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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio One.
I'm quls listeners and viewers. I see you, Actually I don't.
But anyway, we are back with Part two, a Quest
Love Supremes episode with d J Drama that Don't forget.
This was filmed on location in Atlanta, Georgia, and re
recorded this episode in t I Studio, which is really

(00:24):
a dope spot. So make sure you've watched or listened
to part one. That's where Drama, you know, I Hope
Me from t AU talks about his Philly upbringing, his
respect for quest Love and the roots and making critical
in roads with t I and j Z and FINALI
is driving Atlanta. Alright, y'all, let's get ready. Here we

(00:45):
go with part two. As it makes tape, DJ, you're
locking it down. But as far as now, when you're
djaying in clubs, if I'm hiring you to DJ a
party in two thousand six, two thousand seven, how long,

(01:10):
like how long is your set? And are you doing
just exclusive stuff that is exclusive to you or are
you still just like doing regularly DJ stuff? And so
really what wound up happening was around that time, I
actually wasn't doing a lot of gigs because I then

(01:31):
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 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

(01:53):
would I would get hired, but I would probably do
like a two hour set and I would you know,
but this is a all the time when like so
I guess Serrato was already out right, so I would
do like big gigs like I remember when Vibe had
like the Vibe something down here and outcast perform like
they will book me for that or like BT will

(02:15):
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 grills. Ships. So are you
a business in terms of like now you have a
manager and an agent and um a staff? Yeah, office

(02:35):
based like definitely we had what Walker Street was was
our was our our office Denise for us, um we
had I had, uh, Jason Brown was handling all the distribution.
Orlando McGhee was my first manager, and yeah, because then
I got, you know, the opportunity to get an album there.

(02:58):
I mean I literally met with every lay boot at
one point as far as like their interests in signing
me as a DJ to do against girls album, you know,
and based upon my loyalty and I hadn't on the building,
I signed to ground Hustle Atlantic. But but yeah, I
definitely had staff and a manager and you know, we
the whole nine, so with dedication, Like how did that

(03:22):
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 Um. I heard
him talking Awayne 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? And I was like, you know,
and at that time, Wayne was I was doing his
squad up, so I was using a lot of those

(03:45):
songs on Gangster Grills, so I knew he was kind
of in his mixtape bag. And I was like, yo,
you know, we gotta 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
Tz and we just kind of like went over. I
brought him a bunch of instrumentals, just options of things

(04:07):
to wrap on and things of that nature. And I
literally just came up with the name Dedication, just like
it's called dedication and he was like, all right, cool.
And Rob Patrozo, who used to do all my artwork,
came up with the cover, which was you know, legendary.
And you know, because by that point, Gangster Grills was

(04:28):
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 we need it, we wanted. And the Wayne tape,
you know, I remember when he sent me to music
and listening and I was like, Yo, this ship is different.
This is not the wobblety wobblety dropping like his high

(04:49):
kid like He's a ship like some real bars on here.
And you know, when I did the tape, and I
kind of I had known like, yeah, this is this
is a moment. You know what I'm saying, and then
it really turned into a moment and so it was
like it was like back to back from me because
I just did Tramp or Die and then Dedication happened

(05:11):
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 and Atlanta. Who's now the king of
the mix tapes with Tip, Jeezy and Wayne or like
who are the hottest guys not only in the South
but now in hip hop? And it was like I'm

(05:34):
in the mix, like I'm the platform for you know,
what's what's what was getting these niggas hot in your mind?
And this is before you know the fags of the
Rico stuff, but like in your mind, what was the
end game? Are you? Like a great question? Let me start,

(05:54):
like when do you do 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 like, whoa,
I was just in college. You know, facts sego down,
like I determined with the future. You know what it
really was when I when I first got hot or
got popular or became that guy the only thing that

(06:17):
I told myself is yo, okay, you got here like
from ninety two two oh five, like there was a
lot of legwork to get here. You gotta stay 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

(06:42):
happened in a lot of forms. I mean, my brother
over here, Like when at the time when Gangster Grills
was known for trapped music and southern hip hop to
an extent, you know, at the same time like they
they're performant. It was at Apache Cafe or Yean Cafe.

