Episode 192 "DJ DRAMA"

Episode 192 - "The Culture Deserves It" Feat. Ferrari Simmons & Su Solo Produced by: @iHandlebars

with special guest: DJ Drama

Our exclusive interview with Dj Drama topics include: His new album with Jeezy, NBA Young Boy, Takeoff  & more.

The Baller Alert Show

Featuring @FerrariSimmons @_SuSolo @iHandlebars

":The Culture Deserves It"

IG: @balleralert

Twitter: @balleralert

Facebook: balleralertcom

 

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hold up, Hold up. This is welcome to the Ballor
Alert Show podcast available everywhere you get your podcast. I
go over in the name of your best dec you know, BT.
I'm in the building with that oh special guests today

(00:24):
and all Red. How's it going, Mr DJ Trauma, what's up? Family?
What's up? Gang? How are your feeling? We appreciate you
coming to our studio interview with us. Thanks for having
me you you guys having an amazing beautiful facility here
over here in mean street. This is this is this
is beautiful. We actually get a lot of love for
the studio. We have a wall of great artists that

(00:44):
come by check it out. All that in the little
side of run saw that too. That's offices. We got security.
I mean we've kind of decked out, but don't that.
Don't get the inside joke. This is really his studio, Atlanta, Georgia. Okay,
DJ Drama Grammy Award. We are not only in the
room of greatness. We are in a facility that hosts

(01:06):
a million great people. You probably had a million amazing
verses come out of the studio. A lot of amazing
stuff has come out of the studio, one being the
ball l podcast. Um, you know this room that we're
in now actually was the first room that I built. Here.
A little backstory, like, so when I first built the studio,

(01:27):
you know, I have went to Serious XM and I
was like, yo, like maybe I should you know. I
was at the time myself, Green Lantern, Nina nine Screen,
We all had shows on on Serious and I was like,
you know, if I build a studio, when you guys
partnered with me like maybe making like a serious XM
South or something, and they were like, yeah, we're down
to do that. So I went ahead and built this

(01:48):
room right here and did it. And then I was like, hey,
look guys, I did it and they were like, yes,
it's nice, but we don't really have any money. And
I was like damn. So I was like, you know, well,
um I incurgent right. I was like, well, fun it.
I'm gonna keep on building. So you know, we built
the the B room which is next door and everything,
and I kept going and like when I would we

(02:10):
would do our show in here, that's how I would
I would introduce people to the studio. I was like, yo,
f well, I like, you know, when people were coming
as a guest and everything, um. I would show him
around and just kind of get them to like, you know,
try to do work or or you know, use the studio.
And then I started. Then I was building. I had
this beautiful building and nobody was really working out of it.
And then one day I just called Metro booming and

(02:32):
I was like, yo, bro, like you know, I got
the studio. Um, I'm just give you some free time
and what have you. And Metro came over here into
the b room and then you know, he started working
out of there. And this is around the time when
the was really but this is this is like twenty
I originally started building twenty I bought. I bought the

(02:55):
build in twenty eleven, really started building it out, and
then like um, Metro came in. And then because the
Metro came in, Thug. That was my first time meeting Thug,
and Thug came in and that was you know, our
first interaction, and he was like this this is your studio.
I like it. I like it. You know. Then Thug

(03:15):
started working out of here, and then you know, around
the same time, it was when I did my deal
at Atlantic and I came on as an A and
R and uh co on prey through KP was vice
president of k Chard KP and you know, I was like, hey,
by the way, you know, I'm building a studio in Atlanta,
Um if you guys might want to partner with me,
So they set KP over here um to check it out,

(03:36):
and KP was like, yeah, it's dope, it's a great idea.
So when I came on in Atlantic, you know, we
got them. I started using their money and built out
the rest of the building, you know, um around the
corner of the ink side and the other room. And
you know, the back room actually wound up turning out
to be like the Sunny Digital metro booming room at
the time when they did this deal. But you know,

(03:57):
like the room next door here, like is in the
photo shoot, the photosome room, but before that was that
room right there was the original room where I had
before we had all this equipment. I had all my
stuff in there. I used to do radio, my my
mixtapes in there. I did. I did h True Religion
in that room to chains and it wasn't the anniversary.
It is actually the anniversary of True Religion eleven eleven

(04:18):
years I did. UM. I think I did Dream Chasers
maybe one over there in that room and this before
everything was built, and then you know, like uh, when
it was when we first saw Uzi he came down
here for his first time meeting. Thug was in there,
and you know, Susy did the whole Love His Rage
and that b room that was his room. Nipsey, you know,

(04:39):
the Nipsey Rest in Peace of Nipsey, the Nipsey and
Thug records. Nip Nip was working out of here. Playboy Cardi,
Cardi B did her whole album Invasion of Privacy a
lot in this building. It's been some legendary stuff in here.
I mean, you know, just the way that the way
the building is set up, like you know, people were
running to people in the in the in the um
in the an area and like you know, gonna gonna

(05:02):
with just being there chilling it before he was quote
unquote Ghanna um Bad and Bougie uh was made over there.
It's been a lot. It's been a lot through this,
but I mean Main Streets has become quite legendary, and
you know, in an Atlanta fixture, So I'm pretty proud
of it as you are yourself legendary. Thank you very much.
I appreciated. I want to take our time to give

(05:23):
you your flowers. Um, your name is DJ Drama Man,
Like that's a household name as a DJ in a
world where DJs tend to be local. Yeah, um, and
they could be popping locally. I don't want to make
it seem local, like local was a bad thing. But
when a DJ's recognized nationally, that's a and you globally. Um,

(05:44):
that's such a big deal. So I just want to
take our time to thank you. Flies. Are you ready
because we're gonna We're gonna know I'm here. I I
wanted you to bring it to that. You should have
told me. I would have brought it. Man, definitely would
have brought it. I got I just built this, like
you Standford case, glass case. I did. I drunk um.

