WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: DJ Drama Part 1 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.960 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:15.920 Primo Subprimo, Roll Call, Suprema, Son Supremo, Role Called Suprima, 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:23.360 Son Sun Supremo, Role Suprema Sumo. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.120 Warm Up my Panini, Yeah, my forming Grilly warm her 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:27.840 for Nanni. 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:37.880 Yeah, Supremo Ro Suprimo, Supremo Ro. 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:43.160 My name is Fante, DJ dramas, my peoples, the best gangs, 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.080 the grills, separate but equal. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:53.600 Man Supremo Ro Supremo, Son Supremo. 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:55.560 My name is Sugar. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:56.240 Yeah. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.120 I don't need no drama. Yeah, but I do need 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.560 a DJ. Yeah, fucking you're hired. 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:09.920 Hey, I'm a phendic Supremo, Roll Suprema Son Supremo Roll. 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.480 It's lay Yeah, and it's a must. 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:14.160 Yeah. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:15.639 You know that DJ drama. 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:17.639 Yeah, it was my college crush. 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:27.000 Supremo Supremo, Roll Call Supremo Sobremo. 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.440 Roll DJ drama. 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:28.080 Yeah. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.960 You know my mama, she's a white lady. She didn't 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:33.959 go to Grady. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:44.039 Supremo, Roll Supremo, Son Son Supremo, Roll Call Supremo Son 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:48.320 so Supremo, Roll Call Suprema Some. 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:50.240 Supremo roll call. 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:59.680 Oh boy, Hi, that was fun. Yeah, So that's the episode. Yeah, 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.080 see your next go round. All right, Look I will 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.680 shut up man, all right, So I will say this much. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.040 Back when my band started to tour in nineteen ninety four, 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:16.080 I kept receipts of which DJ's were open to us 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:18.480 and feeling and supporting us. And of course, you know 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.079 some cats up in New York, Tony Toka, you know, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.280 Tony Touch showed us love. His cat named Blu, the 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.720 barber who used to do these blends, showed his love. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.440 Of course, Philly's own Cosmic keV DJ cash Money. But 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:35.079 there was one mixtape in particular that always got run 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:39.600 on our tour bus and it just said ildelf on it. 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:42.079 You know, it meant something to me because this is 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.840 the first time that I'm hearing Malik B and Tariq 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.919 and Dice for All actually on a mixtape. And we 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.679 just ran that tape over and over like that was 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.440 damn near the soundtrack in nineteen ninety four and ninety 0:02:55.520 --> 0:03:02.119 five on our tour bus. So cut two seven years later, 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.440 you know, once the route sort of evolve and whatnot, 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.080 and now we have two tour buses. As I've joked 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.639 before that there was this Slytherin tour bus in the 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.000 Gryffin tour bus. So I'd be on Slytherin, which was 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.919 Tuik's bus, and you know which was it was always 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.000 popping on his bus. We were the nerd bus, but 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:25.280 you know, his dam was always popping. And it wasn't 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.560 until like the end of maybe the Phrenology tour, where 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.679 Tarik's trying to explain to me that every time I 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:40.000 hear this little he's trying to explain to me that 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.680 that's read from Backavilly. It's dramatic, and I'm like, wait, 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.360 it doesn't make sense. Though it doesn't only because the 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:52.520 thing was is that that mixtape of ninety four. I've 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.360 never heard someone just devote an entire mixtape to what 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.720 we called underground or backpack rap or whatever, you know 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:00.880 what I mean, which is why the roots couldn't find 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:06.200 a real estate on your sens or your not Tony touch, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.400 like you know, like yeah, all those like we barely 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:10.320 got on them Joins. 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.000 I was like, wait a minute, what they're like, yeah, man, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.960 he moved to Atlanta and now he's you. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:22.000 Know, I've always wanted to have this conversation with if 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.240 you know, it's like we never chopped it up for real. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.120 I knew one of these days we were going to 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.600 have a conversation, so I wanted to save it for here. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:30.360 I'm glad. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.680 I know We've had a couple of interactions on I 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.880 g about it, but never like in depth. 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:35.520 This is going. 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.919 Yes, this is our first in depth conversation. So ladies 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:44.440 and gentlemen, please welcome to Quest Love Supreme. The Master 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:54.240 got himself mister thanksgiving. Yes, DJ Drama, thank you, thank you, 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.920 thank you for having me. Do you those people like 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.799 always pointing out the Mason Dixon line of year before 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:02.560 and afterlife. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.480 No, I don't get tired of nothing because they couldn't 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.160 never care. So yeah, nothing, nothing tires me when it 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.040 comes to that. Okay, It's a very important part of 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.880 the story for myself and for hip hop and for 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.120 Southern culture. Like in a lot of ways, you know, 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.560 like what if I would have went to Temple or 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.440 what if I would have went to NYU, you know 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:23.920 what I'm saying. 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.960 So the fact that this kid from Philly who literally 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:28.600 grew up. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.440 Watching The Roots as his inspiration of wow, you can 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.040 really do this and DJing for Bahamadiya and you know, 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.440 my roommate when I got to college was Rubiks whose 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:44.200 best friend was taib Kwali and I'm DJing lyricist lounges. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.640 And then that kid goes on to be a part 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.599 of and transform like trap music and movement. Gangster Girls 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.360 becomes like the most important mixtape series literally of all time, 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.920 but also how important it was to Southern hip hop culture. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:00.360 So yeah, it's one of those. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.600 It's one of those like destiny stories to me when 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.240 you know and when it's told, and like, I've literally 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.920 been in Atlanta longer than I was in Philly, but 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.960 those eighteen years of born and raised in Philly. Once 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:14.920 from Philly, always from Philly. You know what I'm saying. 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:16.880 So you know, right, when is the last time you 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:18.800 said John? I say John all the time. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.640 Here you go, all right the second even even in 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.160 mean streets, like you know, some of my employees who 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.560 started interns, like we have signs up like do not 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.359 come in this John like or in our new building 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.440 generation now, like there's a big sign of Kobe, or 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.400 we have like a Philly map on the side, so 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:37.200 we still wrap it up. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.000 That's what's up. Of course, like you mentioned on your 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.280 roll call that YouTube went to clerk. So now from Atlanta. 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:45.560 I remember the day. 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:49.240 No, don't don't, I didn't lie. 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:50.920 Me and Nadine used to fight over you all the time, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:51.159 and you. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.080 Know that, let's not do that. Yeah, I thought it 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:53.880 was the other way around. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.480 I used to have the I used to still wear 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.560 the green fatigues from I Goldberg, like when I got discussed, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:00.880 I still had them. 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.279 And the locks definitely had the long locks. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:07.960 So that's why this is the whole interesting thing. And 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.440 it's funny because the mere he said he would do, 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.480 he said it was in demand. He would do an 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.920 Automatic Relaxation mixtape. Again, I just want to say that 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:16.960 to everybody who's listening. 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:17.400 Did you hear this? 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.640 Contact year older? 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.679 That's covered interestingly enough, just even during my most recent 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.840 tour that I went on, I actually physically got my 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:32.320 hands on one the first Automatic Relaxation, which was the 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.600 first CD which happened to be called it was hip 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.240 hop lovables like people don't realize, like when I first 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:41.520 made Automatic Relaxation, like it was before neo soul was 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.160 a thing, or like hip hop love songs were like 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.840 you know, before everybody was like singing, or it was 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.520 so much melody, so like, you know it was a 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.160 hip hop lovables like I named it that because it 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.640 didn't really exist at the time. And then I just 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.760 recently got my hands on my actual ill adelph tape. 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.440 You know, I do, I do. I should have brought it. Damn, 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:05.600 I definitely should have brought it. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.040 I got the Green Cup my home boy from from Philly, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:10.880 Liza across street from my mom D shot to d 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:13.880 He found it in his crib and I was like, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.600 if you go on my Instagram, I actually show it 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:18.920 the tape and then I go and I go and 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.160 then show my Grammy, like to see where I came 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:22.720 from and where I'm at now, how. 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.320 It started, how it was going, yeah, how it was going. Yeah. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.600 So for you, what was your first musical memory. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.000 My first musical memory for me is being in Germantown 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.280 when my dad lived on Ruby Camp Street and the 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.640 older kids having the younger kids say the. 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.560 Roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.079 We don't need no water, Let it burn, let it 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.319 burn it, and they left out motherfucker. Like I vivially 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.160 remember years later being like, damn, I didn't know they 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.360 said let the motherfucker burn because they used to say 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.679 let it burn, Let it Burn. And then I mean, 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.920 my dad was a big duop guy, so I definitely 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.040 grew up around like him, playing a lot of the 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:09.199 Commodores and the Temptations, and obviously Thriller. Thriller came out 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.480 eighty three, you know, so I was probably like I was. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:13.400 I was five when Thriller came out, So that was 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.920 a big moment. And then another one for me was 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:21.680 definitely wanting Adidas because of my Adidas, like I didn't 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.040 get my parents bought me the wrong ones. They bought 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.000 me like they didn't buy me stripe. Yeah, I didn't 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.079 get the three stripes, so they were still a didas 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.200 though they were Adidas. They were Dias, but they weren't 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.360 the street three striped ones. There there was like in 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:39.280 Ecker's Drugs, my parents were doing like a they were 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.120 doing My parents were doing a they were doing a 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.240 residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.120 Anybody from Puerto Rico that remembers, uh. 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.440 I think back in eighty six or eighty seven when 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.760 the DuPont Plaza there was like a battle between the 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.560 union staff, which I don't know if they were mom 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:58.319 connected or whatever. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:09:59.439 In the hotel management. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.120 They threatened like, if you don't renegotiate our contract, we're 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.360 gonna blow this hotel up because we checked out. We 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.000 had a New Year's gig in Lancaster, PA that night, 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.120 so we checked out at you know, twelve pm on 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.920 December thirtieth, flew back to the States and came back 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:17.840 home with all these messages like are you guys alive? 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:18.079 For you? 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.680 And then we found out that there was an explosion 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.040 in the DuPont Plaza. I think like eighteen people died 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.320 or whatever. But the whole point was there was an 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:29.199 eckerage drugs across the street. And you know, this is 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.920 when Adidas made Top ten Adidas the red, blue and 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.360 green like high top thing, and so they were like 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.920 we got to top ten a datas but it had 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:39.600 four stripes. 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.440 There was like the twelve ninety and not case with either. 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.920 Yeah, and that's it and that's where right, and that's 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.720 when like you had to run your shoes down before 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:53.880 you got another pair of shoes. 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:56.560 So yeah, just all in seventh grade, I. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.120 Just got laughed at because you know, I got a 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.319 pleather thriller suit and I got four stripes in my Adidas. 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.640 Well, similar, Yeah, I got the wrong I felt like 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.280 I didn't get the right add this. I'll never forget that, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:12.640 I see, I see. 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.280 But for you, when did. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.920 At least turntablism, Like when did that attract you? So 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:23.760 for me, I grew when I grew up, you know. 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.000 I mean, the first like piece of vinyl that I 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.599 got was this actual, this compilation vinyl was it was 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.320 called like street Rap and. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.520 Like KTL Records joined or something. It had to be 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:35.160 something like that. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.800 I don't remember where where I got it, but and 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.040 it had like rock box on it and had Roxanne 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.640 Roxanne utfo K and I remember, like, you know, literally 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.599 like memorizing Roxanne Roxanne by Utfo and it had a 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.599 couple of other songs on there. So that was my 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.120 first actual physical like piece of hip hop vinyl. But 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:02.320 around like maybe like ten eleven, I got really into skateboarding, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.920 you know, and I was super into skateboarding, and it 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:06.360 was all about Thrasher magazine. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:07.920 It was all about going down to Love Park. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.880 So this is like in middle school for me, And 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.440 you know, I came up at a time when down 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.120 in Love Park there started to be this this movement 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.480 or this group of black skateboarders. So it was it 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.320 was maybe like seven to eight of us at the time, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.480 and you know, shout to my brother Stevie Williams. He 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.679 was like the youngest of all of us, and he 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.400 was also the best. Fortunately I was the worst. So 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.200 what about Chuck Trees was here around back then, I think, so. 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.040 He's older though, yeah, he was older and he's still 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:43.400 skateboarding and he's still Yeah, we're a little younger, but 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.520 you know, they used to basically like make fun of 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.839 me because I could barely land a kickflip and like 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.120 or even like when we used to like go to 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.240 Wah Wah and like steal the fucking the jugs of 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:56.680 iced teas and everything, and then. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.559 Like when we were skate off, I would always be 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.640 like behind the cart, never got caught, but I was 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.040 I was like I was like last when we would 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:05.440 try to skate back to love. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.040 So, yeah, I was super into skateboarding. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.960 I think Nickelodeon had like skate TV out or something 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.360 around the time. And then between eighth grade and ninth grade, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.079 I went to the movies to go see Juice and 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:19.360 I was just blown away. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.080 I think for a certain age. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.000 Group of us, as DJs like Juice was really really 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.400 monumental in our careers because you know, and again like 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.960 in Philly culture, like we always like Philly had the DJ's, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:33.640 New York had the rappers, you know what I'm saying. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.400 So you know, I knew early on about cash Money 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:40.400 and Miz and Jeff and what have you. So, but 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.719 it was really Juice that started my fascination with like 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.000 that's I might want to try that, you know what 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.880 I'm saying. Like I dabbled about, you know, with rapping 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.160 a little bit and never was really that good at it. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.760 And then so ninth grade, after seeing Juice, I convinced 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.880 my mom to buy me a turntable and a mixer, 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:00.760 and she did. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.680 It was a belt drive. Originally I got it. Yeah, 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:05.840 it was tough. It was tough. 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.520 So I originally got like a belt drive turntable and 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.040 one mixer. I remember was it a Gemini or a 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.679 technique Gemini? It was a Gemini belt draft. Yeah, it 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:15.760 was a Gemini draft. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:19.200 For those that are wondering drivers, a direct drive. 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.680 Bell drive is like you know, yeah exactly. It takes 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.960 a long time to rev back up, so like a 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:31.240 good time without a technique twelve hundred that you wasn't 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.720 really doing nothing, so but I remember I did, like 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.560 it was a kid. His name was Ari Forman. I 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.760 did his alright birthday, you know, all right? Yeah, are 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:41.720 stole around. He's like he doesn't. He must be doing 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.800 production and film and things like that. He did some 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.800 art for us, like him and tramp and like they 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.480 designed so crazy how the world is still connected? His 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.440 birthday party was my first party, so I remember the 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:55.320 first records. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:57.560 Really, yeah, we went. He went to Central with me. 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:00.960 You and ari a this same age we are. 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:02.200 Yeah, we came in. 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.880 I'm older than Ari. I'm way older than you, so 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:07.000 by the transit. 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.400 By a couple of years. Are so classy, Like I 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.080 always thought he was like slightly older than me. Yeah, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.560 we're in the same class two five. Because he's the 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.360 one that introduced me to Cosmo. Okay, so good. 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.440 So I used to save my lunch money. My mom 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.480 would give me like five hours every day for lunch. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:27.760 What did your parents don? 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:28.080 What was? 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.520 My mom is a teacher. She's in education. She's been 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:35.880 in education forever she was. She now has her PhD 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.360 in education. But when I was in growing up, she 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.880 would teach in Philadelphia High School. She taught at Alnie, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.480 she taught it Overbrook, Yeah, I think those were She 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:47.880 went from Alnie to Overbrooks. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:49.960 So she was at Overbrook when I was essentral. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.920 And my dad used to work for this Quaker organization 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:58.480 in Philly called AFSC American Friends Service Committee and then 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:00.920 hit part of his job was spending a lot of 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.680 time in Eastern Europe, so like he used to travel 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.840 to the USSR at the time, and you know, and 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.800 then later on he would go to other party parts 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:12.840 of Eastern Europe and like, you know, help out like 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.880 what are known as Gypsies, which pretty much are like, 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.400 you know, people of European descent, but they almost get 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.240 treated as black people over there. And then my dad, 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.040 you know, both my parents are very politically active growing up. 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.560 So like my dad used to be in snick student 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.280 student and coordinating committee. 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.040 Yeah. So you know, I grew up going to like 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:32.960 did you go to charters school one of the charters? 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:33.480 I didn't. 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.240 I always wanted to go to a charter schoolgory. I 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.640 wanted to go to Friends Select or GFS or Penn 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.960 Charters so bad, like because I knew so many kids 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.280 that went there. It's funny because I put my daughters 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.760 into friends schools and they're like, oh, Dad, why did 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.640 you do this to us? And I was like, man, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:50.360 growing up, I wanted to go to a friend school, 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:51.800 but I think it might just be a Philly thing. 