(07:04):
It was Apache and they Little Brother had a show
and the bus was outside of the venue and I
came on the bus and we sat down and I
told them like, yo, I'm a huge fan. I have
been for some time. And then you know, they told
me the same in return, and they were like, what
do you think about doing Againster Grills? And I was like,

(07:25):
what what are we waiting on? But around the same time,
I was getting pushed back from various people like wait,
you're gonna do a tape with who little Brother in Farrell,
Like that's not gangster grills, Like how does that make sense?
And you know, I've always looked at myself like John

(07:47):
Singleton and Martin Scorsese like 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 not only like what are

(08:12):
y'all saying? My ships? And I say on the table
was gonna sound good on this? Yeah, And that was
our mentality going into it, too, like because hence the
name separate but equals, it's so iconic in so many ways,
like how are you talking Wayne into because you know
to be it was kind of perplexing that he chose

(08:32):
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? And that just shows Wayne round over
loving it. But no, no, no, well yeah, like he
round over a star and I'm like, god, damn, like
he's killing our ship more than none of it. It's

(08:55):
crazy mis dedication. I was. I was on the radio
is very anti these things, and that's what I was
known for. But I heard that little brother Joe, but
you listen to a little brother, so he wasn't in
a gang. Oh yeah, she's one of the ones like
when are you going to do another automatically? So because

(09:18):
that's yeah, exactly exactly like but I'm saying, like my mind,
I was like, did you I was like, man, maybe
he helped waiting to gunpoint like you bet around over
this Philly track like big giant ad hip hop. Yeah

(09:38):
you know, and and and for me it was my
like again also coming from making automatical relaxations are coming
from wanting to do this because if y'all like when
a little Brother approached me and when Farrell approached me,
it was so exciting for me because it was one
it was an opportunity to branch out, and then too,

(10:00):
it was an opportunity to like I feel like I
was giving back to my roots, no pun intended, but like,
like what like I could make a little brother gangster
girls or for real gangster girls, like, oh man, once
I opened this door, that just opens the floodgates for
you know, for it to go in so many directions
and for us doing I did when we did several
equal like because my whole thing was, like I hated mixed. Well,

(10:23):
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,
you know what I'm saying, that's a new jam. I
loved it. I loved that our tape was like that. Yeah,
we only round of like maybe one in strumental. The
rest of that ship was all original joints. Can we

(10:44):
discuss the no drama version though, like you know, I've
had a you saw it well for talk, Yeah, but yeah,
so whatever we did, we did um, we did um.
We did the tape and that wasn't like we did
several but that was like, oh sick, it was a six.
So maybe like what like two years later, like we

(11:05):
did uh we called drama free version because at the
time when we were it was rare version because we
had the mix tape, but like all your drops on
this stuff. But then if I 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

(11:26):
you know what I mean, because retail wouldn't they wouldn't
put it in like you couldn't get in certain stories.
It was a mix tape. So we was just like,
all right, well here's the records and it was original
record and they was our fucking records, so you know
what I mean, I mean, I get it. I mean
the fact that it was called Drama Free was definitely
kind of made me sad. But it wasn't no, like
that wasn't a shot and it was just like it

(11:49):
was just like free, Like no, it's catchy as a motherfucker' shape.
I got it. I mean they're not 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 with that one hurts too, like you know, like

(12:09):
that was that was part of it was part of Crenshaw,
aren't you The spice and the bells and the whistles, Yeah,
like yeah, like that that was the thing about that
was one. I mean, hence why because when I did
the tape with Jeez, 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

(12:29):
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. Sounds like
a do over. It sounds like, I don't know, that's
like almost here in the diala Joran without the siren
and the dilla dilla beats beats like he thought he
was sucking ship up like nobody wild rhyme over this ship.
I mean yeah, I mean you know, I like, to me,

(12:52):
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 be eye of this.
I think the separate legal drummer feed version. So and
it's crazy. I thought, it just mean, you have never
talked about none of this ship, 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.

(13:14):
Like when I manage at the time though me and
finished everything and I just put the records in a sequence.
I put all the songs in the sequence, skits like everything,
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 though it was like yo,

(13:34):
drum just sent the joint and I was like, all right, cool,
and I opened it up because this is you know,
MP three, so you will open it and see the
track listing first before you loaded it up, and you
kept the track listening the exact same way I did it.
And I was like, holy sh it, you know what
I mean, Like that was just a big when I
listened to when I listened to it, and I heard it,
and then I heard it in the way that the

(13:54):
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 the order
or or however to do my thing, but I'm not
gonna mess with something that's already dope, you know what
I'm saying. So for me, it was already like okay,
here's my bells and my whistles. But if this ship