(06:06):
The first time I drunk out of it was on tour.
When I first I first got it, I drunk. I
think I took a shot at Cosimigos. I was when
I was on the Whiz tour this summer, in front
of like the whole crowd, I drunk out of it.
And then like when we dropped Snowfall, uh Me and
Jeez were on Live and you know when we played
the song Grammy, I took a shot out of it

(06:26):
um on on live when I was in I was
in my uh my little trophy room, well before the Grammy.
I just want to take it back. I want to
go back to Philly. How was hip hop growing up
in hip hop at that time in Philly, you know,
before Atlanta, before college and all that. It was. It
was great. Ironically enough, I just ran in the Omar
Epps last week, and you know he's like one of

(06:47):
my biggest inspirations for being a DJ. Yeah, off the
movie Juice. You know I went to go see Juice
when I was in about to go to high school, uh,
the summer between eighth grade and ninth grade. And you know,
before I was big, before I became a DJ, I
was I was really in the skateboarding, but I was
I was trash and like in Philly at the time,

(07:08):
they used to there was like this this like um
this this this little scene of like black skateboarders that
used to kind of congregate downtown in the spot called
Love Park. Um. I'm not if you're familiar with Stevie Williams,
but you know he started d G k UM internationally known.
You know, I grew up. Me and Stevie came up
together and everything. So out of all the you know,

(07:30):
young black skateboarders, I was like the worst. So I
was trash, thankfully. So when I saw Juice, I was like, man,
you know that that's that might be something I want
to do, like, you know, as a hobby. So I
started DJ and I came up, um you know, like
in Philly. Um, I literally watched the Roots like kind

(07:50):
of that was my first example of like watching somebody
really get on and like make it in the music business.
Like I watched them go from like local talent to
getting their record deal to turning on Rap City on
two raps and seeing distortion the static video to you know,
going to their um album really or signing party where

(08:12):
you know they were on tour with the Fuji's and
opening up and you know, like, um, quest Love. I
used to run into him just like downtown playing video
games or Black Thought used to and Emily be Rust
and Beach used to like do freestyles for me on
my little mix tapes and everything. So um yeah, I
mean Philly had a nice little buzzing hip hop scene.
Another person that really put me on. Was this UM

(08:34):
female artist in Bahamadia who was actually like my next
door neighbor to where my dad lived in West Philly,
and she she was signed to Guru from Gang Star,
and you know, she kind of took me under her
wing early on and used to take me like to
New York and go to like, you know, a little
industry parties and everything. So I was before I came
to college. I was making a little local name for

(08:56):
myself and I was making like little local mixtapes Philly
and everything. Yeah, I got that name UM. I think
I was like fifteen sixteen. Where did it come from?
So I had these two friends I used to I
used to work for this organization that did UM like UM.
It was called Reconstruction, and it was like an outreach

(09:18):
program for UM not for young black men who were
coming out of prison and looking to you know, get
back uh into society and what have you. And so
I was doing like you know, kind of like internship
type work for for that organization. I had these two
homeboys that worked with me there, and one was named
Hakim and one was named Bakari. And Hakin was like

(09:40):
the biggest Tupac fan ever I just always remember that
he was super tuer. Bak Fan McCary was from Senegal,
So his name was Baccari Drama and he used to um.
He used to like sell like mixtapes and incense and like,
you know, dabble a little bit in DJ. And he
used to sell sell stuff on like Broad and Gerard
and Philly. So I came used to always call Bacari

(10:01):
DJ Drama because his last name was Drama. UM, and
I was like, damn, that sounds like that's a fire name.
And at the time I didn't really have a DJ name,
and Barry wasn't like real, he wasn't like taking his
DJ ship that serious. He was like the name I
asked him. I was like, yo, with what you're doing
with that? You're using it? He was like, no, you
can have it. So he gave me. He handed me

(10:23):
over the name DJ Drama. The name I want to
ask about. How you feel now you gotta grammy, how
do you like? Does that change? Come say hi kid?
Then come on, come on hi Gollo. Yeah, speaking of
Don Cannon. Uh you where y'all met? Right? We met you?

(10:43):
So I met kennon my sophomore year. Um. He was
you know this this tall lanky kid that just came on.
He did he played basketball in high school ever, and
play Cannon's gotta be six eight six nine. He's uh,
I think he's might never man. So Cannon used to

(11:11):
like kind of try to like befriend me on campus
and everything. And I had this other homeboy, Kyle, and
then went to high school together. So Kyle had kind
of put in my head that Cannon was a nut right,
like he was like he was like not no, just
like that's Philly slang, like he's a nutball. Like so
Cannon used to you know, you know, I had already

(11:33):
I had a little rep on campus already, like by
you know, after my freshman year, and me and me
and since used to do all the parties and everything together.
So finally, so finally, one day Cannon was like, Yo,
I want to give you my bat C D and um,
he gave me his bt c D and I went
home and that ship was fired. Like ship. He was
like baby premier. And the next day I was like, Yo,

(11:55):
this ship is hot, bro, and like we should be friends,
you know what I'm saying. So um, and then you know,
after that, we just you know, we were inseparable. I mean,
you know, it's literally been twenty well I want to
age myself too much, but you know, two decades plus
that you know, we've been We've been um friends and partners,
business partners and working together and everything. But yeah, we

(12:17):
literally met on CU campus. And I I don't think everybody
knew that you went to a Yeah, yeah, I went
to Clark, Atlanta. I mean that was what got me.
That's that's why I came to Atlanta. Like you know,
I came um to Atlanta to A ten Clark and
like the way when I was in Philly, I always
thought I was gonna wind up in New York, um,
you know, living in Brooklyn, like on the Brownstone, you know.

