciting for me because it was one it
was an opportunity to branch out, and then too, it

(10:00):
was an opportunity to like feel like I was giving
back to my roots, no pun intended, but like like
what like I can make a little brother gangster girls
or for real gangster grills like oh man, once I
open this door. That just opens the floodgates for you know,
for it to go in so many directions and.

Speaker 5 (10:18):
For us doing that when we did Separate equal like
because my whole thing was, like I hated mixed. Well,
I love listening to mixtapes, but I didn't want to
make a mixtape, you know what I'm saying. Like my
thing was, if I'm going to take time to write
these original rhymes, I'm not putting them ships over somebody
else tracks, you know what I'm saying, Like I can
take them new rhymes, I can put over a new beat.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
You know what I'm saying, That's a new jam.

Speaker 5 (10:37):
I'm loved it. I love that our tape was like that. Yeah,
we only rhymed of like maybe one instrumental. The rest
of that shit was all original joints.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Can we discuss the no drama version though, Like you know,
I've had a saw well yeah, but yeah, so.

Speaker 5 (10:52):
What we did we did We did the tape and
that was in like we did some that was like
oh it was six yeah, so maybe like what like
two years later, like we did uh we called drama
free version because at the time when we were out,

(11:13):
it was a drama free version because we had the mixtape.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
But like all your drops on this stuff.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
But then if if if I'm not if I remember
this correctly, I think who we were putting it out,
we were putting the project out with they just didn't
want Yeah, I mean it was straight up you know
what I mean, because retail wouldn't they wouldn't put it
in like you couldn't get in certain stories like it
was a mixtape exactly. So we were just like, all right,
well here's the records. They was original records and they
was our fucking records, So you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
I mean, I get it.

Speaker 4 (11:39):
I mean the fact that it was called Drama Free
was definitely kind of made me sad.

Speaker 5 (11:43):
But it wasn't no like that wasn't a shot and
it was just like it was just like free.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
It's kind of catchy. It's catchy as a motherfucker's shape.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
I got it.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
I mean, they're not the you know, they're not the
first person to do a version of the tape without me.
I mean, Crenshaw exists on on streaming platforms.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Without me on that one hurts too, like you know,
like that was I was part of it.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
I was part of Crenshaw, aren't you the spice and
the bells and the whistles.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, like like that that was the thing about that
was one.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
I mean hence why because when I did the table
with Geez, like, the music didn't exist without me on it,
So all the DJs had to play the versions with
me on it, and he didn't give it out without
me on it. So you would go to the club
and hear gangster grills all over because the music didn't
exist without me on it.

Speaker 6 (12:37):
Sounds like a do over. It sounds like, I.

Speaker 5 (12:39):
Don't know, it's like almost hearing a Dela jooring without
the siren and the Dila dilla beats beats. Yeah, like
he thought he was sucking shit up, like nobody will
rhyme over this shit to be that made it better?

Speaker 4 (12:49):
I mean yeah, I mean you know, I like, to me,
it would hurt like I've never listened to the separate
but equal drama free version, like I don't even it
would hurt my soul to to me this, I think.

Speaker 5 (13:01):
The separated egal drummer fee version. So and it's crazy.
I thought it just me and you have never talked
about none of this shit. So man, when we did that.
We did that record, and I always just want to
thank you man, because I sent you those records. Like
when I manage at the time, Dough, me and Poot
finished everything and I just put the records in a sequence.
I put all the songs in the sequence, skits like everything,

(13:23):
and I was like, I think this worked. But whatever,
I'm sure Drama do his thing. He'll change it up whatever.
I trust him. And so when they sent it back,
we were on tour and Doe was like, yo, Drama
just sent the joint and I was like, all right, cool,
and I opened it up because this is you know,
MP three's, so you will open it and see the
track listing first before you loaded the shit up, and
you kept the track listening the exact same way I

(13:45):
did it. And I was like, holy shit, you know
what I mean, Like that was just a.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Big ohst to it when I listened to it and
I heard it and then I heard it in the
way that the skits were and everything, like I'm not like,
you know, I know, part of my job is, you know,
there's people that want me to put it in an
order or or however to do my thing, but I'm
not going to mess with something that's already dope, you

(14:08):
know what I'm saying. So for me, it was already
like okay, here's my bells and my whistles. But if
this ship flows the way it flows, like watch watch
change perfection, that's always I appreciated that, man, bro, Like
I mean you like the Little Brother and the Pharaal
tape like came out at a time, and it came

(14:29):
out literally like back to back, and those tapes are
so important to me because again, like you know, from
where I come from, from the cloth that I come from,
and for what I was being known for at the time,
and not that I was fighting against it, but it
was like yo, like I want to show the world
like I am hip hop like to it's full, like
I am from the cloth, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
And to be able to do those two projects were like.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
We had a point to prove because you had We
both had a point because for you, you know, you
said it was proven like we were from that cloth.
For us at that time, you know, we were coming
off the Minstrel show and it was just like ah,
them niggas, they just some backpack hate niggas. It was
like no, we fucking wrapped, you know what I mean.
And it was just like, look, it don't matter if
it's trapshit whatever, like.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
And just beat the South.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
I mean, so it was like even that in that
sense of what people were looking at was Southern hip hop.
And then you know us doing that tape and separate
but equal like as a title and y'all being from
the South, like it all it all just made it
was It was great.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
It was a great moment.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
Now it really was, man, And that was just I'm
so thankful that you know our pass like crossing the
way he did that shit was amazing, amazing. I know
that you rehashed the story over and over and over
and over again, so I'm trying not to beat an
already dead horse that you moved past. I mean, the
question is basically like in two thousand and seven, I'm