(14:16):
flows the way it flows, like watch why change perfection?
And I'm saying that, man, bro, like I mean you
like the little Brother in the Farrell tape like came
out at the time, and it came 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

(14:38):
I was being known for the time, and not that
I was fighting against it, but it was like, yo,
I 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. And to be
able to do those two projects where like now we
had a point to prove because you had you we
both had a point because for you, you know, you

(15:00):
say it was proven like we were from that cloth.
For us at that time, you know, we were coming
off the Minstreal Show and it was just like the Nigs,
they just some backpack hate Niggs and it was like, no,
we fucking wrapped, you know what I mean. And it
was just like look, well it don't matter if it's
trap ship whatever. Like so it was like even that
in that sense of what people were looking at was

(15:21):
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. It was a
great moment. Now it really was, man, and that was
just I'm so thankful that you know our passed like
crossing the way that it was amazing, amazing. I know
that you rehashed the story over and over and over

(15:41):
and over and over again, so I'm trying not to
beat uh an already dead horse that you moved past.
I mean, the question is basically like in two thousand
and seven, I'm trying to figure out how an industry
that utilizes you two break open their artists like and

(16:05):
again I'm staunched East Coast head. You know, Tarik himself
listen to nothing but your your mixtape. So this is
how I'm learning about way, Like, this is how I'm
getting my my education on what I need to learn
about the rest of America and step my my niece.
And I'm trying to like and I understand that there

(16:27):
was a period between two thousand three and two thousand eight,
especially like with record labels not knowing like if they're
going to survive now that streaming culture, like you know
we already had the yeah, like around two thousand three
whatever Like that just starts. But I'm trying to figure
out how like like you were definitely utilized and to

(16:54):
break open people like so just in general and not
like from a one to ten, how shocked were you
when you came home and like, wait, what the fund
is this? Like did you did you have an inkling
of a clue? Like none, or even even when the
ship was selling like hot cakes, even when ship was
selling like hot cakes, was there any person that was

(17:16):
sort of like have you ever received pushback from anyone
that like you rhymed an instrumental over and like she's like, hey,
why did you use front? Or why never? It wasn't
on then artist? Like that was a badge of honor
to have someone like over. It was so I mean,
we there's a there's a there's a lot to unpack here,

(17:36):
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 to them. The
legal department of a label didn't understand. They have a clue.

(18:00):
They don't 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 there, you know, I was friends
with the promotions in the marketing side, but you know, yeah,
the legal department didn't. It didn't make sense to them,
why are we giving this free music out? And then
this is also a time where outside of my mix tapes,

(18:23):
there were hundreds of other mix tapes 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 didn't give permission for. And then on
top of that, around this time, these mixtapes Minds and

(18:45):
others started to show up in Best Buys and in
targets and in walmarts with bar codes on it, so
and that, you know, and that made it confusing. And
I just spoke about this on Math halfa because they
brought up, you know, after I got rated. One of
the people they asked about, what do you think about
what happened to Dram was Wayne, and Wayne said, Dram

(19:08):
needs to be Dram needs to play the games fair
smarter like Clue or Kalid or something of that. And
is it the same. I mean, the reason why I
never took offense 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,

(19:32):
everybody knew that we were making money, and you know,
that's how I was supporting myself. But when they started,
when the mix tape started to show up and the
stores with barcodes, as an artist, I could understand how
one could fill the type of way because they're like, wait,
hold on, why is this? Why is my ship in
Target with a barcode? And I'm not seeing a dollar

(19:54):
from it? Because they're okay, not seeing a dollar if
you're just selling it the way you're selling it, like
from to an extent. I mean again, now, looking looking
back on it, if at 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 a fifty if I'm making X amount of dollars,

(20:16):
like just as a quick thank you, It would have
it would have been a nice gesture. Like but you know,
on the on the other end, these guys are going
and doing shows for a hundred and fifty two hundred
thousand dollars off of what we what we've built together.
So you know, I don't count anyone's pockets, nor did
I feel like anyone should count. And just I mean
again we've just thought of it now. But you know

(20:36):
I never felt you know, me and I could speak,
you know, from my brotherhood as well. For us, it
was never that like we did are show up with
a bar code? No, it didn't. I was on the
bar code. I remember like watching it on the news
and seeing like when they was taking like the bro
I was like, what the fuck got in police carry