(12:37):
And but I came down to visit Atlanta a couple
of times with my pop, and I just loved the culture.
Like you know, anybody that comes down here you can
see like it's just a place of you know, as
we call it now, Wakonda. But you know, it was
just like you can you can feel the vibrant energy
of it was amazing in the nineties, like you know,
just young people of color everywhere into everything, and it

(13:02):
was it was the place to be, and I came
in like the right, I came into very Tail and
Freaknick and even like the first Freak Nick, so I
came in ninety six, and so they say that like
the last Freaknick was literally like ninety seven, and in
ninety seven for Freak Nick instaid of me, like, you know,
I've always been a hustler, So like I bought, I
bought a bunch of T shirts wholesale, and during Freaknick,

(13:24):
I was hustling T shirts. So everybody used to know
me as like hustle man beating back in the day.
Come on us, man. So you come to Atlanta already
established as DJ Drama. You're doing the mix tapes, and
we know that there's probably a lot of like Philly
sounds from New York sound, but I feel like the
South was still trying to figure out, like what is
our staples? Now? How did you find yourself in the

(13:44):
mix of Atlanta music? Because you know, Atlanta is a
we are a bubble, right absolutely, you know, we accept
what we want to accept, right, So I mean, thankfully
enough for me coming down here and becoming to school
because I was very very East Coast stubborn and a
lot of ways. Um I was. I had always been
a big outcast fan for sure, like even you know,

(14:06):
even before I got here. But you know, going to
school in the a u C. You have kids from everywhere,
like all over the country, and everybody wants to be pleased,
you know, especially in college parties like DC niggas wanting
here go go Florida want to hear base at the Tom.
West Coast niggas won da hear West Coach sh it.
You know, Texas want to hear they ship, like Louisiana

(14:27):
one to hear they ship like New York Try State.
Everybody wanted to hear their ship. So it trained me
how to be very well rounded as a DJ in
that sense. And then but I still was kind of
like you know, I was. I was still I still
had my backpacker roots too, So you know, there used
to be this thing called Lyricist Lounge, and like you know,

(14:48):
my my roommate at the Tom was was best friends
with Live Quality. So I came up like you know,
hanging out with Black Star when they would come to Atlanta.
So I was, you know, I was. I was kind
of like a renaissance man in a lot of ways.
So then when I started doing mix tapes, you know, um,
or when I when I got back into mix tapes
when I was in school. You know, I would set
up on campus and you know, literally sell my own

(15:11):
my own tapes and then turned into CD. So I
would have like East Coast tape, Reggae tape, and Neil
Soult tape. And then when I did I finally did
a South tape, like that ship just took off like
hot cakes. And you know, I remember like my first
South tape ever, the first song on there was like
Bling Blaine. So this had to be about ninety and
ninety nine, around the cash Money era run And when

(15:33):
I got to Atlanta, um, it was in the midst
of the Big Own dominance. So shout the Jelly Monte,
you know, like Big when it came to the mixed
mix tapes and mixed CDs, they ran the South and
they ran Atlanta like that was that was it, Like
Big was everywhere. They had their own stores, you know,

(15:55):
and you know that was literally like that that was
the sound of of the mixtape scene in Atlanta. So
just to fast forward a little bit, when I when
I started Gangster Girls, and like I remember people telling
me like, yo, if you do a South mixtape, like
you know, they don't want to hear people talk on there,

(16:17):
or they don't want to hear new music or no
freestyles or none of that ship like and because that
was they were kind of used to a certain sound
just based off what people were doing. And even at
the time, like um camping, then they didn't really have
like covers or you know, they would just like have
their CDs with the number, you know, whatever number CD
it was and what have you. And then I kind

(16:38):
of just went against the grain like of what people
were telling me, nigga's in the South want to hear
and I really like applied like up North formula to
Southern music. So I was you know at the time,
like having a host was was something that was popular
up north from the East Coast. So you know, I
got a little John the host. That's how the Gangster
Girl Drop was born. And then I started just like

(17:01):
kind of talking on tapes and I was like getting like,
you know, local artists. Local at the time, nigga's like
Tip and you know, David Banner and Killer Mike to
like do freestyles and stuff, and you know, and I
was putting a lot of effort into the covers and
things of that nature, and the ship just took off,
you know. And so basically like you know, me going

(17:23):
against the grain of what people told me, niggas wanted
to hear, and me, you know, trying something different. It
worked and at the time, nobody in Atlanta or in
the South were making tapes like what Gangster Whels was
and then ship took off. Okay, wait, so my big
dog Jessy was on Drink Champs earlier, um, and he

(17:44):
said you didn't want to do his mixtapes. You said
he wasn't hot enough. Now you are on the Baller
Show podcast. Do you have a rebuttal, sir? Or is
this accurate? And yeah, that's not that's not all the
way accurate. That's not all that's not what happened. Um.
So the part that's true was he definitely used to

(18:05):
make I used to make show CDs for him, and
I didn't make him charged in my hundred dollars d First, yeah,
hundred dollars was driving the land but it was nothing.
Then yeah, I was living in the full for it
in the duplex, which is still there. Did you make
him take it I didn't make him taking shoes. That
part of the story is true. I made him take

(18:28):
I made him taking shoes off to coming to my
my humble about four for and I would make I
would make a show c ds for him. And everything
about the part about me turning him down to do
a tape, that's that's not true. What really happened was
I was I was making gangster Grills and you know,
I was getting some buzz to it. And then I

(18:49):
had did a party Shout the Cloud nine and Batty
uh By we did a we did a gangster Grills
party in Buckhead at the time, and that was my
first gangster grills already. I had tip posting. I think
Um bone Crusher was there. I think Fab was Fab
was there? Um? Who else was that? Maybe maybe Scrappy? Yeah?

(19:10):
So and Jez was there in the cut. You know
he wasn't you know Jeez the superstar rapper yet so
coaching jeez Um told me they wanted to take me
to lunch and have a meeting. So we went to
harry AND's sons and we sat down and Jeez told me, like, yo,
I was at your party. I don't know if you know,

(19:31):
but the streets really funk with you, like and I
was like, oh, were like you know, and you know,
I was in the streets like doing mixtapes, but I
wasn't in the streets, so he was telling me the
streets funk with me. So um, he was like, look,
I got this idea, like, you know, I got this
vision to do this project. And that was Jez was
the first person to ever pay me to do a mix,
to do like a gangst grow so so they gave me.

(19:52):
They gave me a thousand dollars. That was the first
time I got paid to do it against growth and
you know, but I was like, he told me, said,
I got a vision. This is what my movement is.
And you know, originally the tape was called geez Up.
Before it was called Streets Is Watching, but Scrappy's crew
was called gee Up, so we wanted up changing the
name of it to the Streets Is Watching. But at

(20:14):
the time, you know, I was like, all right, whatever,
you know, he's trying to pay me for a mixtape.
I'm cool with it, you know. Um. And then I
went into the tape and then you know, my man
rolled up on me on the on Glenn Iris Glenn
Irish when I was on Glenn Irish after this Streets
Is Watching and he was like, Yo, that new the

(20:35):
Geez tape. That's the best gangster grills ever. And I
was like, what like the new nigga? You know, like
I just did like a t I tape And I'm like, huh,
And you were never paid for like t I tape. Now,
I never got paid for nothing before that. I was
just doing tapes like you know, I was, I was
selling them, but nobody ever paid me to do just

(20:55):
like their tape. And then, um, yeah, you know, next thing,
you know, fucking Streets Is Watching is the hottest thing
in the South East. You can't go nowhere without hearing
that music. And you had to hear me all over
it because that was the only place that existed was
on that you know, on that platform. So um so yeah.