(15:54):
trying to figure out how an industry that utilizes you
to break open their artists like and again, I'm a
stornch East Coast head.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
You know, Tarik himself listen to nothing but your mixtapes.
So this is how I'm learning about Wayne, Like, this
is how I'm getting my education on what I need
to learn about the rest of America except my niece.
And I'm trying to like, and I understand that there
was a period between two thousand and three in two

(16:30):
thousand and eight, especially like with record labels not knowing
like if they're going to survive now that streaming culture.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Like you know, we already had the sign napster.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, yeah, like around two thousand and three whatever like
that just starts, But I'm trying to figure out how like,
like you were definitely utilized and used to break open people,
like so just in general and not like from one
to ten, How shocked were you when you came home

(17:02):
and like, wait, what the fuck is this? Like did
you did you have an inkling of a clue?

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Like none? Or even even when the ship was selling
like hotcakes? Twelve, even when she was selling like hotcakes?

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Was there any person that was sort of like, have
you ever received pushback from anyone that like you rhymed
an instrumental over and like Jame's like, hey, why'd you
use fronting?

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Or why never?

Speaker 5 (17:27):
It wasn't on the artists like that was a badge
of honor to have someone to like wrap over you.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
It wasn't that.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
So, I mean we there's a there's a there's a
lot to unpack here. And again, I know I've told
the story. One part about it is, first off, it
shows the disconnect within the labels. Right, So as much
as the marketing departments loved me, or the mix show departments,
or you know, the promotion department, how much I meant

(17:54):
to them, the legal department of a label didn't understand.
They haven't clue, they don't get it. Like what wait
what like that that's not cleared? Like we're not you know,
we hold on. So they're you know, I was friends
with the promotions in the marketing side, but yeah, the
legal department didn't. It didn't make sense to them, why

(18:16):
are we giving this free music out? And then this
is also a time where outside of my mixtapes, there
were hundreds of other mixtapes that weren't sanctioned that people were,
you know however, getting MP three's hacking for whatever way
they were getting them. Music was coming out that people

(18:37):
didn't give permission for. And then on top of that,
around this time, these mixtapes Minds and others started to
show up in best Buys and then targets and in
walmarts with barcodes on it and so in that, you know,
and that made it confusing. And I just spoke about

(18:57):
this on math Hafa because they brought up, you know,
after I got raided. One of the people they asked
about what do you think about what happened to drama
was Wayne? And Wayne said, drama needs to Drama needs
to play the game fair or smarter like Clue or
Kalid or something of that.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
But is it the same? I mean, the reason why
I never.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Took offence to it is because you know, when these
when these because there's all there was a street code
that went along with mixtapes for promotional use. Only right,
everybody knew that we were making money, and you know,
that's how I was supporting myself. But when they started,
when the mixtape started to show up in the stores

(19:42):
with bar codes, as an artist, I could understand how
one could fill the type of way promotion because they're like, wait,
hold on, why is this? Why is my ship in
Target with a bar code? And I'm not seeing a
dollar from it?

Speaker 6 (19:54):
So they're okay, not seeing a dollar if you just
selling it the way you're selling it.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Like from to an extent.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
I mean again, now look looking back on it, if
at the wise age of forty four that I am
now in my twenties, the type of money that I
was making, and I would you know, I would have
easily thrown someone at twenty five or fifty if I'm
making X amount of dollars, like just as a quick
thank you, it would have It would have been a

(20:18):
nice gesture.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Like.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
But you know, on the on the other end, these
guys are going and doing shows for one hundred and
fifty two hundred thousand dollars off of what we've built together.
So you know, I don't count anyone's pockets, nor did
I feel like anyone should.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Count to be fair and just.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
I mean again, we just talk about it now, but
you know I never felt you know, me and I
could speak you know, from my brother Pool as well.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
For us, it was never that like we did our
show up with a barcode. No, it didn't. I was
gonna show up on a bar code.

Speaker 5 (20:46):
I remember like watching it on the news and seeing
like when they was taking like shut out and they
separate videos there, bro I was like, what the fuck.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
News outside?