(21:00):
your outside? Was there? That ship 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,
We'll do, press it shows whatever. Like it was just
you know what I mean, it was a mutually beneficial thing,
and it was like that for most people. But yeah,

(21:22):
I think all those things came into play. I think
the fact that you know, to two thousand seven was
a very pivotal year for the music business, where you know,
it was a transition, and you know, 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 the

(21:43):
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 drum situation comes up, don't speak on it,
like leave that alone, you know what I'm saying, or
you know, no, I didn't. Necessarily. People used to ask
me in interviews like did you feel the type of
way when nobody spoke up for you? And I was like,

(22:05):
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 happened and up, Yeah,
well us when you got when when they happen for
us specifically, So yeah, that was like oh six oh seven,
we did and justice for All was the seven. Wait,
we didn't just January. It was January oh seven when

(22:27):
my ship happened. Okay, it was January seven, So I
think maybe it's the next year maybe or later that year. Anyway,
we did um make Boogie tape uh and Justice for All?
I mean yeah, and I hear. I was telling me,
I said, you did that before the Raider, after the
d 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 Can't Stop His record called

(22:49):
Can't Stop His Well, we was talking about that ship
and it was just like I said, na, bro, like
we gotta get drum talking because they're not They're not gonna.
We're not letting them shut this ship down. 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 ship die

(23:09):
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, the downfall of the fucking
mixtape game is gonna 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 how long

(23:32):
was it until you look both ways where you crossed
the street and like, oh I put a tape like
a month to after, like I did like Gangster Grills
sixteen and and was just talking crazy on there, like
you know, And I remember the first big the first
big mix tape 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
fun DJs or something, and then he called in my
radio show and we cleared that up and then you
know we went on to do Dedication three. Um. 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 the Atlantic Records called literally the next day, like,

(24:14):
oh my god, how fast can we get your album done?
Like we can't pay for this type of publicity? So
was it? Because the record was it? Riggs 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 guys, and then they all called like, yo,
we can't play for this type publicity out soon can

(24:36):
you turn your album in? So you know, my my
first single actually was titled feeds taking Pictures Pures, So
you know, I having that beneath the diamonds. I love
that imported. I was the ship 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

(25:00):
In a way, I don't know how to explain it
to you, but we felt like we knew you were
gonna be okay because you were smart as fuck and
because what is that another reason as to why I
felt like it kind of came and went in resource
well well for me, I mean you know again, I
mean it literally made me more famous than I ever was.
I mean, the next thing, I know, you never had

(25:21):
a crying moment. You was like the only 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 accounts at zero point zero zero after having six
figures in it. So I definitely shed a tear um.
But after that, like where you know they kept? So

(25:45):
I had we had two accounts for a museum's sake,
like where is that stuff? 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

(26:07):
where most of the money was. They kept that because
they said they couldn't differentiate what was what was what?
So we're keeping all of this. But how long the
detective replace that I started making money? I mean, you know,
I got it back, I got back up. You know,
take me too long? Obviously it was a performative actually,
like what was the like, yeah, I mean the R

(26:32):
double that you know, and around that, Timmy and Cannon
had kind of had a fallen out and you know,
we went our separate ways for a moment. But the
r I Double A made us do this like p
s A where it was like hey kids, like yeah,
like like it never came, they never put it out,

(26:53):
but they made it. We shot at it um Tree
Sounds and they literally, like you know, gave us a
screw like if you make music, do you have a
copy of it? I wish I did. Yo, Man, you
gotta on your Instagram. I know it exists, it has
to be and this this was literally the first time
in Canada had seen each other in a while, and
they we had to do it. You know. Part of

(27:14):
the agreement was us doing that p s A that
they never put out. But it's like, you know, like
for me, like like has 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, And for me it was like, yeah,
this is just you know, everybody, anybody who's anybody gets
hit with some type of adversity and this is just

(27:35):
my my first, you know, my first real challenge. And
you know, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna be here like
I've been here. And at the time, I had, you know,
been here too 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

(27:56):
the last chapter. Like watch what I do? Man. I
always wanted to ask you about the auto stories telling three.
I was just about to bring that up, all man,
how did how did that? Three? Or four? Four? Oh? Four?
I'm sorry. I was like, yea, yeah, there's the three. Yeah,
there is a three. That's why it's four. Big Boy

(28:16):
has to tell you where the three exists because he
told me, because that's why we are the storytelling four.
But I was supposed to do Idle Wild Gangster Girls.
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 Um
going into the project me uh stacks Big and their