(21:16):
The part about the part about me telling him now
you're not hot enough, he he fabricated that a little,
but I'd say seventy five. So I gotta I got
a question. So do you feel like DJ Kelly is
duck in the smoke? Um? Yeah, is he duck in

(21:37):
the smoke? I don't know. I mean because you've been
calling him out. I ain't been calling him out. I've
been calling anybody out, like I'm just not running, you know.
I guess I guess the difference in the interviews is
that in the interviews that I've done, you know, his
name comes up, So I guess the difference needs to

(21:57):
be you know, whenever he gets on a platform, you know,
someone specifically needs to bring my name up, you know
what I'm saying. So you know, I don't know, I
you know, I mean, I don't know if my name
came up and drink Champs, you know, when Nori did
the interview. I don't know. We have to ask Nori.
But you know, in the interviews that I've done, obviously

(22:21):
his name has came up, and I've said that I'm
with all the smoke, you know what I'm saying. So um, yeah,
I think that that I've already answered it, you know
what I mean. I think that's more of a question
for him. Someone needs to bring my name up, and
you know, and it's all love. I think at the
end of the day, like it would be great for
the culture, you know what I'm saying, to see DJ's

(22:42):
on our level, like you know, as we know, versus
to be a celebration, you know what I'm saying, Like
you know, and it's all you know, hip hop is
a very competitive sport. I don't I don't care where
it is. Like I'm I'm I'm coming a ball, you
know what I mean? Like you know, like I haven't
an extreme catalog, you know, um as does calid. You

(23:06):
know what I'm saying. So um I think it just
it would be a great time, you know what I mean.
So I'm with I'm with all, I'm with all the fun,
and I'm with all the smoke, so we can go
whatever way with it, you know what I mean. I'm
I'm ready to bless anybody else. There are so many
people that just don't understand why mixtapes were so big,

(23:26):
so important in two thous and for those of you
that don't know, you didn't really need clearance like you can.
It was like the wild West. Yeah it was. It
was a free for all and that's what mixtapes so
great because you did not have to go through the
regality or not. And it was great until the cop came.
It was crazy back then. Why were they on you

(23:48):
as hard as they were? Um? I mean, you know,
I was the top of the food chain, like you
know I was like when I was the mixtape king,
Like yeah, it was. You know I was when you
when you watch the footage and they came and confiscated
fifties six thousand CDs like you know, we were, we

(24:10):
was getting to it, you know what I'm saying. So, um,
I don't know why they want me so hard because
at the time, like I was, you know, I was
working directly with the artists, Like I wasn't a bootlegger,
you know what I'm saying. It wasn't like I was
stealing Nigga's music and putting it out or labels couldn't
control it. They couldn't exactly, and and the labels weren't

(24:32):
all the way into cahoots. So like the promotions department, um,
and you know the marketing department I was, you know,
they haraled to me, but you know, the legal department
or the other side probably didn't understand, like why are
we giving this guy this music or allowing our artists
to you know, use his platform and put these CDs

(24:53):
out that are not you know, sanctioned by us. You
know what I'm saying. So um, yeah, it was. I
think it was just at a time, um, in the
space where the music industry was going through a lot
of hits and you know they were watching like their
their bottom dollar kind of um, kind of not making sense,
and you know they came after me, you know what

(25:13):
I mean. And yeah, it was. It was a crazy time.
You know. Um it was the gay the day the
game change, you know, the mixtape game. And I was like,
you know, for me, like because growing up such a
fan of mix tapes and mixtape culture, like you know,
I felt a lot of guilt at first, like damn,
I can't watch this culture like die on my shoulders

(25:34):
that I you know that I that I grew up
loving so much. And then I become you know that
guy and then here they try to you know, destroy
it or take it down while while I'm in control.
So um, but yeah, I mean, you know, and it
was crazy. It's like if you watch the reports sty
you know, when they're going to news, the cops says, normally,
any situations we find guns and drugs. Um, this circumstance

(25:57):
we didn't like. Thankfully, they came on like a Monday morning,
like when we just got back from m oka weekend.
They didn't find one split, one handgun, no nothing, just
CD s, you know, so they tried to make it
out obviously you know the criminalization of hip hop and like,
you know, I don't know if they thought they was
gonna really like come us some big ass, you know,

(26:18):
crime organization, like because you know, they really hit me
with the rico, like you some real ship, you know
what I'm saying. And I was like, what making I'm
making mixtapes. Yeah, I'm a sucking DJ. Like what are
you talking about until monetize? I do have a question. Um,
we never really I don't know. I haven't seen anyone
to ask you this question. Affiliates, Okay, I always wanted

(26:42):
an affiliate change because I was I remember I was
around at the time, and I was like, damn, that
was actually one of the reasons why I wanted to.
I started doing mixtapes watching You have a Crew, and
I remember I was at compound. Um. I wasn't supposed
to be there. Um, I was old, had to be eighteen,

(27:02):
crazy um. And I saw all these affiliate change in
the building. Then I saw you walk past me. I
was like, whole ship, that's DJ drama and I've just
seen everybody needs affiliate change. Where did that name come from?
And like, I want to talk about that era because
that was a that was a nice little era in
the pocket you was in on that they were all

(27:23):
they were colorful and long. There was the Long Change.
Um yeah. So basically it was actually after the CU days.
We were out of school and at the time we
were part of uh crew called the super Friends. UM
where that was you know shout the DJ Mars, DJ Trauma, UM,

(27:47):
DJ Doc, uh Cowboy Rock Fahrenheit. Um. Yeah, it was
so and they were like older than us, so they
were like, you know, they were pretty much to go
to DJ's in Atlanta, you know, um um, and you
know Mars, Mars and Trauma were like kind of we