Speaker 5 (21:01):
I remember that, Yeah, y'all's was there, Bruh. That shit
was nuts so. But yeah, but for us, like you said,
it was just a code of honor. It was just understood.
It's like, okay, we do to take you know, drum,
he gonna move it on our end, We'll do whatever
on our end.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
We'll do, press it, shows whatever.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Like it was just you know what I mean, it
was a mutually beneficial thing, and.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
It was like that for most people. But yeah, I
think all those things came into play. I think the
fact that you know, two thousand and seven was a
very pivotal year for the music business where you know,
it was a transition, and you know, the the bottom
line wasn't wasn't adding up for them, And there's there's
many theories or conspiracy theories or you know, let's take

(21:43):
the big guy out to shut this down. However, you know,
hence I don't you know, I do know that for
a fact that people were told, artists were told like yo,
if when when DRAMs situation comes up, don't speak on it,
like leave that alone, you know what I'm saying, or
you know, nobody he necessarily people used to ask me
in interviews like did you feel the type of way

(22:03):
when nobody spoke up for you? And I was like, honestly,
not really like you know, like there were a couple
of people behind the scenes I talked to, you know,
just that that that reached out or what have you.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
And then yeah, well us when you got when when
it happened for us specifically, So yeah, that was like
oh six o seven we did the and Justice for All?

Speaker 4 (22:23):
What's it seven? We did just January. It was January
seven when my shit happened.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
Okay, it was January seventh, so I think maybe it's
the next year, maybe it was or later that year. Anyway,
we did Mike Boogie tape uh and Justice for All?
I mean yeah, and I hear uh. I was telling me,
I said, y'all did that before the raid or after
the ring? That was after the raid? Got you that
was after the raid, because I was telling me, I
was like, yo, bro, like, we gotta get drums speaking
on this, because the first record on that tape was

(22:48):
Can't Stop as a record called Can't Stop as well.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
We was talking about that ship and it was just.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
Like I said, nah, bru, like we gotta get drum
talking because they not they're not gonna We're not letting
them shut this ship down.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Like fuck y'all.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
I meir I felt the type away, like I felt
a lot of guilt at the time because I'm like, damn,
like this is a culture like I grew up loving,
you know what I'm saying, like, and I can't let
this shit die on my shoulders, like like damn, you
felt like you killed the mixtape game for a moment,
for a moment, literally, yeah, Like I felt like, damn,

(23:19):
the downfall of the fucking mixtape game is going to
happen when I become the top of the food chain.
And like, you know, I spent a lot of time,
like you know, I still went and put tapes out
right after that, and.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
How long was it until you look both ways where
you cross the street, and like, oh, I put a
tape by like a month too after like I did
like Gangster Grills sixteen and was just talking crazy on there,
like you know, and I remember the first big the
first big mixtape that I probably did was Dedication three,
and then I remember, you know, that was after you know,

(23:54):
Wayne had went and said like fuck mixtape DJs or
fuck DJs or something, and then he called in my
radio show and we cleared that up.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
And then you know we went on to do Dedication three,
but yeah, I mean again, I was like, you know,
I had a point to prove, like yo, I'm not first,
you know. And then Atlantic Records called literally the next day, like,
oh my god, how fast can we get your album done?

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Like we can't pay for.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
This type of publicity because the record Riggs Riggs actually
did all the skits on my first album. So Riggs
did the I mean it was it was literally Julie
and Craig and I think Kevin was still there at
the time, and and Kuys and then they all called like, yo,
we can't play for this type publicity.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
How soon can you turn your album in?

Speaker 4 (24:37):
So you know, my first single actually was titled Feds
Taking Pictures.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Taking Pictures. Yeah, so you know Beneath the Diamonds. Oh,
I love that ship.

Speaker 6 (24:50):
For some reason, when that happened to you, I feel
like a lot of people who knew you, we felt
like it couldn't have happened to some better person who
had resources prepared for In a way, I don't know
how to explain it to you, but we felt like
we knew you were going to be okay because you
were smart as fuck, right and because what is that
Another reason as to why it felt like it kind

(25:11):
of came and went and away.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Resource well for me, I mean you know again, I
mean it literally made me more famous than I ever was.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
I mean, next thing, I know.

Speaker 6 (25:20):
So you never had a crying moment, you was like,
the only.

Speaker 4 (25:23):
Crime moment I had is the next day I got
out and I wasn't familiar with what the RICO was.
And then I called Tip and Tip was like, bro,
they hit you with the RICO, Like, check your bank account.
My bank account said zero point zero zero after having
six figures in it, So I definitely shed a tear.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
But after that, like where is no they kept? So
I had we had two accounts for a museum's sake,
like where is that stuff?

Speaker 4 (25:49):
Well, they gave back what did they gave back the equipment,
They gave back one of our accounts. They gave back
the account that ironically was like the label budget account.
But the drama like the d or the DJ drama
account that I had with where most of the money was.
They kept that because they they said they couldn't differentiate

(26:12):
what was what was what? So we're keeping all.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Of this, But how long did it take to replace
I started making money. I mean, you know, I got
it back and got I got back up, you know,
to take me too long?

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Obviously it was a performative actually, like what was the
end results?

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Like yeah, I mean story the I double A.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
You know, and around that Timmy and Cannon had kind
of had a falling out and you know we went
our separate ways for a moment.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
But the R I Double A made us do.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
This like P s A where it was like hey, kids,
like don't sell music. Yeah, like they chilling, Yeah, like
it never came. They never put it out, but they
made it. We shot it at Tree Sounds and they literally,
like you know, gave us a screw like if you

(27:01):
make music, do you have a copy of it?