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.560 It's Quaker and that's like a pa thing. But I 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.640 went to public school, Like my parents couldn't afford me 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.040 to go to those schools, so I went to Masterman 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:02.720 and I went to Central. So I always went to 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.520 like good academic schools, like I had good grades in 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.720 school and what have you. So, Yeah, so I used 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.919 to go downtown between Armand's, Funkel Martin Sounds of Market, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:14.840 and I would buy my records and I would you know, 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.520 the first records I bought was like the Who's the 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.720 Man soundtrack Heavy D was Who's the Man? Partying bullshit 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.399 inside so you spend out and cuts in the grooves, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:30.920 this moll And Not Loud, Superba, super Ghetto REDT, Supercat, 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:31.639 Ghetto Red. 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.520 Hot, Fad Joe Flow Joe. 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.200 Yeah, and you know it was this was around the 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:38.639 time when like when Philly like it was, there was 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.320 the Goats and then there was the Square Roots, and 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.159 you know that was like that was you know, my 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.800 introduction to like hip hop and DJing, and it was 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:48.960 this was all around that era. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.080 Well, first of all, you know, even for me, like 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.359 to be a drummer as young as I was, and 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.640 I would get these catalogs you say, ash catalogs whatever. 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.159 Drums were like seven thousand bucks and so I mean 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.760 lucky for me, my dad had like access to stuff 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.520 usually like band members that succumbed to an addiction or 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.600 whatever whatever and leave the equipment. That's how the inherent 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.080 drum sets when I was younger. But like DJ equipment though, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.400 man it was like expensive. Were you just on one 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.000 turntable and one cheap radio shack drawing like a mixer. 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.760 For a while, I had the what was the I 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:34.280 guess it was the Gemini Make sure that had the 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:36.400 eight second sampler scratch master. 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.159 Yeah, I had that. Oh my god, how do you 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:39.040 know that I had? 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.200 Well, I had access to one, that one that was 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.040 like you were DJ too, No, no, no, I used 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.680 to make beats on it had the sampler, yes, yeah, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.119 loop and you had to like turn the thing to 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.119 catch it it perfectly. 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.440 And yeah, my finger was like al. 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.520 I remember I used to write my grandparents, my mother's 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.480 parents like letters, and like when I would get good grades, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:03.359 I would like write them letters like hey, I got 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:08.600 good grades, like can you get me this? And you know, 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:13.040 and then you know, my grandparents actually I think were 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.800 the ones who bought me my technique twelve hundreds. 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.639 So they bought me my technique twelve hundreds. 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.200 And then I would do little gigs here and there, 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.600 and I think, you know, at armands at the time, 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.040 like or not even armads that I think a funkal mart. 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.000 You know, you could buy speakers weren't like that expensive, 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:30.960 so you could. 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.440 I could I bought like maybe like you know, these 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.080 big ass wolfers and everything, and it might have been 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.359 like two three hundred bucks four hundred dollars for a set, right, 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.160 and then you would have to buy a receiver. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:43.760 What else would you do? 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.040 All gift money, no job yet. 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:47.639 I didn't have a job. Now this was all. This 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:48.560 was before a job. 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.760 Yeah, I didn't get a job to like eleven twelfth grade, 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:54.040 so yeah, it was all. It was all pretty much 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:59.000 like get birthday and Christmas type gifts and stuff. But 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.080 you know, bunch of money is how I did my 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:05.480 record collection. And they just starved in school. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:06.000 Starves. 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.240 Yeah, yeah, maybe go across the street from Central and 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.000 go to the pizza spot and maybe get a dollar 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:12.800 slice or something. 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.480 But you know, definitely I would save up to get 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:20.359 my records. So were your parents encouraging or did they 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.920 see this as just like a hobby? Definitely just saw 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.240 it as a hobby. Did you see this as a 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:27.080 career or a hobby? 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:27.760 You know? 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:32.200 Interestingly enough, my sister was like as a filmmaker and 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.399 she used to do like make independent films. And hence 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:40.159 how we first met because she brought me to I 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:41.960 guess it was. Was it a temple? 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:42.159 It was? 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.560 It was for the premiere of Past the Popcorn video, 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.560 Damn Wow. And there was a there was a young 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.119 lady who used to direct videos because she did a 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.600 three times Dope video. I can't remember her name, but 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.160 my sister was friends with her and then, but she's 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:01.600 the one that That's how I wound up coming to 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:03.879 the premiere Past the Popcorn and that was where we 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.040 originally first met, and I like came up to you 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.840 as a young lad and just introduced myself. 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:13.720 Shout out to Abdul Jackson and Kevin Dreer. 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.960 I forget. Damn man, you just took me back on 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:18.879 some joints. Man, I totally forgot. 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.239 Yeah, y'all had a premiere party for that video, right. 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.800 So yeah, like my last my last day at Roughhouse 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.880 just you know, I just through spaghetti and the walls 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.879 even stuck. And I just having to ask Chris Wartz 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.439 right after lunch because I would notice after lunch he'd be. 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:41.080 In a different mind state. 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.800 And I was just like, hey, you know, or he 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:46.800 knew about the Roots and you know, saw some shows 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:48.600 or whatever and always wanted to like, how can we 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.560 even get it, you know, an offer? But he just 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:55.520 he was just that day, he just like, okay, how 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.840 much I was like five thousand, Wow, you'll need to 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.159 have in thousands. It was like seventy five hundreds. And 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.880 I to do organics, No, to do the past popcorns 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.680 and we shot past the popcorn on Thanksgiving morning. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.280 Wow, Like yeah, shout out to Chris Warts of rough 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:13.800 House Record. 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:16.119 And I remember too, my other friends used to be 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.640 cool with Kenyata. I used to look up to, Yeah, 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.000 I used to look up to yacht like but but no, 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:25.560 it was it was for them. It was a hobby 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:27.119 for me. It was still you know, I thought I 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:29.720 was gonna wind up going to NYU and being film 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.560 school and be a director, like at the time, that's 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.359 that's but I love DJing like it was, it was 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:39.000 my thing. So I definitely had, you know, without even realizing, 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.320 was putting way more time and effort into my DJ career. 