(28:09):
were me Cannon and sense kind of like looked up
to them in a lot of ways. You know, they
were like somewhat mentors in a sense and what have you.
And and we they made us part of the super Friends,
so we became like kind of the youngest members of
the super Friends, and we were you know, super friends
were on fire in Atlanta, like I guess from like

(28:32):
you know, good Oh one too. You know, those those
those years formidable years before the Affiliates came along, So
at the time we were having some differences with them,
and um, the main fallout. Um. Then my version of
the story, um was that basically Jacob York offered the

(28:54):
super Friends opportunity to do an album and he was
going to give them like fifty grand or something to
like do a super Friends album, and we were so
I remember we used to have meetings and everything. So
then when they when they came to the table, they
were like, all right, well, if we do an album,
we need to we should call it Gangster Grills because
that's like the hottest brand, you know. But they were

(29:17):
like really party like, like very focused on parties, and
we were trying we were focused on mixtapes, and you know,
at the time, they like kind of told us like yo,
like Jelly Monte oomed camp, like they got the mix
tape ship, like when it comes to like getting sponsorships
and everything, we need to use this money towards parties.
So we were kind of like, damn, we can't get
no money to sponsor our mix tapes because all the

(29:39):
money was going to the parties. So I didn't really
want to use Gangster Grills as the title for the
album because I was, you know, feeling somewhat indifferent at
the time, and um, they pretty much kicked me out.
They were like, well, we can't use Gangster Girls you
know for the title, like, you know, they removed they

(30:00):
don't come to the bowling party. The next we were
having we were having some with some I was having
some issues with them the management at the time of
you know, just just the management of of the super Friends,
Like I just was kind of, you know, we weren't
seeing eye to eye, and I just was like, yo,
you know, gangs Girls was my baby, Like I didn't

(30:20):
want the super Friends album to be the Gangster Girls album.
So yeah, so they pretty much like you know, kind
of kicked me out. And then you know, Sentin Cannon,
you know, those being my brothers, you know, they were like, yo,
if job goes, we go. So we left. We had
we had this other friend of ours that I've known
literally since like sixth grade. His name is Ace McLeod

(30:42):
E's from Philly two and he was pretty much like, man,
funk that ship. We don't need them, Like, let's do
our own ship, Like we could start our own group.
And he came up with the Affiliates, and the A
was for Atlanta and Affiliates spelled it, yeah for pH
I L L was that was tipped to debt. So
we started so because because we left the super Friends,

(31:04):
we started the Affiliates. And interestingly enough, there was this
little magazine that was coming to do a story on
us being super friends, and we told him like, yo,
we're not super friends no more. Like we started this
new group and they were like, all right, well cool,
we'll put you all in the covers the Affiliates. So
you know, like next thing, you know, it was like, um,

(31:26):
the Affiliates were like you know, the new kids on
the block, you know, and Gangster Girls was was heating up,
and you know what I'm saying, and you know, super
Friends and Affiliates we went. You know, we had little
competitive back and forths and all types of you know,
little things here and there, which again this is twenty
years ago, so we're all homies now to this day.
Like but but yeah, but I mean, yeah, that was

(31:48):
literally how we came up with the Affiliates because we
wound up leaving the super Friends and starting our own ship.
And then you know, around that time and it was.
It was tough. I just sit on um when I
when I sat on Seti's tape, like yo. It was
literally around that time, I was like going broke and
almost moved back to Philly because I was like, you know,
Gangster Grills is lit. Gangster Grills was just getting lit.

(32:12):
But I wasn't seeing no real money like I was.
You know, like the bootleggers was making way more money
off gangs girls than I was. I was just just
breaking even type ship, you know, just making them. But
the Gangs girls was was still a thing. But I
was like, yo' I'm not you know, yeah, I couldn't.
It wasn't enough to really cover the bills. And almost,

(32:34):
you know, I almost went home and then and then
you know, one thing led to another that affiliates started,
and then Gangster Grills just like took off. I feel
like with you DJ since don Kan, I think what
you guys were able to accomplish is so amazing. It
kind of reminds me of like Ja Big and Bigs
and Dame Um how they stuck together and got their

(32:55):
stuff together. And I just think that it's just amazing.
I think your story is amazing and you have like
a documentary later on or anything. I'm working on it. Um.
I've had numerous production companies and numerous people come to
me about telling my story and the documentary. So, um,
I'm actually in the process of doing it now, just

(33:15):
trying to do it accurately, um and tell the right story.
And there's a couple of different stories to be told,
but I'm definitely working on it. But there's like, so
there's an NPR, there's a Tiny Desk podcast that kind
of tells somewhat in my story, but a lot of
the focus is about the raid. And then like you know,

(33:36):
like Hip Hop Evolutions did an episode on this on Netflix. Um,
so there's different pieces here and there, but like at
some point I'm definitely gonna tell like the DJ drama
against the Girls story for sure. And then you know,
like you said, like you know, just myself and Cannon
and Sense and even Lake show, like you know, we
we we all know each other since college, you know

(33:58):
what I mean, And like we say, we're a prime
example that friends and business can mix, you know what
I mean, Like we've literally been friends for twenty plus
years and been in business for you know, just that
amount of time in so many ways, and like we
know each other's strengths, we know each other's weaknesses. We
crack jokes about each other all day, Like you know,

(34:19):
we have internal arguments and you know, don't always see
eye to eye at something. You know, it was a
time and space for me and Canada had fell out
and then you know we came back together. But um,
but yeah, I mean, you know, similar to you know,
the the origins of of Rockefeller, Like you know, us
coming up together like that definitely is a is a

(34:39):
dope story that I think needs to be told. Sure,
do you feel like a new sense of energy around
your career legacy? Because I don't know if it's just me,
but noticing like Usher and like all these people that um,
you know have had amazing careers are like really getting
their flowers. Us it's on a whole run, making a
whole new bag old. So right, what do you think

(35:01):
this is? Do you think the hip hop community is
just little better about giving flowers? Are we just paying
more attention to our leaders? What do you think this
new energy is? Um? You know, I think everything just
comes full circle or it has his moment of nostalgia,
you know, So I think that you know, I'm in
a space of you know, after there's a there's an