(28:40):
manager Blue got on the phone and they came to
me like, YEO, we want to do a Gangster Girls
And I was like, hell, motherfucking yeah. And then a
few months later they 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

(29:00):
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 sending three thousand beats
from every big known name producer out of the time,
you know, because this is the time when I was
doing the first Gang Square album. Gangster Girls was the

(29:20):
biggest thing going, so everybody was pretty much giving me
beats and I would send him to three thousand and
he would be like nah nah, now he would pretty
much turn everything down. One of the last tapes I
made before the Raid was Jim Jones Seven Day Theory.
Um tape no well, no, no, I mean yeah that

(29:40):
Jim Jones. Yeah, um with the tape. Our first tape
was called the Seven Day Theory, which was a fire tape.
Max b is all over there. Um uh recipe Stack
was on there. You know. That was when um, 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

(30:04):
made the beat and then we had gotten the Raid
had happened, and Lake was actually managing Marcia at the time,
So 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, this

(30:25):
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 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 are the Storytelling Part four?

(30:49):
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 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 of records,
and then when I played him and he was like, oh,
what are we talking about? Like I'm doing this, So

(31:12):
he did his verse and then Big was like, yo,
we should call an artist Storytelling Part four? And then hence,
you know, I literally have a fucking outcast record on
my album. And then, you know, I wish I would
have knew then, which I would have knew now what
I knew then because three thousand offered to do the
video and he was just like, yeah, I just need

(31:33):
a 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 back on it,
I would have totally labeled, give me fucking a hundred
grand to give this man for this record, Like we
probably could have got a Grammy nomination out of out

(31:53):
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 want to get Agram. Well,
how did you approach making the transition from DJ to executive? Naturally? Honestly,

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

(32:38):
one thing. You know, Like there was a tweet somebody
had put out was like yo, DJ Drama literally went
from the roots in Bahama Da Jeezy and Wayne Too
little Oozy and Jack Harlow like give this man, yeah
and that and that's exactly what it is. So, you know,
just a round I had when I was making my
albums UM. I had left Atlantic and went to E one,

(33:02):
and you know, I was still using a lot of
the staff over in 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 Cressbo work my records, my brother Sam,

(33:25):
And Sam was like, yeah, you should like think about
being at A and R, Like you know, I should
bring the idea to to 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 and building
and being an R. And I was like, I'm down.
So he mentioned it to Julian Craig and you know clearly,

(33:46):
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 coming
over here as an an R. And I was like yeah.
And then um, I was like, oh yeah, by the way,
I'm building the studio in Atlanta that you know, you
guys might want a partner with me on And at

(34:08):
the time, uh, come on par three. KP was was
vice president in Atlantic. He was working out of another studio.
They sent him over to my spot Main Streets to
check it out to see, you know what he thought,
and he was like, oh, yeah, this is dope like this,
this this could be a thing for us. So part
of my deal when I came over as an a

(34:29):
R was also for Atlantic to be uh partners with
me on Main Streets. So I literally, you know, took
their money and built the rest of Main Streets up
to 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,
like artists that were already UM on the label to

(34:52):
try to work with, and it just wasn't it wasn't
mentioned like it wasn't you know, I would go to
A and R meetings and things, and you know, they
would it would give me artists to try to work with,
and it just kind of it wasn't what they were
trying to put you with at the time. Did you
anybody you can say so spendzo Um Boosey, cap G

(35:12):
was KPS 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 A
and R be a part of And then also Doug
was you know, I happened to be the closest thing
that thug in those days that they felt like could

(35:35):
be of an assistance to help with thug and you know,
getting music or you know, young not slam. I'm sorry,
it's just a few of them young young thug not
something shout to something he's got against girls too though,
But so yeah, Thug was working a lot of main streets,
so you know, I was kind of in the mix

(35:56):
with Thug in Atlantic and you know, just trying to
make that whole thing kind of work out, and it
went out went um. But we also you know, myself,
Lake and Cannon. You know, when Cannon was vice president
of Deaf Jam around the time I got my gig,
and then we had missed out on a couple of
opportunities of artists. I took me Goes to New York

(36:19):
UM for the first time and presented them to Alan
Grumblack and he offered them pennies, and you know, they
went and did the right thing and went to qc
um shout to coach and p you know 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. Like when we're not missing

(36:40):
nothing else, I was gonna say, besides me Goes, who
So Tory Lanes, I wanted to sign Tory ot Genesis,
t Fly actually wanted to sign t Fly. So those
are a few that you know, we're in the midst
of us and you know, when we were trying to
figure out the label thing or signing artists around the top.