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.320 And then you know, I had my stuff in my 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.520 in my room at my mother's house. And then it 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.960 got to a point when the traffic of the friends 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:53.600 coming over and us trying to make little freestyle tapes 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.800 and everything. She she got fed up because it was 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.840 like ten ten thirty and she was like, yo, it's 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:00.960 too loud, and so she lot, she let me move 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.560 to the basement and I moved. You know, that was 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:06.920 my first studio in the basement of my mom's house, 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.359 and we used to be down there boom bapping all 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.600 day after school every day. And that's where I made 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:15.800 ladelf and you know, I started. My sister took me 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.240 to New York between ninth and tenth grade and we 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:21.640 went to Harlem and on one hundred and twenty fifth, 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:23.520 they still had the vendors and I bought That's when 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.200 I bought my first mixtape, DJs ands Old School Part 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:28.879 two And the reason why I bought that tape was 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:32.000 because all the songs that were on there, when I 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:35.000 would go to to the record stores, I couldn't get 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:37.960 those songs on violin anymore because they were unless they 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:40.600 were the you know, the bootleg copies and everything. So 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.200 I bought SNS Old School Part two and I was 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.480 just literally blown away, like by that tape by S's 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:50.600 talk game like how he was putting records together and 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:54.119 hence that just really started my fascination with like mixtape culture. 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:58.280 And then you know, Clue kind of was coming up 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:00.639 on the scene. And when I would get Clue tapes 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.480 from the layup and things like I would i would 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:05.760 feel like when I would go to school, I'd be like, oh, 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:07.639 y'all don't know about this yet, Like y'all don't have 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:11.800 this premiere Jarew remix or you know this this new 0:24:12.359 --> 0:24:15.600 Bigie Grand puba Tupac song. Like so I would feel 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:18.080 ahead of the curve, and you know, I was just that, 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:20.960 you know, and when it came to like DJing, and like, 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.640 you know, there were battle DJs, there was radio DJs, 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:27.439 there was you know, party DJs, and there were mixtape DJs, 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:29.639 but the mixtape DJ for me was always just like 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:30.840 larger than life. 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:37.760 So for Philadelphians, the layup my current production manager Keith McFee, 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:42.560 kind of opened kind of like Phillies. I don't know 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:44.600 if it's the first culture store, but it was like 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:47.040 the spot where, yeah, it was like the spot where 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.080 you get like what was like first skateboard and get 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:53.000 like fresh jive yo or excuse you could get to 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:59.600 see yeah, those Triple five, those hoodies early Echo. It's 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:02.000 not that I was like, yeah, those I can't remember. 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:04.760 It's the even though skateboard pants that are like the 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:07.040 big at the bottom yeah forty. 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:10.360 Yeah, and the forty waist Johns that were super big. Yeah. 0:25:10.560 --> 0:25:13.600 So that's and that's pretty much like that was just 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:16.960 like the cultural epicenter. That's where like mixtapes were you 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:18.880 get cry line, spray paint. 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:22.240 You get to catch all those things and everything they have. 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:22.960 The white man. 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:27.720 Yes with the yeah, those things you're talking about. 0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:32.439 It looks like you see like five white boys at 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:33.480 lunch playing Hackey sacking. 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:34.240 Yeah. 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:39.000 I would rock that ship all the time. It never showers, 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:42.119 so all the fun of the world side of the. 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:46.600 Yeah, come on, I mean, only the only reason why 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:48.720 dudes would shower in the twenties is if a woman 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:52.679 is involved or whatever, like their future partner. 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:57.720 But you know, come back, come back, come back, come back. Yeah, 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:01.600 I'm coming back anyway. Who is the DJ? 0:26:02.480 --> 0:26:04.399 Okay, I'm trying my rock the bells thing, just like 0:26:04.480 --> 0:26:07.920 Jeff does my cash money thing whatever. But for me, 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:13.520 I will say that like cosmic keV is probably the 0:26:13.640 --> 0:26:16.760 sensey DJ that I always have in my head when 0:26:16.760 --> 0:26:19.920 I'm doing a set or whatever, like you're always gonna 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:23.920 emulate someone because like if you're making beats, when you 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:26.840 get your drum machine, you start to you know, all right, 0:26:26.920 --> 0:26:28.960 let me see if I could do bloh blah blah 0:26:28.960 --> 0:26:30.000 blah that sort of. 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:33.160 Thing for you as a DJ? Who were those DJs? 0:26:33.400 --> 0:26:35.320 Who was the sensey Like what was the mix that 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:39.120 was sort of like damn, I gotta well, I mean, 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:42.680 or were you even into turntablism. 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:44.520 Or absolutely I was gonna tell you, I mean, because 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:46.760 there was so For me, it was a few. I 0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:51.840 mean definitely probably first it was DJ Rand because I 0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:53.600 forgot yeah, because before. 0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:55.600 You know, I'm still spinning, right. He was like with 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:59.120 the w W. Yeah, I'm not sure that shot shot 0:26:59.200 --> 0:27:01.800 the cosmic k to. He just took me on a 0:27:02.240 --> 0:27:04.280 superhistory lesson, Like was he. 0:27:04.400 --> 0:27:05.760 Nice about it? keV? 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:07.920 Oh yeah yeah yeah. We talked for like two hours, 0:27:08.960 --> 0:27:11.440 gently exchanging nice words. 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:15.359 We discussed like his relationship with Ran and how things 0:27:15.480 --> 0:27:17.800 came about and how you know it went from Ran 0:27:17.880 --> 0:27:21.239 to keV and you know, but when of course as 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:24.280 it as a as a youngster, like it was Kobe 0:27:24.359 --> 0:27:27.680 Cob and DJ Ran on Radioactive every Friday night. So 0:27:28.440 --> 0:27:31.800 you know, people don't really like this is obviously before 0:27:32.000 --> 0:27:33.679 we had you know, you can go and you can 0:27:33.720 --> 0:27:36.800 go on YouTube, Hulu, anything and watch anything hip hop 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:39.720 you want. Back in the day, we only had certain outlets, 0:27:39.720 --> 0:27:42.159 so you would run home to catch Rahap City or 0:27:42.240 --> 0:27:45.000 Friday night I would be tuned in to Radioactive to 0:27:45.080 --> 0:27:45.359 hear it. 0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:47.280 So oh you know who else too? 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:47.960 Yeah? 0:27:48.080 --> 0:27:49.440 Yeah it's fucking Jay Ski. 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:52.240 Yeah oh yeah, talk about GOTAM. 0:27:56.240 --> 0:27:59.120 Because what was the station was one O three? Yeah 0:28:00.040 --> 0:28:00.960 something you stupid? 0:28:05.640 --> 0:28:07.040 He came to his birthday party. 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:08.920 Damn on. 0:28:09.040 --> 0:28:12.320 So on the radio side, it was definitely Ran, keV 0:28:12.520 --> 0:28:15.879 and Jay Ski and then in Philly for me it 0:28:16.040 --> 0:28:21.320 was DJ Ghetto and Ghetto was like, yes, you know, yeah, 0:28:21.359 --> 0:28:24.720 Ghetto used to be our d m C champion. He 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:27.280 would he would go up against Rock Raider Rest in 0:28:27.359 --> 0:28:30.040 Peace and you know, do his DMC thing, and like, 0:28:30.560 --> 0:28:33.320 you know, Ghetto has another cousin named Evil Tracy too. 0:28:33.760 --> 0:28:35.680 But but Ghetto like Ghetto. 