(35:23):
error of that like literally grew up on me. You
know what I'm saying that there's a there's an error
that came up with me, and there's an arraa that
grew up on me, like one of those being Tyler
for an example. You know. So for him, it was
always a dream of him, dream of his to have
a Gangster Girls or you know how influential Gangster Grills
was to him, like the Farrell tape or you know

(35:44):
the Wayane tapes and everything. So for him to make
his album into Against Girls album and then for us
to you know, go ahead and it you know, be
this amazing body of work. Um, and then you know
the space that I'm in right now, Like I know,
I feel in uh an energy, you know, just myself,

(36:05):
you know, with what I've what I've done and accomplished.
And you know, for me, it was like even when
I first got on, like you know, I was like
all right, like you know, and it I felt like
it took me like a good Like I started DJ
at ninety two. I feel like I got on maybe
like oh four oh five, like so that was like
twelve years of like grinding it out, you know what
I'm saying, And it was like, all right, now that

(36:26):
I got here, like how do you stay here? Like,
you know, how do you stay relevant? You know what
I'm saying. So to be in two after you know,
thirty years of DJ and or after like you know,
after really making a name for myself at oh five,
and to be like probably like you know, we talked
about this last week, like having one of the hottest

(36:47):
moments in my career. Like he's a real testament, you
know what I'm saying. So you know, it's like it's
it's like on top of all the legacy of what
I've already accomplished, and then too then go after after
the Affiliates and Gangster Grills and then start generation now
and then you know, to be part of the success
of Oozy's career and and and Jack Harlow and you know,

(37:10):
and now just for Surgeon a gangster Grills just like
it's a whole new life. I mean, it's give your
way to a lifetime achievement war you know, one day
and then then I still got a lot to accomplish,
you know what I mean. So I'm you know, I'm
loving it. You know what I mean, I'm I'm I'm
forty four years old, and even just being on it,
like I said, like I went on tour Whids and
Logic this summer and I was walking. When I walk

(37:31):
out and do my first set, these kids are literally
like chanting my name and like he's like eighteen, nineteen
twenty year old kids, and you know, and then my
first set, I'm playing Tyler and I'm playing I'm playing
stick off the dreamvill tape and everything, and you know,
or my daughter, my sixteen year old daughter showing me
text messages of her friends like hype off the NBA,

(37:52):
young Boy, Gangster Grills, you know what I mean. So um,
it's it's it's a great space to be in, you know.
And it's just again it's a it's a testament of
how much like I love the music, I love the
culture like I love what I do, you know what
I mean, Like, it doesn't matter if I was making
no money or you know, eight figures, nine figures, like

(38:15):
I love hip hop like to its very core and
its essence. And it was always a point for me
to show how invested into the culture I am and
have been my whole life. It's a legendary DJ drama
on the Boiler Show. Um, I got a question, so
after I just wanna go back to Jeezy real quick.
After he paid you for that, did you get paid

(38:36):
for the Wane tape next? Or were they paying you afterwards?
So I didn't I didn't pay for Wane tape? So Wayne,
after I did the G I did Jeez Streets is
Watching and then that popped, and then I did we
did Trapper Die, and then I didn't get I didn't
get paid for Trapper Die. I don't think I gotta
pay for TRAFFI paid from Trapper Do Why I made

(38:57):
money off of trapper Dot? Oh god. So by that
point we had already like made it. You know, trap
was crazy? Yeah, we was. We was no, no, no no.
When the dedication comes, So basically after I did Trapper Die,
I was like, damn, what the funk I'm gonna do next? Like,
how am I going to top this dedication and the
dedication to how many years? Now there's seven dedications because

(39:20):
there's six and there's a six point five? So is
my favorite? Yeah? She is my favorite? To two is
two is incredible? Um, so yeah, so I was you know,
the dedication series came. The first dedication came right after
Trapper Die, like literally dropped within months of each other.
But so I didn't I didn't get like I didn't
charge Wayne for a tape. But then they were already like, yo,

(39:43):
Gotti paid me for a tape. Um, so you're charging
at this particular moment. So I started charging, like people
started paying me for gangster girls after after that, probably
a lot. Alright, So I mean legally, can you say, like,
what's the number? He was about to say, you're about
go ahead? I can. Yeah, I think God mean God's
first tape. I think God he gave me like sism.

(40:05):
So that was early on, and then like the numbers
went to like tens, they went to tens, they went
to fifteen, they went to twenties. Just cover to here
talking some with the number now crazy all right, so
what about snowfalls? How much? This is? What's the number now? Sir?

(40:29):
What's that? The numbers now? Yesterday price? It's not two
days rice snowfall? How did that have because you know
that's my guy, you're my guy. How did this conversation happen?
So can it happen without me, and I'm I'm perplexed.
Plex God, I'm perplexed. I I'm over here, like wait,
it's been in discussions for like over a year now

(40:51):
that we've been planning this. Um. It really started between
Cannon and Jeez. They had gotten back in, you know,
can came up with the title UM and you know
they were you know, working on working on the music
together and everything. They brought me in about a year
ago and it's just like, Yo, you know, I think
it's time, like you know, let's let's make it a

(41:13):
Gangster girls. And I was like it's been time. Um.
So yeah. So then you know, we went through a
little tweaked hearing are over the last maybe six seven months,
and then we got back in a couple of months
ago and just really like buckled down and got on
the project and like you know, it's like ship feels

(41:34):
like oh five oh six again, And it was just
it's just amazing, Timmy, you know what I'm saying. Um
that you know, it came out just you know when
it came out, and it's fire and it's crazy. How
do you how did you link over NB A young
boy that nigga just but young Boy, don't funk with nobody,

(41:55):
man with nobody. My nigga shout the fee um on
fee forever, you know from from Young Money days, and
if he just randomly hit me and was like, um yo,
young boy, w why do you want to haul at you?
That's crazy? So we got we got on the phone
and he was just like you know, he you know,

(42:17):
he talks in a very like um um way and everything,
and he's just like, Yo, I got this new tape.
I want you to do it. And I bet he
was like, damn, I got like two other tapes coming out.
You did Want with Snoop, I Did Want with Snoop
and I did Jeezy. And then I literally got the
call like the week of fuck it about it. It's