Speaker 1 (27:02):
I wish I did. Yo, Man, you gotta put it
on your Instagram. I know it exists, it has to be.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
And this this was literally the first time me and
Cannon had seen each other in a while, and we
had to do it.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
You know.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
Part of the agreement was us doing that P S
A that they never put out. But it's like, you know,
like for me, Likeah said, like when I was doing interviews,
I remember saying like, yo, this is not the end
of my story, like this is one chapter, like you know,
for me, it was like, yeah, this is just you know, everybody,
anybody who's anybody gets hit with some type of adversity

(27:35):
and this is just my my first, you know, my
first real challenge. And you know, I'm a I'm a
I'm gonna be here like I've been here and at
the time, I had, you know, been here to up
to that extent, not knowing what life had in in
uh in mind for me up to this point. But
it was like, yeah, like this is just one chapter
in my story. This is not the last chapter. Like

(27:58):
watch what I do?

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Man.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
I always wanted to ask you about the ARTI storytelling three.
I was just about to bring that up. All man,
how did how did that?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Three? Or four? Four? Oh? Four?

Speaker 5 (28:12):
I'm sorry? Yeah, there's a three. Yeah, there is a three.
That's why it's four.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Big boy has to tell you where the three exists,
because he told me, because that's why we artist storytelling four.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
But I was supposed to do it Idle Wild Gangster Grills.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Oh wow, okay, really yeah, I was supposed to do
a tape around that time were they were gonna go.
We were gonna do a tape pre Idle Wild going
into the project me uh stacks Big and their manager
Blue got on the phone and they came to me like, Yo,
we want to do a Gangster Grills and I was like,
hell motherfucker yeah. And then a few months later they

(28:49):
called and was like, listen, bro, we're just buckled down
with the movie and the soundtrack and we you know,
we apologize, but we don't have time to do the tape.
And they were like, but how about we offer you
a song for your album? And I was like hell yeah,
Like of course. So I started the process of literally

(29:09):
sending three thousand beats from every big known name producer
out at the time, you know, because this is the
time when I was doing the first Gang Squirrel album.
Gangster Grills was the biggest thing going, So everybody was
pretty much giving me beats and I would send them
to three thousand and he would be like nah, nah nah.
He would pretty much turn everything down. One of the

(29:30):
last tapes I made before the raid was Jim Jones
seven Day Theory tape from We Set the Trends No
well no, no, I mean yeah that Jim Jones. Yeah, with
the tape Our first tape was called the Seven Day Theory,
which was a fire tape.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Max b is all over there.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Recipe stack was on their you know that was when
that was when he created a bird Gang. And there
was a beat on that tape, and I asked Cannon, like,
make me a beat similar to that beat. So Cannon
made the beat and then we had gotten the raid
had happened, and Lake was actually managing.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Marcia at the time.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
Oh okay, So I sent the beat to Marcia, and
I told Marcia I was like, yo, like, look like, man,
they just locked us up like people saying this is
the end for me, Like I need something like nothing's
gonna stop us, like I'm gonna be here, like you
can't stop us. And she literally like took what I
said and turned it into the hook. And I sent

(30:36):
the record to three thousand, and he said, I'm gonna
call you tomorrow. Twenty four hours later, he sends me
back his verse of art the storytelling part four, and
I just was like, I couldn't believe it that I
had an Andre three thousand verse like and on top
of a Don Cannon beat like. So then I went

(30:59):
to stank on the and I played it for Big.
I think at the time, I was like, I was
still trying to figure out what record Big had wanted
to be on. I played him a couple records, and
then when I played him then he was like, oh,
what are we talking about? Like I'm doing this, so
he did his verse and then Big was like, Yo,
we should call it an artist storytelling part four. And
then hence, you know, I literally have a fucking outcast

(31:21):
record on my album. And then, you know, I wish
I would have knew then. I wish I would have
knew now when I knew then, because three thousand offered
to do the video and he was just like, yo,
I just need one hundred thousand from the label and
me not me, not as knowledgeable as I was, then
I kind of let the opportunity like pass, And looking

(31:44):
back on it, I would have told the label give
me fucking one hundred grand to give this man for
this record, Like we probably could have got a Grammy
nomination out of that, you know what I'm saying if
it would have literally happened. But I mean, it's still
an amazing record. You know how many dj can say
they have an outcast record like It's one of my
proudest moments in my career. Still, yeah, I still wound

(32:07):
up getting Grammy.

Speaker 5 (32:07):
Well, how did you approach making the transition from DJ
to executive?

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Naturally?

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Honestly, I mean it was just like, you know, again,
relevancy has always been very key for me in my career,
and like staying on a cusp, and I think a
lot of that comes from being a mixtape DJ, and
like just like my addiction to new shit, like my
fascination of like what's next, you know what I'm saying
and not kind of letting myself get boxed into one thing.