0:28:35.440 --> 0:28:38.000 Kind of like you know, took me in as a 0:28:38.080 --> 0:28:40.440 youngster and was trying to kind of show me how 0:28:40.520 --> 0:28:43.400 to really cut and scratch and you know, do things 0:28:43.480 --> 0:28:46.160 on his level. I could never get it down to 0:28:46.560 --> 0:28:50.200 to to that degree, but Ghetto definitely like befriended me 0:28:50.320 --> 0:28:52.240 as a as a young DJ too, and Philly, so 0:28:52.520 --> 0:28:54.600 I salute to him. So those were the guys that 0:28:54.680 --> 0:28:57.280 I was around or were listening to early on. So 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:00.600 when you're in the dramatic era, are are you? Do 0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:02.600 you have a regular residency? 0:29:03.000 --> 0:29:04.280 Are you now? High school? 0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:06.560 So Dances is the first club I ever. 0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:07.920 Dj' at dance. 0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:14.080 It was for Juwan Lee's birthday party. Juan Lee, he's 0:29:14.120 --> 0:29:17.160 the director. He works with Benny Boom. He does a 0:29:17.200 --> 0:29:19.920 lot of stuff now too, my brother to this day, 0:29:19.920 --> 0:29:21.560 I just saw him the other day. But yeah, that 0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:25.640 was my first actual club gig was was Juwan's birthday 0:29:25.680 --> 0:29:26.560 party of dances. 0:29:26.880 --> 0:29:28.800 This might have been like eleventh grade. And then I 0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:30.040 was just doing like I would. 0:29:29.840 --> 0:29:33.840 Get hired to do like block parties or like birthday 0:29:33.920 --> 0:29:37.680 parties of you know, kids that I went to school with, 0:29:37.960 --> 0:29:40.920 or you know that I knew around town or what 0:29:41.120 --> 0:29:41.400 have you. 0:29:41.600 --> 0:29:43.720 And and then you know, we had to I remember 0:29:43.760 --> 0:29:44.760 we had this crew. 0:29:46.080 --> 0:29:49.280 That it was this crib off Gerard Avenue that we 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:50.600 lived at, and I used to do a lot of 0:29:50.680 --> 0:29:53.400 their functions. So you know, I was I was getting 0:29:53.640 --> 0:29:56.080 you know, gigs here and there, just like around Philly 0:29:56.160 --> 0:29:57.120 as a as a kid. 0:29:57.440 --> 0:29:59.840 Now as far as your creative output is concerned, and 0:30:00.000 --> 0:30:03.040 and then I specifically want to kind of go step 0:30:03.120 --> 0:30:03.480 by step. 0:30:03.680 --> 0:30:06.120 That is why I'm like leaning, there's a lot so 0:30:06.760 --> 0:30:09.000 for you, are. 0:30:08.960 --> 0:30:14.720 You in the mind state of serve my audience or 0:30:15.560 --> 0:30:21.400 like I, I'm very selfish with my DJing, and I 0:30:21.520 --> 0:30:23.680 do it like I'm like Prince doing Darling Nikki. No 0:30:23.680 --> 0:30:26.840 one cares about the music but yourself. Yeah, And but 0:30:26.960 --> 0:30:30.120 I also know that I have a shield of protection 0:30:31.160 --> 0:30:34.760 that will allow me to play a mister Rogers song 0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:37.080 or I can play the number song by the porn 0:30:37.120 --> 0:30:39.480 of sisters on Sesame Street kind of get you know, 0:30:39.520 --> 0:30:41.280 they're like, what the hell is he playing? Like yeah, 0:30:41.360 --> 0:30:43.239 that quest loves so crazy, Like I know I can 0:30:43.320 --> 0:30:47.200 do rogue shit, right, and you know, and oftentimes the 0:30:47.280 --> 0:30:50.240 openers are like, yo, man, like that was crazy you 0:30:50.320 --> 0:30:53.080 did that? Because even one time, I think Fonte mentioned 0:30:53.120 --> 0:30:58.080 that someone spun return to Forever something it or weather report. 0:30:58.200 --> 0:31:00.240 Yeah it was out of who it was the dy 0:31:00.360 --> 0:31:02.680 It wasn't things Steel Parish. 0:31:03.560 --> 0:31:06.840 Okay, okay, okay, well he's known for dared Devil shit. 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:10.720 But my whole point is that as a DJ, you 0:31:10.840 --> 0:31:13.080 kind of have two choices, which is serve the people 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:19.880 or establish yourself. So at the time and oftentimes, like 0:31:19.960 --> 0:31:24.160 opening DJs have it the hardest because they gotta you 0:31:24.240 --> 0:31:25.280 gotta keep them on the floor. 0:31:25.400 --> 0:31:25.760 You can't. 0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:28.360 I remember once an opening DJ got in trouble. He 0:31:28.480 --> 0:31:32.560 had like an early copy of Brooklyn Zoo, and I 0:31:32.720 --> 0:31:36.360 think that might have been too you know, of course, 0:31:36.520 --> 0:31:40.120 you know it's like, oh the new Woutangelo, Okay, but 0:31:41.160 --> 0:31:43.960 it wasn't. The club owner was like no, no, you 0:31:44.080 --> 0:31:46.160 know that sort of thing. So for you, were you 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:51.640 facing any sort of venue structure that would tell you 0:31:51.880 --> 0:31:54.200 like this is what we want and just play R 0:31:54.200 --> 0:31:56.440 and B or so not in Philly. 0:31:56.800 --> 0:31:58.040 When I was in Philly, I was. 0:31:58.320 --> 0:32:03.160 Very u burn, very East Coast with my taste in 0:32:03.280 --> 0:32:05.640 music and what I would play, Like I remember, I 0:32:05.680 --> 0:32:07.960 would do parties and want to play Doctor Octagon. 0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:12.040 Wow, oh Jesus Christ. Yeah, like that's where I was at. 0:32:12.200 --> 0:32:15.640 Like I would try to make blue Flowers. Yeah, exactly 0:32:16.320 --> 0:32:16.720 like I was. 0:32:17.120 --> 0:32:19.760 That's where. That's where I was at in my Philly days. 0:32:20.080 --> 0:32:23.960 And you know, I wanted to play fucking Smith and 0:32:24.040 --> 0:32:28.240 Wesson album cuts and just you know, I didn't get 0:32:28.320 --> 0:32:33.760 to to the stage or era of pleasing the crowd 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:36.360 or my audience until I moved to Atlanta. 0:32:36.480 --> 0:32:37.840 Atlanta Atlanta did it. 0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:39.200 And I don't want to do I don't even want 0:32:39.240 --> 0:32:41.400 to frame it like it's a compromise, because I do 0:32:41.680 --> 0:32:44.600 think that you're either going to be an effective DJ, yeah, 0:32:45.320 --> 0:32:48.200 or we're going to be a teachable lesson DJ. 0:32:48.400 --> 0:32:48.560 Yeah. 0:32:48.560 --> 0:32:50.280 Well, I was blessed in my career to be able 0:32:50.320 --> 0:32:53.520 to be that later on because of who I became 0:32:53.640 --> 0:32:57.520 and who I was. So once I became DJ Drama, 0:32:57.560 --> 0:33:00.120 it's like, Okay, when they come to see me, they 0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:02.880 also want to be able to I can, you know, 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:06.520 introduce them to something or be a little more stubborn. 0:33:06.640 --> 0:33:10.360 But it's really going to Clarkland University and being in 0:33:10.440 --> 0:33:13.320 the AUC for me coming from Philly, where I would 0:33:13.600 --> 0:33:16.480 have people from d C who wanted to hear Go Go, 0:33:17.080 --> 0:33:19.560 I would have, you know, people from the West Coast 0:33:19.600 --> 0:33:23.160 who wanted to hear ship from La or the Bay, 0:33:23.560 --> 0:33:25.480 or I would have people from Texas who wanted to 0:33:25.600 --> 0:33:27.680 hear screw or what have you. 0:33:27.800 --> 0:33:30.160 So it taught me how to be well rounded. 0:33:30.520 --> 0:33:33.480 Okay, So and that's. 0:33:33.440 --> 0:33:35.200 That's where I was going to go next. 0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:39.880 You know the whole I mean, especially now you you 0:33:40.080 --> 0:33:44.560 kind of morphed into your dramaus before the age of 0:33:44.640 --> 0:33:48.680 cell phones. So the whole idea of someone the phone 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:51.800 on your face. Yeah, like, I hate I'm a no 0:33:51.960 --> 0:33:54.520 request person, gotcha. And that's where my ego gets me 0:33:54.560 --> 0:33:54.960 in trouble. 0:33:55.080 --> 0:33:57.800 Yeah, I'm not like that. So you're you're people. You're 0:33:57.800 --> 0:34:00.440 a person of the people. I am for your person 0:34:00.520 --> 0:34:00.880 and people. 0:34:02.320 --> 0:34:02.720 No, no, no, no. 0:34:02.880 --> 0:34:05.400 I like when people like if I go to Vegas 0:34:05.520 --> 0:34:09.120 and it's eight women who keep putting bad Bunny on 0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:12.200 their phone, I gotta play fucking bad Bunny. 0:34:12.480 --> 0:34:14.960 Even to this day, you're not offended. Like, motherfucker, I'm 0:34:15.080 --> 0:34:19.800 DJ Drama like I created stars. You don't tell Picasso 0:34:19.880 --> 0:34:23.920 what the paint? See that I got a but that's 0:34:23.960 --> 0:34:27.520 not that's not the capacity he's there to serve that night. 0:34:27.560 --> 0:34:28.160 You know what I'm saying. 0:34:28.239 --> 0:34:30.759 It's like, yeah, I mean there's it depends like it 0:34:30.880 --> 0:34:33.360 depends on the gig too, like if I get it 0:34:33.520 --> 0:34:37.160 like a hipster New York gig for like I did 0:34:37.200 --> 0:34:40.560 something for United Masters and you know, at that night 0:34:40.640 --> 0:34:43.359 they booked me, like I know they want to hear 0:34:43.480 --> 0:34:46.960 drama ship, Like I'm gonna play Canon Remix and I'm 0:34:47.040 --> 0:34:49.920 gonna you know, go in and play some Gucci or 0:34:50.360 --> 0:34:52.319 go here with it. But you know, if I'm at 0:34:52.360 --> 0:34:57.800 my Vegas residency, like I'm there to Vegas, yeah, like 0:34:58.280 --> 0:35:02.279 I'm not at the same Like I'm still trauma, so 0:35:02.840 --> 0:35:04.600 I'm not about to fist pump that thing out. 0:35:05.840 --> 0:35:06.680 Have you ever had a. 0:35:10.440 --> 0:35:13.000 I mean moment or at least that was sort of 0:35:13.040 --> 0:35:14.520 the ship back in twenty fourteen. 0:35:15.000 --> 0:35:17.880 Yeah, I mean I've played those records at times like 0:35:18.640 --> 0:35:21.640 what but that's not the majority of my set, Like 0:35:21.800 --> 0:35:24.480 I know when they booked me like they want to 0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:27.160 they come there for certain right, Yeah, people give them 0:35:27.360 --> 0:35:29.680 like when they when I go even to Vegas, like 0:35:29.760 --> 0:35:32.040 and you know, Vegas has had a transition at time 0:35:32.320 --> 0:35:35.000 where it's become much more hip hop driven than it was. 0:35:35.160 --> 0:35:37.040 But I'm just saying, like when I go to gigs, 0:35:37.160 --> 0:35:40.960 like people want to hear DJ drama, be DJ drama. 0:35:41.120 --> 0:35:41.680 You know what I'm saying. 0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:45.279 So it's like, but is it confusing now at this 0:35:45.360 --> 0:35:49.400 stage in your life where Okay, so say and now 0:35:49.440 --> 0:35:51.600 I'm that that I would associate you with like any 0:35:51.640 --> 0:35:54.800 canon records. So let's say like Go Crazy, right, which 0:35:54.960 --> 0:36:00.520 came out in two Yeah, which to guy. To me, 0:36:00.719 --> 0:36:03.439 I'm still like, oh that's new rap even though that's 0:36:03.520 --> 0:36:04.359 old school right. 