(42:40):
about to be Gangster Grill season. So people knew that
the the Jeezy and the and the Snoop tape were dropping.
Nobody knew about the Young Boy, and I was like, yeah,
I was. I was the shock when that came out,
Like fun, these niggas up, like Nigga's gonna be like
hold on wait, Trum just want to grammy Trum just
got these Yeah the year and this thing is dropping

(43:02):
three gangster girl. No, this is not fair like this
is this is this is getting unfair. That is not fair, sir.
We have a game. We have a game, a game
called Baller Bliss Handler to you, oh ct are you ready?
We got the legendary DJ drama. We're gonna dig into
crates a little bit. I'm gonna do five songs. You're
gonna let me know what sample uh is sampled out

(43:25):
of the song. So alright, first up, Beyonce, break my soul?
What is the sample? Um, isn't it Robin s is?
Robin s Um? I forget the name Robin is? Alright? Cool,
al alright? Second, we got Burner Boy. Last last, that's

(43:49):
a sample he gave he gave I didn't know that. Yeah,
he gave her, He gave her the he gave her
the publishing I believe too. Right, here's a clue. That's
rhymes Relaxton. Oh oh Tony Braxton. Yeah, okay, man enough
for me? Oh it's man oh man enough for me?
Oh yeah, you're right? That is that? All right? It's

(44:10):
sound good. Here you go, Here you go for the
third one. Jack Harlow first class, Um, I wonder what
that is? Furgo this ship shot, the shot the furging
on that one. Yeah. I tried to pull all the
dog on that one and shout to what I am on.
I thought that was glamorous life. It was glamorous. Like
I'm just saying, okay, it's glam it's glamorous life. Yeah,

(44:32):
saying her name. All right. Fourth, we got MEGANA Stallion
playing b um um. Oh that's freaking you Joe to
see right? Yeah all right. Last one maybe a tough one,
Drake Jimmy Cooks. Damn, I don't know that yet. I
don't know that one either. I don't know that one.

(44:55):
That is you were gone by Brook Benton six that
was digging into crate with the legendary DJ. Yeah. Yeah,
you gave me the toy. Yeah yeah. We'll be right

(45:15):
back with more of the Baller Alert Show message. It
is time for Baller Male Deir Baler Show. I've been
married for twelve years. Beautiful kids, beautiful wife. I absolutely
love her and adore her, but I believe she's cheating

(45:38):
on me. She texts me by accident last weekend and
said that was the greatest sex ever, and her and
I haven't had sex and over two weeks I applied
to that text, and she wrote that she was talking
about a sex scene on p Valley in her female
group chat. She refused to send the screenshot to the
conversation threat. What do you guys stay? Twelve years? Twelve

(46:04):
years kids, beautiful wife. I adore her and I love her.
I mean that's not bad though, two weeks, like for
married couples after twelve years, Like I thought you was
gonna say, like a year or like six months. I
know people that's married that don't have a lot of sex.
So well, have you ever been married? Yeah, I mean

(46:29):
you know, married, but not that long. How often do
you have sex if you don't mind sex? About twice
a week? Okay, how long you've been married? Yeah, I mean,
you know they say as the time, you know, everybody's different,
but as the time goes, like you know, when you
get married, it's a lot of other things. You gotta

(46:50):
have kids, like you know, the kids are there, Like
you know, sex is not always at the forefront. I
mean it's it's a very important thing. And we're to
looking at like man that like you are you saying
that she'mating him? No? No, no, no no, I'm not saying
she's not cheating on him. What I'm saying is the
fact that it's only been two weeks, like you know,

(47:13):
I mean, first she should address her you know, and
you know, now if she if she continues to lie
on it, it might be time to hanging up. But
you know, if she admits to it, you know, things
happen in relationships. Maybe they should go to counseling and
you know, see if they can work through it. M Now,

(47:34):
if she's a habitual cheater, then it's like, oh, yeah,
you gotta chunk up the duce because you only get
one life. Only get one life, so nobody wants to
be unhappy. Your wife needs sex. Your wife wants sex,
and if you're not giving it to her. But where
you're saying, but two weeks is like, that's not that long.
Clearly she needs sex, clearly, Like if she couldn't wait

(47:56):
for her husband, then clearly I'm not. First of all,
she should. Yeah, she that came doing first and like
y'all like, And she may have and he may have
ignored it because he said, what you said, we got kids,
we got jobs. Honestly, she may have said it and
he may have ignored her needs. Takes a lot for
a woman to cheat. It takes a lot, so you

(48:16):
may not have been listening to her. Sir. Again, cheating
is not right. If you get to some point that
you feel like you gotta cheat, pull your partner to
the side of that baby, I need to stick, Like,
what's the problem. I need some passion, I need some love.
Where twelve years? Should they hang it up if she
if he finds out she is cheating? No, I think
they should work on I think that they should have
a real conversation. What are her needs? What are his needs?

(48:38):
How do as your wife? How can I make you
more comfortable to want to be intimate with me? And
vice versa. It's gotta be something. You say, He hasn't
ejaculated at all in two weeks, like you don't think
that he may be pleasured himself. A man can go
two weeks, two weeks. Mom, to you, what are your thoughts?

(49:02):
Please speak it to the micro sir, one of two
weeks for you? Two weeks, I can't go along, I
can't go I can go two weeks, two weeks. I
think women, y'all really just does is she cheating on him? Yes?
Or no? You said, what is she cheating on him.
She's definitely cheating on him. Somebody definitely pushed push that
box back. That's all I'm gonna say. If I was

(49:25):
him and I get a text, man, she said, that's
the best sex ever. Whatever guns is in the house,
you might not want to come back because I'm about
to be standing outside like what he had. Bring up
to the house. You ain't gotta hide that baby, put
the kids sleep, You tell your little friend to come
home and tires up too. I'm gonna be on that

(49:49):
bring your friend. Oh, you ain't gotta hide that baby.
Doubt I doubt it was. I doubt it was a
woman that. I doubt it was a woman too. And
she had the best sex ever with so. But so
basically the question he's asking is, Yeah, he's just asking
if she not asking us, if he needs to leave
her or none of that. Yeah, she his his insecurities