(32:39):
You know, Like there was a tweet somebody to put
out was like yo, DJ Drama literally went from the
roots in Bahamadia to Tip Cheezy and Wayne to Little
Uzi and Jack Harlowe like give this man this, Yeah,
and that's exactly what it is. So, you know, just
around I had when I was making my albums, I

(33:00):
had left Atlantic and went to E one, and you know,
I was still using a lot of the staff over
at Atlantic, just kind of independently to work my records
and things of that nature. And I started to make
like records that were having success, like oh, my like
my moment. And so when I was doing that, one
of the people, you know, I used to have Sam

(33:21):
Crespo work my records and Chris, my brother Sam. And
Sam was like, yeah, I should you should like think
about being an R, Like you know, I should bring
that idea to Julian Craig, like, you know, you're putting
together some real good records, like maybe it could be
opportunity for you to come in a building and be
an an R. And I was like, I'm down. So

(33:43):
he mentioned it to Julian Craig and you know clearly,
you know, they were like, drum, that's our guy, Like
we love drum. So I flew to New York. I
had a meeting with Craig Julian Kaiser, and they were like,
you know, are you interested in you know, coming over
here as an R.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
And I was like yeah. And and then.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
I was like, oh, yeah, by the way, I'm building
the studio in Atlanta that you know, you guys might
want to partner with me on. And at the time,
Kawan Pray third KP was was vice president of Atlantic.
He was working out of another studio. They sent him
over to my spot mean Streets to check it out
to see you know what he thought, and he was like,

(34:21):
oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
This is dope like this this this could be a
thing for us.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
So part of my deal when I came over as
an an R was also for Atlantic to be partners
with me on Mean Streets. So I literally, you know,
took their money and built the rest of Mean Streets up,
you know, from what I had already built from it.
And when I got there, I really was kind of
trying to find my way. They had put me with,

(34:47):
like artists that were already on the label to try
to work with, and it just wasn't it wasn't meshing
Like it wasn't you know.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
I would go to an R.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
Meetings and things, and you know, they they would give
me an artists to try to work with, and it
just kind of it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
They were trying to put you with at the time.
Did anybody you can name?

Speaker 4 (35:08):
So Spenzo Boussi cap G was KP's guy, and he
was there, he was around, but you know he was
those were those were some of their the artists that
you know, early on they kind of wanted me to
quote unquote, I guess an R be a part of
and then also Thug was you know, I happened to

(35:29):
be the closest thing to Thug in those days that
they felt like could be of an assistance to help
with Thug and you know, getting music or you know.

Speaker 6 (35:41):
Young not slim.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
I'm sorry. So it's a few of them young, yeah,
young thug, not some thug again. Shout out to something.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
He's got a gangster girls too though, But so yeah,
Thug was working a lot of mean streets. So you know,
I was kind of in the mix with Thug and
Atlantic and you know, just trying to make that whole
thing kind of work out, and it went out went.
But we also you know, myself, Lake and Cannon. You know,

(36:09):
when Cannon was vice president of Deaf Jam around the
time I got my gig, and then we had missed
out on a couple opportunities of artists. I took Migos
to New York for the first time and presented them
to Alan Grumblack and he offered them pennies, and you know,
they they went and did the right thing and went
to QC. Shout out to Coach and p you know

(36:32):
those are my guys. You know, we kind of started
our labels around the same time, but me, Cannon and
Lake were like, yo, we can't miss nothing else.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Like, we're not missing nothing else.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
I was gonna say, besides Migos who so Tory Lane,
I wanted to sign Tory Ot Genesis, t Fly.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
I actually wanted to sign t Fly.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
So those are a few that you know, we were
in the midst of us and you know when we
were trying to figure out the label thing or signing
artists up around the time. Cannon came back one day
and just was like, Yo, I heard this kid, little
Uzi vert and I was like, let's do it.

Speaker 5 (37:11):
Get him signed unseen unseen that is crazy if you
believe your man, let's go.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Never heard nothing, didn't know nothing. Where's he at? What
are we doing? Like?

Speaker 4 (37:24):
And it was this is around what year? This was
two thousand fourteen. Oh, in twenty fourteen. Wait, that's when, yeah,
we signed Uzzi twenty.

Speaker 5 (37:35):
I was about to say, I know that we had
Uzzi on the Roots pick like way before now y'all had.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
No you did him.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
That was like when he was opening that he did
it was roots picnic, okay, moneylaw, it was money long.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
It was before actual to our life.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
It was money longer days when he did Roots Picnic
because I did it in twenty seventeen.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Because when I brought Little Baby, yeah, y'all had that
stage that they were looking like, who is this guy?

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Like I remember that I brought Baby to Roots pic Nick,
and I think that was right before the Drake record,
like or maybe the Drake record it just came out.
But literally I remember the crowd like not understanding, like
I just brought y'all little Baby like here. But so yeah,
so we signed. So we signed Scheme. Scheme actually was

(38:27):
our first artist that we signed. Shout the scheme. He's
he's kind of mad at me because I haven't brought
his name up when I talk about the label. So
we signed Scheme. We signed Uzi, and we were signing.
We were trying to sign this group called the Wedding Crashers,
which Quentin Miller was part of. So we named a
Generation Now. Generation Now is actually a mixtape title that

(38:48):
I had used early on before the Little Brother and
the for Real tapes. I had gotten drops from Kanye West.
He was opening enough for Taile Lib quality wound up
getting drops from Kanye. I also got some drops from
Joe Budden and it wasn't. It was like, damn, this
is not gangster grills. It doesn't feel gangster grills. So
I need another title for another brand. So I came

(39:11):
up with Generation Now. Years later, we wound up double
backing when we were looking for a title for the
label and I was like, what about Generation Now.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
So the guys was like, yeah, that's fire.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
So we Atlantic was on the verge of firing me,
like I was two years into my deal and they
were looking at it like, look, we just paid DJ
Drama all this money he brought us. We done, We
put all this money into this studio, Like what are
we doing? What's going on? Like where's our where's our return.