0:36:04.600 --> 0:36:07.759 No, no, no, so no, I mean I was confusing now, No, 0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:08.319 not for me. 0:36:08.400 --> 0:36:10.120 Because I go with the times that I go, Like 0:36:10.400 --> 0:36:12.880 I just got off a tour with Wiz and Logic, 0:36:13.160 --> 0:36:16.759 for instance. So but and the blessing for me is though, 0:36:16.880 --> 0:36:20.239 is that that's not like as much as there is 0:36:20.280 --> 0:36:23.000 an audience that knows me for that. When I get 0:36:23.080 --> 0:36:26.560 on stage at the Whiz Khalifan Logic show, I start 0:36:26.600 --> 0:36:28.640 with a tiler to create a record, and then I 0:36:28.719 --> 0:36:31.000 go into a dream I play stick off the Dreamfield 0:36:31.040 --> 0:36:33.359 tape because that's still my ship, like it's still off 0:36:33.360 --> 0:36:34.080 a gangster grills. 0:36:34.360 --> 0:36:36.520 That's when DJ dramatic to me kind of enters the 0:36:36.560 --> 0:36:37.880 thing I hate. I know you, I don't know if 0:36:37.880 --> 0:36:39.880 you hate when I go DJ dramatic or drama, but 0:36:39.920 --> 0:36:40.200 it's just. 0:36:40.239 --> 0:36:43.040 How I can when you was a man, but I 0:36:43.120 --> 0:36:44.800 was drama first though. I mean, it wasn't like I 0:36:44.880 --> 0:36:46.640 was dramatic. I was drama and then I tried to 0:36:46.719 --> 0:36:48.960 change it to dramatic and then I went back. So 0:36:49.000 --> 0:36:51.080 it wasn't like I was originally DJ dramatic. 0:36:51.120 --> 0:36:51.279 I was. 0:36:51.560 --> 0:36:52.959 I was DJ drama first. 0:36:53.000 --> 0:36:55.000 But you okay, I'll accept that. But you know, when 0:36:55.000 --> 0:36:57.279 I say dramatic, it's also like to an era, a 0:36:57.400 --> 0:37:00.359 time when you did have a certain lane you were 0:37:00.400 --> 0:37:00.680 in that. 0:37:00.760 --> 0:37:03.239 You have, Well, what happened was it? 0:37:03.520 --> 0:37:04.040 I didn't know. 0:37:04.440 --> 0:37:07.120 I mean, like, as much as much as I was 0:37:07.160 --> 0:37:11.080 putting into gangster girls, I was putting into automatic relaxation. 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:12.960 One just took off from the other. 0:37:13.200 --> 0:37:16.120 Okay, So let me ask you when you decided to 0:37:16.160 --> 0:37:21.760 go to Clark University Yep, Clark Atlanta, and I assume 0:37:21.840 --> 0:37:27.480 that you're transporting your your equipment with you, so that's important, 0:37:27.600 --> 0:37:31.040 Like you already know that in your dorm that your 0:37:31.200 --> 0:37:34.719 big ass speakers and your records and your turntables had 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:37.320 to come with me, are coming with you? Okay, absolutely 0:37:37.400 --> 0:37:39.560 no question without it. Were your parents like what the 0:37:39.600 --> 0:37:41.439 hell are you doing? Like you're in a dorm? 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:44.960 They you know, I mean by that point, I was 0:37:45.000 --> 0:37:48.880 already like kind of you know, they had they it 0:37:49.040 --> 0:37:51.800 was clear that I was on a certain path, and 0:37:51.920 --> 0:37:53.880 I was, you know, this DJ thing was. 0:37:54.680 --> 0:37:57.560 Going to happen in college, not just some high school thing. 0:37:57.680 --> 0:37:59.640 And yeah, I don't Yeah, I don't know if they knew. 0:37:59.680 --> 0:38:02.719 I mean, clearly they didn't see this happening, like you know, 0:38:02.840 --> 0:38:05.319 I mean my mom even after school, was concerned about 0:38:05.440 --> 0:38:07.200 me getting a real quote unquote real job. 0:38:07.280 --> 0:38:09.400 But yeah, I mean when I got to school, like 0:38:09.480 --> 0:38:12.440 it was, you know, I brought my Philly hustle with me. 0:38:12.640 --> 0:38:15.399 Like like I will tell you, like freshman year, when 0:38:15.400 --> 0:38:18.360 everybody was freak nicked out, I bought a bunch of 0:38:19.000 --> 0:38:21.200 T shirts from this guy named Moot, and I was 0:38:21.280 --> 0:38:23.960 hustling T shirts during freaknik Like I didn't partake in 0:38:24.040 --> 0:38:26.640 none of the activities like or I would set up 0:38:27.040 --> 0:38:30.480 on campus on we had these green trash cans and 0:38:30.600 --> 0:38:32.800 I had this little yellow radio, and I would like 0:38:33.200 --> 0:38:35.000 hustle my mixtapes in between classes. 0:38:35.080 --> 0:38:39.000 So how did you find an outlet to establish yourself 0:38:39.040 --> 0:38:39.560 in Atlanta? 0:38:40.160 --> 0:38:43.160 Well, I mean outlet was the AUC. It was our world. 0:38:43.320 --> 0:38:44.560 I mean there was enough and. 0:38:44.600 --> 0:38:46.880 Market at Marcos. You feel like working at Marco's too, was? 0:38:47.200 --> 0:38:49.200 I mean Marco's people hadn't go to college. 0:38:49.440 --> 0:38:53.399 You see the Atlanta University Atlanta University Center, so that's 0:38:53.680 --> 0:38:57.000 Clark Atlanta, that's Morris Brown at the time, that's more 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:00.560 House of Spellman. So you literally have four story black 0:39:00.680 --> 0:39:06.640 colleges and universities right and one epicenter. So there's multitudes 0:39:06.719 --> 0:39:09.040 of parties and gigs available. 0:39:09.520 --> 0:39:12.040 So I was did you try to find your flock 0:39:12.560 --> 0:39:14.480 or no, I can't, Or were you like, okay, what 0:39:14.640 --> 0:39:15.600 are they endo down here? 0:39:16.560 --> 0:39:19.120 It just happened naturally, because you know, as you start 0:39:19.200 --> 0:39:21.759 doing gigs, I mean you realize, oh, I got it 0:39:22.120 --> 0:39:24.919 people from everywhere. So you know, I learned very early 0:39:25.040 --> 0:39:27.800 on and I shot to my man DJ Sense and 0:39:27.920 --> 0:39:31.440 since is also from Philly, we met freshman year, and 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:34.719 he kind of was a little more commercially driven than 0:39:34.760 --> 0:39:37.240 I was at the time, Like I was real backpack 0:39:37.320 --> 0:39:40.279 wrap and he was like bad boy. 0:39:40.480 --> 0:39:41.120 You know what I'm saying. 0:39:41.560 --> 0:39:45.040 So us doing gigs together, he kind of helped influence 0:39:45.080 --> 0:39:47.560 and inspire me to get you know. He yelled at 0:39:47.600 --> 0:39:49.719 me one time I cut the Benjamin's off too early, 0:39:50.120 --> 0:39:51.239 oh lot a gig. 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:53.359 He was like, bro, like, you can't cut it off 0:39:53.400 --> 0:39:53.879 at this part. 0:39:53.920 --> 0:39:55.480 And he was right, you know what I'm saying, So 0:39:56.200 --> 0:39:59.759 us doing gigs together, I kind of got more into 0:39:59.800 --> 0:40:02.319 my commercial bag. And you know, because I still even 0:40:02.360 --> 0:40:04.000 when I was in school, when I was doing these 0:40:04.040 --> 0:40:07.239 college gigs, I was still DJing lyricist lounges. I was 0:40:07.280 --> 0:40:12.600 still at yin Yang cafe, you know what I mean, 0:40:12.680 --> 0:40:14.680 Like I was, I was still into that world. 0:40:14.760 --> 0:40:17.759 So I was. I was bouncing between worlds in a way. 0:40:17.960 --> 0:40:23.799 Who was the DJ down here that was your oh 0:40:24.200 --> 0:40:27.680 shit or your kaiser. So it's a coffee mug, slow 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:32.239 drop realization thing that this is some next shit down 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:32.719 here that I. 0:40:32.800 --> 0:40:33.520 Have to first. 0:40:33.560 --> 0:40:38.719 There was DJ Nabs. Nabs was the ultimate. I mean, 0:40:38.880 --> 0:40:42.279 he was on the radio, he was on television, he 0:40:42.680 --> 0:40:45.399 was he had Kai, He had Nabs in a lab 0:40:46.040 --> 0:40:49.960 at club kaya Sunday night, which was just the ultimate experience. 0:40:50.719 --> 0:40:54.800 And then I think for me it probably was DJ Mars. 0:40:55.480 --> 0:40:58.680 Mars also at the time was you know, he used 0:40:58.719 --> 0:41:00.719 to be on he had to be t gigs, so 0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:02.960 he was doing what was that show called It was 0:41:02.960 --> 0:41:03.640 one of them shows. 0:41:04.080 --> 0:41:07.000 Mars was on the radio, you know, he was on 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:09.760 every day, and he was in the club. 0:41:09.960 --> 0:41:12.840 So he was like one of you know, one of 0:41:12.880 --> 0:41:17.439 those like the guys that we looked towards as like, damn, 0:41:17.520 --> 0:41:20.960 that's the next level. So and he It's funny because 0:41:21.920 --> 0:41:23.600 I did the same thing with you too. I know 0:41:23.680 --> 0:41:25.960 you don't remember this, but I used to like write 0:41:26.000 --> 0:41:30.560 for this like little magazine or like little zine, and 0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:33.920 I went and did an interview with Mars. That's how 0:41:34.000 --> 0:41:37.279 I like got I introduced myself to him. I went 0:41:37.360 --> 0:41:40.040 to go interview him at the station and then I 0:41:40.280 --> 0:41:43.120 handed him one of my mixtapes and he was like, Yo, 0:41:43.200 --> 0:41:46.719 this shit's hot. And oddly enough, when you guys came 0:41:46.760 --> 0:41:49.080 to Atlanta one time, I did the same thing with you. 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:51.360 I was I did an interview with you for the 0:41:51.440 --> 0:41:54.959 magazine and That was how I first found out about Dyla, 0:41:55.040 --> 0:41:57.080 because this was the era where you were dial it 0:41:57.200 --> 0:41:59.400 out and you were just you told me, like, yo, 0:41:59.560 --> 0:42:01.759 all we do was listening to slum Village and this 0:42:01.920 --> 0:42:05.880 is mid late nineties and everything, and yeah, so I 0:42:05.880 --> 0:42:08.240 would kind of, you know, wiggle my way in. However, 0:42:08.480 --> 0:42:11.239 whatever to you know, get my name out there or 0:42:11.320 --> 0:42:12.640 get my tapes in people's hands. 0:42:17.640 --> 0:42:20.960 Like I feel like Atlanta really found itself with what 0:42:21.400 --> 0:42:25.520 I organized Noise and now casting all this established absolutely so. 0:42:26.160 --> 0:42:28.440 But the thing is is that I didn't call it 0:42:28.560 --> 0:42:31.160 anything like I know, like New Orleans's bounce and there's 0:42:31.200 --> 0:42:32.240 bass music in Miami. 0:42:32.360 --> 0:42:33.319 But what was. 0:42:33.880 --> 0:42:39.839 Atlanta's culture before trap? Like does first of all, does 0:42:39.880 --> 0:42:42.040 Atlanta own what we know as trap? 0:42:42.239 --> 0:42:43.960 Absolutely so? 0:42:44.160 --> 0:42:48.719 What was before the BC era of that? It was 0:42:49.040 --> 0:42:51.440 Dungeon Family. I mean, so you think I moved here 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:55.200 in ninety six? Ninety six El Adelph Half Life came out, 0:42:55.760 --> 0:42:58.759 ninety six, at Aliens came out, Luddy Waters, Right Man, 0:42:58.840 --> 0:43:03.080 Luddy Waters came out, Reasonable Mob Deep second album came 0:43:03.160 --> 0:43:06.400 out on Ner Hell on Earth came out Score And 0:43:06.520 --> 0:43:08.680 I have and I have an elevator's question to ask 0:43:08.719 --> 0:43:11.520 you because I came right when elevators kind of hit. 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:14.800 Okay, so let me ask you something, all right, And 0:43:15.480 --> 0:43:17.960 why is elevators like my new Latin quarters. 0:43:18.160 --> 0:43:20.640 So many treasures, we can go so much. I gotta talk, 0:43:21.120 --> 0:43:24.239 I want to say, like, so just while we're here, 0:43:24.600 --> 0:43:24.960 all right. 