(37:04):
Cannon came back one day and just was like, Yo,
I heard this kid, a little Loosie Fort and I
was like, let's do it. Get him sign unseen, unseen
if you believe your man. Let's never heard nothing, didn't
know nothing. Where's he at? What are we doing? Like

(37:24):
and it was this is around what year? This was
two thousand, fourteen fourteen? Wait, that's when yeah, we signed
about to say, I know that we had on the
Roots Pick like way before you know you did him.
That was like when he was opening that he did

(37:46):
it was Ruce Pick. Okay, money law, it was money law.
It was before Excel tour life. It was money longer
days when he did because I did it in twenty seventeen.
Because when I brought a little baby, yeah, y'all had
that stage. They were looking like who is this guy?
Like I remember that I brought baby to Roots Big Nick,

(38:08):
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 you a little baby, like here, but
so yeah, so we signed. So we signed Scheme. Scheme
actually was our first artist that we signed. Shout the scheme.

(38:29):
He's he's kind of mad at me because I haven't
brought his name up when I talked about the label.
So we signed Scheme, We signed um Oozy, and we
were signed. We were trying to sign this group called
the Wedding Crashers, which Quentin Miller was part of um
so we named a Generation Now. Generation Now was actually
a mixtape title that I had used early on before

(38:51):
the Little Brother and the Farrell tapes. I had gotten
drops from Kanye West. He was opening off a tale
quality wind up getting dropped from Kanye Us. I also
got some drops from Joe Button and it wasn't. It
was like, damn, this is not gangster girls. Doesn't feel
gangster grills. So I need another title for another brand.
So I came up with Generation Now. Years later, we

(39:13):
wound up double back in when we were looking for
a title for the label and I was like, what
about Generation Now. So the guys were like, yeah, that's fired.
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 we've done, We put all this

(39:35):
money into this studio, Like what what are we doing?
What's going on? Like where's our where's our return? Craig
Kalman came to Atlanta. We sat in the radio room
of the Um of Main Streets and he said, look, Drama,
I believe in you. You know, I don't want to

(39:55):
let you go. Like let's just do a one year deal.
We're gonna we'll stay partners on the studio and we'll
just you just you guys, just focus on Oozy, Like
we'll just just you guys, just focus on little Oozy.
And I was like cool, Like I'm with that, Like okay, cool.
And next thing, you know, you know, love his rage

(40:15):
comes out. Main Streets becomes the go to studio in
Atlanta and the tables turned within six months and one
eight and you know it was like, I told you,
ancestors are watching you. And how how did Jack get
on y'all's radar? Because for me, Jack, he was the

(40:37):
record and I don't think this was before Generation. Now
my record was Sundown, Like that was the one that
I heard. I was like, that was Generation that Okay.
He had put out a record called Dark Night. That
was the one that really forced our hand. But we
had heard of him before them. A friend of mine
brought him to me um late and put him on

(41:00):
my radar. And then you know Ky Engineering, who is
based in Atlanta, who had engineered for Wayne Tiger. He
mixed Dreams and Nightmares. Um he mixed that whole, mixed
the whole first album. He was Waka Floca's engineer. He's
to change his engineer. He mixed my records. He did

(41:21):
my quality street music album. He's from His name is
k Y because he's from Kentucky. So around the same
time he was telling Okay, he was telling Lake like, Yo,
I'm gonna 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

(41:41):
followed him, He followed me right back. 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 I think I'm gonna sign the Drama.
So we um. So he wounds up. He winds up
coming being in Atlanta and coming to main streets and
you know, that was our time meeting and we like,
you know, we sat down, we chopped it up. We

(42:03):
were talking. He was like, you know, what do you
what are you into? And I'm like, I'm in a 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 Too,
my tim Biend and he was like wait what. He
was like, DJ Drama has watched two, she's been to

(42:26):
the rit like so I think that really blew his mind.
And then you know, we um we had a meeting
you know um with Jack and you know, our staff
and he was on you know, we we that the
opportunity was about signing him was there, and and then
we weren't. We were like seventy five and then he

(42:50):
put out Dark Night and we was like, okay, we
gotta do it, like we gotta we gotta sign this
kid before we miss out. So we went on to
sign Jack and you know, again this is you know,
when I signed Jack, he looked like Napoleon Dynamite, So
you know it's he's coming on the heart the sex
symbol heart throb that he is of today was you know,

(43:11):
he's he's come a long way. But I saw it
in him like, you know, the same way I saw
it an Oozy early on. Like you know, I saw like,
these are two guys that, for me, like, regardless of
of us being involved, they would have made their way
in the hip hop same way, regardless of however I
would have been, I was gonna without you, Yeah, I
was gonna. I was gonna get here somehow, some way.