(39:43):
Craig Kleman came to Atlanta. We sat in the radio
room of the The of Mean Streets and he said, look, Drama,
I believe in you. You know, I don't want to
let you go. Like let's just do a one year deal.
We're gonna I will stay partners on the studio and
we'll just you just you guys, just focus on Uzzy.

(40:05):
Like we'll just just you guys, just focus on little Uzzy.
And I was like cool, like I'm with that, like okay, cool,
And next thing you know, you know, Love is Rage
comes out. Mean Streets becomes the go to studio in
Atlanta and the tables turned within six months in one
eight and you know it was like I told.

Speaker 6 (40:28):
You not going.

Speaker 5 (40:30):
My ancestors are watching you and guiding. How did Jack
get on y'all's radar? Because for me, Jack, he was
the record and I don't think this was before Generation Now.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
My record was.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
Sundown, Like that was the one that I heard. I
was like, he was on your generation now, that was
generation Oh then okay. He had put out a record
called Dark Knight. That was the one that really forced
our hand. But we had heard of him before them.
A friend of mine brought them to me late twenty
seventeen and put.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Him on my radar.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
And then you know Ky Engineering, who is based in Atlanta,
who had engineered for Wayne Tiger. He mixed Dreams of Nightmares.
He mixed that whole, mixed the whole first album. He
was Waka Floka's engineer. He's two chaines engineer. He mixed
my records. He did my quality street music album. He's

(41:23):
from His name is Kay because he's from Kentucky. So
around the same time he was telling right, okay, he
was telling Lake like, yo, I want to bring you
something when it's ready. So Jack wound up on my radar.
I went and followed him. He had like seven thousand followers.
He saw that I followed him, He followed me right back.

(41:43):
He then went on to tell me later on that
he told a friend of his like, damn, DJ Drama
just signed to me. I think I'm think I'm gonna
sign the drama. So we so he wounds up. He
winds up coming being in Atlanta and coming to mean
Streets and you know, that was our first time meeting,
and we like, you know, we sat down, we chopped
it up.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
We were talking. He was like, you know, what are
you what are you into?

Speaker 4 (42:05):
And I'm like, I'm in the movie, Like I'm a
movie buff, like I just love movies. And he was like,
tell me a movie that you think that I would
be shocked that you would know. And I told him
it was this movie called E two My Time Bien,
Oh yeah yeah, and he was like wait what. He
was like, DJ dramat has watched YouTube.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
The ritz like so I think that really blew his mind.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
And then you know, we we had a meeting you know,
with Jack and you know, our staff, and he was
on you know, we we the opportunity was about signing
him was there, and and then we weren't one hundred.
We were like seventy five percent. And then he put
out Dark Night and we was like, okay, we gotta

(42:52):
do it, like we gotta we gotta sign this kid
before we miss out.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
So we went on to sign Jack.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
And you know, again this is you know, when I
signed Jack, he looked like Napoleon Dynamite, So you know,
he's come along. The heart the sex symbol heart throb
that he is of today was you know, he's come
a long way. But I saw it in him like,
you know, the same way I saw it in UZI
early on, Like you know, I saw like, these are
two guys that, for me, like, regardless of of us

(43:23):
being evolved, they would have made their way into hip
hop same way, regardless of however I would have been,
I was gonna, yeah, I was gonna. I was gonna
get here somehow, some way. But again we allowed them
to stand on our shoulders to you know, go a
little faster, you know, me walking him in the sway
and you know him being able to you know, just

(43:43):
move around, especially somebody like Jack, who you know is
a white rapper from Kentucky to be able to say
he signed to Generation Now and DJ Drama who created
Gangster Grills and the label that you know, you know,
little Uzi Vert was a part of. I mean, I
think that out a lot of you know, yeah to

(44:03):
the table, you know.

Speaker 5 (44:09):
All right, before we we gotta wrap up the episode.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
This is damn we have to You don't even know
how long we've been sitting here.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
We just started. We got we gotta go home.

Speaker 6 (44:23):
I mean, you gotta bite us back and we'll come
to your spot.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
But okay, but before we wrap like I don't I
don't know if like I don't know if you're aware
of this because I say it all the time, but
being sitting at this table, like I have to say,
even though I say it all the time, like like
you gotta understand, I mere like if it wasn't for y'all,
like I don't, I don't know that. I don't know

(44:48):
if I would be here like watching like running in.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
And we think it is the ongoing joke of the show.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
Watch me squirm like, bro, listen, Like I used to
run into a mirror playing video games on South Street
and he would like let he would like put his
headphones on me and let me hear fucking Tariq rapping
like g rap or like you know, like I used
to go to the Truck. I was at the Trocadero

(45:22):
at their signing celebration party like like for me, like
I remember when Distortion the Static first came on Rap
City like yes, so like you got to understand for me, bro,
like the roots are the reason why I knew that
you could really do this ship, Like, oh, this ship

(45:45):
can really happen. Like I just watched this group in Philly.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Watch her face.