(50:12):
has spiked. Man, Listen, women do First of all, women
don't make mistakes. Don't make mistakes like they're sending the
wrong text message. That's what dudes. We do something like that,
that's careless like that, or she might have wanted him
to She might have wanted him to investigate, dagn to
it and then have toxic sex. They got a TV

(50:35):
show about that too on Netflix. Could be toxic. What's
it called sex life? For us to get up out
of here, to be toxic. Women like that toxic she
holds be toxic. That's why people like brad Fire asks
lit because the whole want to hear that toxic ship.
They like starting fight. So you're getting mad at him

(50:56):
and choke him out, and you choking him and so
come on, you know, like, don't act like you ain't never.
Don't act like you ain't ever try to make a
nigga math so you grip you to funk up sounding
you know you like that ship. I don't know you
have to take a math for that. I thought you
could just ask for it. Okay, to get up out

(51:17):
of here. We'll be right back with more of the
baller Alert Show. Thank you DJ Drama for coming. It's
a pleasure. Give us some shout out, sir. I'm man.

(51:40):
Shout to y'all. Man shout to y'all for you know, uh,
holding the ball Alert podcast down, for doing your things
as a unit and individually. You know, I know all
of you are very well and you know you're all
doing your think uh in your respective careers, and I'm
very proud of y'all. Uh. You know, skies not the limit,
skies what you just stand on, the reason to be
on and you know this is our first time really

(52:01):
interacting but the same as well. And you know, I
just uh, I salute to you all man, thanks for
having me appreciate that. It's it's definitely a tough week,
a tough day for hip hop. We have lost yet
another young man had not even seen the age of thirty.
I don't want to get a baby. Um. Definitely been
praying for the Megos and their families all day. Um,

(52:26):
this is tough, praying for de Vito who lost his
three year old child. Just celebrated the third birthday. So
it's an honor to have DJ Drama here and give
you your flowers and the flesh. Thank you for doing
what you do and for sumporting us. And please go vote,
go vote, go vote, go vote, and tune into the
Bothers Our Show podcast available wherever you get your podcast.

(52:48):
I do want to say, you know Resci pieces take
off for sure, um, um if anything, dedicate this to him. UM. Yeah,
it's definitely a tough day, you know, another cloud over
the city. You know what I'm saying, Um, take was
you know I've known him, I know him for since

(53:09):
he was eighteen nineteen. Great kid, you know. Um. So
he will be missed and you know we definitely will
keep his legacy alive. Yeah. Man, I just want to
shout out you Drama for coming through. We know you
extremely busy and you know we appreciate you coming in
rocking with us. Uh yeah, And I'm just shout out
to you Drama, so again. Um. I I don't want

(53:32):
to have taylored my entire how you articulate yourself, how
you carry yourself. But I look to you as a
motivational purpose because very very seldom like because my parents
didn't understand what I was trying to do. So I
was like, I want to be a DJ, I want
to be on the radio. They didn't understand it, and
I didn't really have anybody to look for look towards

(53:53):
to kind of say that's who I want to be
like that in my case, that was you, you d
holiday um screen Um, and I saw your guys as template.
You guys kind of had a template, even Cannon and
so I just appreciate our friendship. We'll talk to you often,
play pool, we need play I phone pool ant, but
I think I was busting your ass like too much. Yeah,

(54:16):
because I went on a run. Remember that run right, Yeah,
we're running back the hell of a run on them.
But I appreciate it. It's so funny because people don't
don't think that we talk as often we do, but
we actually talk pretty often often. And I appreciate you
just for your friendship because you have no idea how
much that motivates me. Just a normal conversation and you

(54:38):
know that means a lot to me. Bro. You know,
just just to hear stories like that. You know, I
know me coming up and I tell you all my
accomplishments when I get them every time I do something big,
and I love to hear and so and it's like,
you know, for for me to to be inspiration to
someone you know, and I'm someone that loves to give
flowers and to you know, to pay homage to people.

(54:59):
So you know, for you to to to look at
me for that like that, that that's part of the
greatest gift of what I do. To think that Dan
somebody like I wanted to become a DJ because of
what I was doing. You know what I'm saying. So
you know, so to you, yes, I would definitely say
your story is legendary, like just researching it. I'm just

(55:19):
like I'm a student of the game. So I just
love to I love documentaries and I can't wait when
yours come out because I want to know about the
drama Philly. I want to know about the hip hop
back then all the way up into now. It's just
amazing and I just want to say we appreciate you.
And um lastly, we have work a word from our
ballers today. You are our baller and it's just an inspiration,

(55:41):
uh speak to anybody coming up, just like a Ferrari
said in your Footsteps or anything like that you can give.
You know, I always I tell people this all the time,
Like you know, for anybody that's coming in the game
and wanting to be in the game. You know a
lot of times, uh we aspire to like you know,
to reach the top or you know, the highest of

(56:05):
the high where people have to realize, like hip hop
is is built out of like you know, movements, like
like organic movements, you know what I mean, And like
you know now in today's world, it's very easy for
someone to try to like d M, d J Drama
or d M Young Jeez and say, yo, I wanna

(56:25):
do this with you or do that with you. But
it's like, you know, look to your left, look to
your right. You know, if it wasn't for people like
Tip and Geez who were you know, coach ca Lib
around the corner from me, like um, Jason Jeter who
was tas manager, got my my number off the back
of a c D you know, a mixtape in the
barbershop and brought this young kid through. Like it's about

(56:48):
creating movements. So before you try to, you know, go
and d M your favorite artist, who's you know already
a list or like the people around you are the
ones for you to come up with and to to
make those movements with movements with And I tell people
that all the time, Like that's that's out of anything

(57:09):
what people respect about our culture and about hip hop
more than anything. Prime example, the meks you know, who
would have who would have known if or if they
would have known that you know, you know um uh
three family members you know would create this this sound
and this style that all of hip hop would go
on to mimic and try to do you know some

(57:32):
neig is from North side of Atlanta. You know what
I'm saying that change the world, you know, change culture.
So you know, yeah, that would be my my ball,
my ball advice. All right, did you drama the ball Alert,
show the shape. I can't get enough of baller Alert.
Follow us on all social media platforms at baller alert,
going to baller alert dot com.