(43:33):
But again, we we allowed them to stand on our
shoulders to you know, go a little faster, you know,
me walking him in his way and you know, him
being able to you know, just move around, especially somebody
like Jack who you know as a white rapper from
Kentucky to be able to say he signed to Generation
Now and DJ Trauma, who created Gangster Grills and the

(43:55):
label that you know, you know, a little oozy vert
was a part of. I mean, I think that out
a lot of um you know, um yeah to the table,
you know, all right before we we gotta wrap up
the the episode. This is damn we have to You

(44:15):
don't even know how long we've been sitting here to
we just started. We got we gotta gotta go home.
I mean, you gotta bite us back and we'll come
at your spot. But okay, but before we wrap, Like
I don't, 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

(44:36):
all the time, like like you gotta understand the mere
like if it wasn't for y'all, Like I don't, I
don't know that. I don't know if I would be
here like watching like running in aging joke of the

(44:59):
show No Watch, 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 Tarik rapping like g rap
or like you know, like I used to go to

(45:20):
the track. I was at the Troca Darrow at their
signing celebration party like like for me, like I remember
when Distortion the Static first came on Rap City like
so like you gotta understand for me, bro, like the
roots are the reason why I knew that you could

(45:42):
really do this ship like oh, this ship can really happen.
Like I just watched this group in Philly watch her face.
I'm just making him take it because he's it's hard.
It's playing. Go ahead, keep going, 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.

(46:03):
And then like get a record deal, like get signed
to GEFT and like these guys that were freestyling on
my little mix tapes that probably only a hundred copies exist,
didn't go on to become the fucking roots, Like, oh
my god, this you can like this rap shit is
real Like everything before that for me was just seeing

(46:23):
it on like watching the Box and seeing Kane and
KRS and Public Enemy and n w A is just
like me watching it on television like I knew y'all,
like I like I was there. So that for me
was literally the reason like and I say it all
the time, like you are the reason why I knew

(46:47):
the ship could really happen, bro, Like, and I have
to give you your flowers by sitting here next to you,
thank you for the documentary A documentary. No, I appreciate
every word. Yes, years ago I would have definitely ended
the episode because I hate compliments. No, but I really

(47:07):
appreciate that this conversation was long overdue. No, No, for real,
I don't go on every song even for me, 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. To me, that

(47:28):
was important. Black thought Gangster Girls is definitely on my
bucket list because it's full circle for me, like it
has that's one and wow, that'd be amazing. It has
to happen. I was going to say that eventually, one day,
you're gonna have to make a gangster Grizelda. You gotta
make that happens. Fire. This intro will make that happen.

(47:52):
I have one last question. I've been watching how things
have been developing in the in the last few weeks
speaking of griz Elda, and initially what started out as
something that could have gone ugly is actually turned into
kind of like a cool moment where initially you know
that there were complaints that you're not supporting that, and

(48:16):
you know, maybe once every five years out here another
generation coming that that will tell whoever the gatekeeper is
like let somebody else in and let someone But as
a DJ and I usually go through this kind of
quasi depression period maybe in November and December. Okay, so
two thousand twenty three is coming up, so instantly, I'm like,

(48:39):
all right, so someone born in two thousand and two
is now legally going to be louder than the nightclub.
And that means when they're like fourteen years old and
you know, two thousand sixteen or whatever. I mean like
I'm always doing the math of reference points. To me,

(49:00):
I don't know, like for you, is there ever time
where you're just like, I don't know, I might be
too old for this ship. I don't want to just
reduce it as too old for this ship, but like
too old for this ship right now, like I legit
was on Wikipedia, like taking a crash course in drill

(49:23):
because I just like, all right, I gotta educate myself,
like I hold a whole bunch of kids 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 have to be paid by numbers, like okay, what
are the kids whatever. But for you, like, is there
ever point where you just get exhausted where it's just
like dog just throw roriars album more and and I'm