Speaker 6 (45:50):
I'm just making him take it because it's hard, it's painful,
go ahead, keep going on.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
Like I watched this group that I loved make this
album called Organics while I'm in high school and that's
all I'm listening to. And then like get a record deal,
like get signed to Geff and like these guys that
were freestyling on my little mixtapes that probably only one
hundred copies exist didn't go on to become the fucking roots,

(46:15):
Like oh my god, this you can like this rap
shit is real like everything before that for me was
just seeing it on like watching the Box and seeing
Kine and KRS and Public Enemy and NWA is just
like me watching it on television like I knew y'all, like.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Like I was there.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
So that for me was literally the reason like and
I say it all the time like you are the
reason why I knew this shit could really happen, bro, Like,
and I have to give you your flowers by sitting
here next.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
To you, thank you for a documentary.

Speaker 6 (46:54):
A documentary.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
It's gonna be great. No, I appreciate every word.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yes, years ago, I would have definitely ended the episode
because I hate compliments. No, but I really appreciate.

Speaker 6 (47:08):
That this conversation was long overdue.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
No, No, for real, I don't over on every song
even for me.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
Yeah, and I'm very proud like again, like you know
the fact that you validated us as well, because it
meant a lot to me that like, wow, someone believes
in us enough to put us on a mixtape, Like
to me, that was important.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
Black Thought Gangster Girls is definitely on my bucket list
because it's full circle for me, like it has that's
one and I have Wow.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
That'd be amazing. It has to happen.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
I was going to say that eventually one day you're
going to have to make a gangster Grizelda.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
You gotta make that happens. Fire.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
This intro will make that happen. No, great, Wait, I
have one last question. I've been watching how things have
been developing in the in the last few weeks speaking
of Gris, and initially what started out as something that
could have gone ugly is actually turned into kind of
like a cool moment. Yeah, yeah, where initially you know,

(48:12):
there are complaints that you're not supporting Da.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Da da da.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
And you know, maybe once every five years out here
another generation coming that will tell whoever the gatekeeper is like,
let somebody else in and let somebody But as a
DJ and I usually go through this kind of quasi
depression period, maybe in November and December or Okay, So

(48:35):
twenty twenty three is coming up, so instantly I'm like,
all right, so someone born in two thousand and two
is now legally going to be louder than the night club, right,
and that means when they're like fourteen years old and
you know, twenty sixteen or whatever, I mean, like I'm
always doing the math of reference points. To me, I

(49:01):
don't know, Like for you, is there ever time where
you're just like, I don't know, it might be too
old for this ship. I don't want to just reduce
it to as too old for this ship, but like.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Too old for this shit.

Speaker 5 (49:14):
I mean right now, keep up like I legit was
on Wikipedia, like taking a crash course in drill because
I just like, all right, I gotta educate myself, Like
I hold a whole bunch of gigs coming up for
a bunch of kids, and I don't want to be
that person. But it's like I feel like if you

(49:35):
have to be paint by numbers, like okay, what are
the kids?

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Whatever? But for you, like, is there ever a point
where you just get exhausted? It's just like.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Dog just throw Roy's album morning, I'm calling it a day,
like I'm gonna I'm gonna take a nap whatever. So
there's never a point where you saw an act like Okay,
this is what the future is or like no, So
for you, like the more dangerous is the more you
People my age.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Are talent in every generation.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Yeah, And I think that again, like I said, like
I'm from a mixtape culture where it's like new shit,
new shit, new shit. So it's like my fascination is
is with like like what's next. Like my label is
called Generation Now, you know. So for me, it's like
the fact that I've been able to navigate through fucking

(50:27):
being in a Bahamad Dia video to Jack Harlowe, you know,
or to Tyler Creator call me if you get lost,
and winning a Grammy, Like my career has literally been
an example of being able to surf through the errors.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
So, like, you know, I it's a young like I
love where hip hop is today.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Last night I went to the Wu Tang in Nas
concert and I was like a kid in a candy store,
you know.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
I mean, that's that's my era.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
Like that's when you know when you're I think when
your team, those are your pivotable moments, you know what
I'm saying. So yeah, for me, I'm like, as a
forty four year old man, I'm I'm I'm in heaven,
you know. But at the same time, I'm also a
DJ who more likely plays for audiences in their twenties
than I do for audiences in their forties, So it

(51:19):
keeps me current and again, I just I just I
just love the culture so much, so I love every
diaspora of it, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
So I don't.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
You know, this shit keeps me twenty one forever, like
even now, having this resurgence of gangster grills, whether it's
with Simba or whether it's Icewear Veso or Seti Hendrix
or you know, it's like being able to still be
in this space. And you know, I got to give
Tyler his flowers for you know, in a sense kind

(51:52):
of you know, bringing this resurgence of gangster grills back
for what he did.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, So no, I don't, I don't.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
I don't get in that space like I'm you know again,
I'm to be a DJ and to to have the
accolades that I have. It's like my goal was to
get my name on a flyer. So the success that
I've had, I don't. I don't take none of it
for granted. And as much as I've accomplished, the way
my brain works is always like damn, what the fuck

(52:19):
am I gonna do next?