(49:48):
calling a day like I'm gonna never, 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 in my age are
talented every generation. Yeah, and I think that again, like
I said, like I'm I'm from a mixtape culture where

(50:10):
it's like new ship, new ship, new ship. 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 being in the Bahamadia video to
Jack Harlow you know, or to Tyler creator called me

(50:34):
if you Get Lost and winning a Grammy, Like my
career has literally been an example of being able to
surf through the errors. So like, you know, it's a
young like I love where hip hop is today. Last
night I went to the Woutang and Nas concert and
I was like a kid in a candy store, you know.

(50:55):
I mean, that's that's my error. Like that's when you
know when you're I think when your team, those are
your pivotabal 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

(51:17):
in their forties. So it keeps me current. And again,
I just I just I just loved the culture so much,
so I love every diaspora of it, you know what
I'm saying. So I don't you know, this ship keeps
me twenty one forever, Like even now, having this resurgence
of gangster grills, whether it's with Simba or whether it's

(51:39):
I swear Vezzo or City Hendricks or you know, it's
like being able to still be in this space. And
you know, I gotta give Tyler his flowers for you know,
in a sense kind of you know, bringing this resurgence
of gangster grills back for what he did. Yeah. So no,
I don't, I don't. I don't get in that space

(51:59):
like I'm you know again, I'm to be a DJ
into 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 funk am I gonna do next? You know

(52:20):
what I'm saying. 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 the whis
and Logic tour. When I'm out there, I'm I'm asking
you know, all my two thousands of babies make some noise,
and it's they make a lot of noise, Like still
a lot of nineties babies in there too, when the

(52:40):
eighties babies are a little more quiet. I don't even
I don't even ask about the seventies. I 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 mix tape
like such a blessing, you know what I'm saying that.

(53:02):
You know, I'm still here and you're still finding a
new audience, and I'm 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 sellout and shout out to you guy who
thought it was a stalker in the hotel lobby this morning,

(53:22):
you got you got what man? I was like, it's me,
what's that you? Oh? Man, I'm sorry I thought he
was like he thought, But you gotta understand too, Like
even I hate to 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. I was
there past the popcorn. You're on television every night, Like

(53:44):
you have a you have a fucking you have a
fucking oscar. 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. 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,

(54:05):
I'm like, wait, a minute. How are you just yes
and jumping into some ship without like seeing who's gonna
be there first. Yeah, I'm like, and I need to
be more so this is a little more bush than
I am. I'm very much. I'm guarded. I'm protecting. I'm guarded.
I want I want the formula work. I wanted to
break down the science. So if if you run into

(54:26):
somebody in the street right now and they're like, yo,
I'm inspiring artists over from the street, can I get
your number? Five people? 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 those five I came

(54:51):
to you. Yeah, I was in a position where I
was like I felt in my heart like, right, oh
this is Cody n That was my five. I remember
he was on automatic relaxation. Yes, definitely was definitely more
definitely was all right, all right, we gotta wrap up,
but please give another automatic relaxation of people? You know, Yeah,

(55:13):
this is a few of y'all, Like, can I just
give you copies of the old ones to think 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 of that out now there's Spotify playlist. But
I've been coming from you. I think now at this

(55:34):
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 be listening now Now
you don't have to go with where they win, and
they're gonna check for DJ Dramma regardless. So if you
win in that lane, that would be it would be
something new to that audience. No, I respected when you
say relaxations and gangster grizz Elda there go alright on

(55:58):
behalf of Quest Left Supreme, h Fante and Sugar, Steve
and Steve say anything he was except about the skateboarder
in Philly where you know he's he's Steve's here to
trust me anyway. No, thank you for doing this, man, man,

(56:18):
oh my god, that's school in the nation. Thank you
to the staff, everyone, family, thank you, and I thank you.
Uh and I'm going to break that Miss pac Man
record over time. Shout the exit one day if somebody comes,
just give him me a number. Bro. You never know
he's not You don't have to answer, like the text

(56:41):
me all the time like if I don't want to answer,
I don't have to end. 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'm like, yeah, where did 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 big wigs and think you can get
on Like it's not that easy. Yeah, I couldn't. I

(57:25):
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. 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 around. Thank you
very much, thank you. Quest of Supreme is a production

(57:56):
of my Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.