Speaker 1 (52:20):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
So I think that's what keeps me in this space
of still being excited about you know, tomorrow or not,
you know, again being one of the whiz in Logic tour.
When I'm out there, I'm asking you know, all my
two thousands of babies make some noise, and it's they
make a lot of fucking noise. Like still a lot
of nineties babies in there too, and the eighties babies

(52:41):
are a little more quiet, don't your parents. I don't
even ask about the seventies. I leave that alone. But
you know, even when I walk out on stage, you know,
having these kids like say my name and chant my
name and be familiar with me because of Tyler or
because of the Dreamville mixtape like such a blessing, you
know what I'm saying that you know, I'm still here.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
And you're still finding a new audience, and I'm.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
Still finding a new audience, and and I'm and I'm
excited about it, you know, as much as I'm excited
about being able to go to the fucking nas and
Wu Tang show and you know, seeing that sell.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Out and shout out to you guy who thought I
was a stalker in the hotel lobby this morning, you
got you got.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
What man, I was like, it's me quest that you,
oh man, I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
I thought you was like he thought, but you got
to understand too, like even I hate I don't want
to do this make you squirm again, but like bro, like, Bro,
I saw you in the fucking like I used to.
I was there past the popcorn. You're on television every.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Night, like you have you have a fucking you have
a fucking oscar.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
Bro, like you have an oscar? Like like, well, those
things to me are like, Yo, there's the sky is
not the limit. There's no limit.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
I'm gonna tell you this. This this is I'm not
even blowing smoke. Today was a teachable lesson because every
time you say something, I'm like, wait a minute, how
are you just yes and jumping into some ship without
light seeing.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Who's going to be there first? Yeah, I'm like, and
I need to be more so this is a little talk.
You're a little more bougie than I am.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
I'm very much. I'm guarded. I'm protected. I'm guarded. I
want to know that. I want the formula work. I
wanted to break down the sciences.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
So if you run into somebody in the street right
now and they're like, yo, I'm inspiring artists over the street,
street can I get your number?

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Five people?

Speaker 5 (54:33):
Five people, blow slum Village, Jill Scott, Blow Slum Village,
Jill Scott little brother. I'm five and oh, but I'm
probably five and forty two.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Thousand, oh those five I came to you.

Speaker 5 (54:52):
I yeah, I was in the position where I was
like I felt in my heart like, oh this is
oh Cody Testna that was my five.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
I remember he was on automatic relaxation. Yes, definitely was
definitely more definitely all right.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Give all right, we gotta wrap up, but please give
another automatic relaxation.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
A whole bunch of people.

Speaker 4 (55:12):
You know, it's a few y'all, Like, can I just
give you copies of the old ones? Like there's like
it's not I mean, we we when it when it
was what it was like now that there's a lot.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Of that out now there's playlist, but it ain't nothing.
But I've been coming from you.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
I think now at this point of your style, I
don't think it would be that for you now, like
if you did now, it's gonna be probably yeah, you
know it's gonna be And I'll.

Speaker 6 (55:41):
Be listening now now you don't have to go, well
where they went, they're.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Gonna check for DJ Drama regardless. So if you win
in that lane, that would be it would be something
new to that audience.

Speaker 8 (55:51):
No, I'm respecting when you said relaxations and gangster Grizzelden.
There you go, all right on behalf of Quest Left,
Supreme Fante and Sugar, Steve and Steve.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
They say anything he was.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
Learning except about the skateboarder in Philly.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
You know he's he's Steve's here.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Trust me anyway, No, thank you for doing this, man, man,
I really appreciate.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
That school in the nation.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
Thank you to the staff everyone, fam you, thank you,
and I thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
Uh and I am going to break that misspac Man
record over time.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Yeah, shout the exit shot.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
One day if somebody comes, just give him a number. Bro,
you never know he's not You don't have to answer.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Like the.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
Text me all the time, Like if I don't want
to answer, I don't have to. You know, random people
have Just when I was on tour, this guy just
called me out of nowhere. I was like, Hey, this
is a drama. I like, yeah, where'd you get my number?
He's like, my manager gave it to me and he
was like, yo, I'm a new artist, and I said, listen, bro,
I'm a jewel you real quick. Like when I was
coming up, I couldn't just call Jay z or Funk

(57:02):
Master Flex like I'm like, and most people aren't gonna
be as nice as me. But I'm telling you, before
you try to get on my radar, look to your
left and look to your right and try to create
a movement with the people around you, and then before
you know it, you'll be on my radar. Like, don't
just call the the big wigs and think you can
get on like. It's not that easy. I Connecticut, Yeah,

(57:24):
I couldn't. I couldn't call jay z or Flex and say, hey,
I'm DJ Drama like I'm dope like and I was,
but I didn't have the right meaning to them.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
I didn't have the right to do that yet, you
know what I'm saying. So there's a teachable that's the
jewel right there. All right, We'll see you in the
next go round. Thank you very much, nim You quest

(57:55):
Some Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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