0:43:25.080 --> 0:43:29.880 So when we asked you know, La Read and Organized Noise, 0:43:30.440 --> 0:43:33.560 my thing was I would ask them why would they 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:37.319 take such a risk with the sonic choice of elevators. Yes, 0:43:37.520 --> 0:43:39.960 it's a masterpiece of a song, but but who knew 0:43:39.960 --> 0:43:42.239 at the time. I was just like, yo, who would 0:43:42.280 --> 0:43:45.440 ever put like a song that's like eighty six bpms 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:47.920 which was very slow at the time compared to what 0:43:48.080 --> 0:43:51.920 was hitting. And it was just everything about that song 0:43:52.120 --> 0:43:54.719 was just like it was a risk. It was a 0:43:54.800 --> 0:43:57.920 hell mary throw that got caught. And you know, Organized 0:43:58.000 --> 0:44:00.279 Noise explained that, you know, they leaked the first and 0:44:00.440 --> 0:44:03.759 of course La, we really wanted Atlans to come out 0:44:03.800 --> 0:44:04.120 there first. 0:44:04.160 --> 0:44:05.799 They put it, they took it to the radio station 0:44:05.920 --> 0:44:07.480 and just like it forced it right right. 0:44:07.719 --> 0:44:13.040 And then but as a DJ, like, could you explain 0:44:13.160 --> 0:44:17.520 to me the effect that that song had on or 0:44:17.680 --> 0:44:20.320 just at the time, like, yeah, I mean it was Atlanta, 0:44:20.480 --> 0:44:25.040 so Again, there was when when when at Aliens dropped, 0:44:25.400 --> 0:44:30.160 just you know, the the pride and the the sonics 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:31.800 and the creativity of that album. 0:44:32.320 --> 0:44:35.759 You know, Southern playlistic was already a thing, right, and 0:44:35.840 --> 0:44:38.799 then at Aliens came and it was like, oh, these 0:44:39.120 --> 0:44:41.680 these boys is different, you know. I mean that was 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:44.320 the era when three thousand was walking around with the 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:48.240 turbine and you know, Goodie Mob had you know, dropped 0:44:48.239 --> 0:44:48.680 and everything. 0:44:48.800 --> 0:44:50.960 So it was like, I just think the. 0:44:51.040 --> 0:44:55.640 Pride and you know, I hear stories about before Outcasts 0:44:55.680 --> 0:44:59.040 about how you would go to certain clubs in Atlanta 0:44:59.160 --> 0:45:01.960 like Warehouse and and people would almost want to kind 0:45:02.000 --> 0:45:03.840 of act like they were from New York, you know, 0:45:04.000 --> 0:45:05.160 and then he. 0:45:05.280 --> 0:45:06.520 Just said, yeah, they just said that. 0:45:07.520 --> 0:45:10.560 And then it was Outcast that was almost brought that 0:45:10.719 --> 0:45:14.160 pride out where it made people in Atlanta feel proud 0:45:14.320 --> 0:45:16.360 to be from Atlanta or from the South, you know 0:45:16.360 --> 0:45:19.680 what I'm saying. So yeah, so before the Trap era, 0:45:20.120 --> 0:45:25.279 you know, Atlanta was was defined by Dungeon family, by 0:45:25.840 --> 0:45:29.960 so so deaf and you know, by the Face records, 0:45:29.960 --> 0:45:32.160 and that was that was the you know, the the 0:45:32.800 --> 0:45:34.520 trifecta of what Atlanta was. 0:45:34.800 --> 0:45:39.320 So when you are down here. At what point the 0:45:39.480 --> 0:45:43.600 cast of characters that were known as the Affiliates, how 0:45:43.680 --> 0:45:46.480 are they amalcalmating themselves in your life? 0:45:46.560 --> 0:45:49.000 Like are you meeting them now this point? 0:45:49.320 --> 0:45:53.759 So I met DJ Sence literally the first day I 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:58.000 get to school in Clark, Atlanta, AGAT. We go to 0:45:58.120 --> 0:46:02.600 the dorm to Brawley Hall and my room number was 0:46:02.680 --> 0:46:08.680 two one five, crazy right, And and then somebody told sense, hey, 0:46:08.719 --> 0:46:11.400 you know there's a DJ on the second floor from Philly, 0:46:12.000 --> 0:46:14.239 and he had told he told me it kind of 0:46:14.239 --> 0:46:17.640 already heard about me in Philly. Like, you know, it's 0:46:17.920 --> 0:46:20.719 crazy to think I had a little buzz, but he had, 0:46:21.120 --> 0:46:21.920 you know, he knew about me. 0:46:22.040 --> 0:46:25.160 So we like battled. We battled in my room, like the. 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:27.640 First first day we met, just kind of going back 0:46:27.640 --> 0:46:30.719 and forth on the turntables, cutting the scratching. And then 0:46:30.880 --> 0:46:33.799 you know, we were doing parties together and we were 0:46:34.200 --> 0:46:37.000 you know, like a dynamic duo and just you know, 0:46:37.400 --> 0:46:39.719 people would book me or book him, or we would 0:46:39.840 --> 0:46:42.040 go together and we would do all the parties. And 0:46:42.160 --> 0:46:46.320 then my next year, this tall, lanky kid gets on 0:46:46.480 --> 0:46:49.279 campus and like he had heard about me, and he 0:46:49.480 --> 0:46:51.680 kind of was like, Yo, my name's Donny Brasco. 0:46:51.800 --> 0:46:54.480 I'm from Philly and I'm a DJ. I make beats. 0:46:54.520 --> 0:46:56.600 And I was kind of you know Kyle, you know 0:46:56.680 --> 0:46:58.879 him and Kyle went to school together, so Kyle kind 0:46:58.920 --> 0:47:01.800 of like would have sour taste in my mouth early on, 0:47:02.120 --> 0:47:04.120 like that that Cannon was a. 0:47:04.160 --> 0:47:06.000 Nut Kyle, Kyle was part of. 0:47:07.080 --> 0:47:10.360 It was a whole crew of Philly dudes. As it 0:47:10.440 --> 0:47:11.440 was Dame Dame. 0:47:12.920 --> 0:47:13.560 North Carolina. 0:47:13.800 --> 0:47:17.520 Yeah, it was Chris, Chris and Eily, it was Dame. 0:47:17.680 --> 0:47:21.120 It was me Since and I had like my school crew, 0:47:21.160 --> 0:47:24.440 and then I had like my Rubik's Jack's and you know, 0:47:24.600 --> 0:47:27.120 my hip hop, my Binkers Crew, but. 0:47:29.040 --> 0:47:30.440 Rest in peace to my brother Jack's. 0:47:30.719 --> 0:47:33.680 But so so finally Cannon woud up giving me a 0:47:33.719 --> 0:47:36.080 beat CD and I went home and I listened to 0:47:36.200 --> 0:47:38.840 it and I was like, yo, this ship is fucking fire. 0:47:39.560 --> 0:47:42.359 So next day I see him on campus, I'm like, yo, yo, 0:47:42.600 --> 0:47:44.440 I've listened to your beat tape. That's it's hard, like 0:47:44.960 --> 0:47:47.560 you know, come through the cribs. So it went from 0:47:47.640 --> 0:47:50.040 me and Since to me Since and Cannon, and then 0:47:50.080 --> 0:47:52.640 we were just the three of us were like you know, 0:47:53.360 --> 0:47:56.880 damn there inseparable, like doing while we were in school, 0:47:56.960 --> 0:48:00.160 and we would do a bunch of gigs together just 0:48:00.160 --> 0:48:03.000 support each other, or you know, when I was selling tapes, 0:48:03.239 --> 0:48:06.040 like Cannon and Sense would make their tapes and I would, 0:48:06.120 --> 0:48:09.719 you know, I would sell them all and we would 0:48:09.760 --> 0:48:10.920 just do events together. 0:48:11.040 --> 0:48:13.080 But the way the Affiliates came. 0:48:13.000 --> 0:48:15.880 About is because there was a crew called the super Friends, 0:48:16.000 --> 0:48:20.880 which was DJ Mars, DJ Trauma. Uh, there was a 0:48:20.960 --> 0:48:25.600 cowboy was in there. Fahrenheit shot him was super Friends 0:48:25.880 --> 0:48:27.800 and they made us part. They We were like the 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:31.160 youngest of the crew and they you know, invited us 0:48:31.200 --> 0:48:35.000 in and DJ Trauma that is currently okay, and you know, 0:48:35.280 --> 0:48:36.760 it was you know, that was one of the reasons 0:48:36.800 --> 0:48:39.160 why I tried to change my name to Dramatic. It's 0:48:39.160 --> 0:48:43.080 because of Trauma, because Trauma and his name is Tiri 0:48:44.880 --> 0:48:47.160 had at the time, and he was on the radio 0:48:47.160 --> 0:48:49.400 and he was on fire, and it was like everywhere 0:48:49.440 --> 0:48:51.760 I would go and try to say I'm DJ Drama, 0:48:51.840 --> 0:48:54.680 They'd be like Trauma and I'd be like, no, Trauma, 0:48:55.320 --> 0:48:57.920 and it just used to frustrate me, like like, man, 0:48:57.960 --> 0:49:00.640 I'm about to just change my name. And Mar you know, 0:49:00.840 --> 0:49:03.720 interestingly enough was like yo, don't change your name for nobody, 0:49:04.000 --> 0:49:06.560 and Trauma was his best friend, but he, you know, 0:49:06.719 --> 0:49:09.160 he said, you know, don't change your name for nobody, Like, 0:49:09.600 --> 0:49:11.960 if that's your name, that's your name. So we were 0:49:12.000 --> 0:49:14.799 part of the super Friends and we were really trying 0:49:14.840 --> 0:49:17.640 to be focused, like on mixtapes, and super Friends were 0:49:17.800 --> 0:49:21.879 very party driven and we kind of we went through 0:49:21.920 --> 0:49:25.360 a little disagreement at the time. As my memory serves me, 0:49:25.719 --> 0:49:29.280 Jacob York offered the super Friends opportunity to do an album, 0:49:29.760 --> 0:49:32.000 and we were kind of already, you know, feeling a 0:49:32.080 --> 0:49:34.320 certain type of way because you know, we weren't like 0:49:34.440 --> 0:49:36.160 they were getting all the gigs, and you know, we 0:49:36.239 --> 0:49:37.840 were trying to make our name. We couldn't get no 0:49:37.880 --> 0:49:40.239 sponsorship for the mixtapes because they were getting on a 0:49:40.280 --> 0:49:43.520 sponsorship for the parties and everything. And they were like, Yo, 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:45.600 if we do an album, let's call it Gangster Grills 0:49:45.640 --> 0:49:48.000 because that's the strongest brand out of all of us. 0:49:48.440 --> 0:49:50.600 And I was like, I don't know, I don't want 0:49:50.640 --> 0:49:53.120 to call the super Friends album Gangster Grills, Like that's 0:49:53.160 --> 0:49:55.720 my shit. So they basically, wait, when did you morphins 0:49:55.760 --> 0:49:58.880 you gangster grills? I was I started Gangster Grills in 0:49:58.920 --> 0:50:03.719 two thousand, so by like three oh four had become 0:50:03.800 --> 0:50:06.680 a thing like where it was. You know, I Little 0:50:06.760 --> 0:50:09.000 John was the first person to host it. So I 0:50:09.160 --> 0:50:12.360 used his voice on Gangster Grills four and it was 0:50:12.400 --> 0:50:15.800 still just like a compilation at the time. And you 0:50:15.880 --> 0:50:18.320 know I did like Gangster Girls five, and I just 0:50:18.560 --> 0:50:21.880 kept using John's voice, Right, how did you So how 0:50:21.960 --> 0:50:22.200 do you. 0:50:22.640 --> 0:50:24.160 Approach an artist? 0:50:24.160 --> 0:50:25.920 Because for a lot of the artists that were in 0:50:26.000 --> 0:50:29.560 Gangster Grills mixtape, like as an outsider, I didn't know 0:50:29.640 --> 0:50:32.399 none of those people. So you know, I'm hearing TI 0:50:32.520 --> 0:50:34.440 for the first time right here, like everyone that you 0:50:34.560 --> 0:50:39.439 put on Jesus Travi GZ and all those six even 0:50:39.560 --> 0:50:41.719 like really the first time I really paid attention to 0:50:41.760 --> 0:50:46.320 Wayne and all that stuff is really on Gangster Grill. So, like, 0:50:46.680 --> 0:50:51.920 how are you propositioning them and approaching them to do 0:50:52.080 --> 0:50:55.480 these things? Each situation is difference in a way. 0:50:55.560 --> 0:50:58.560 But like Little John was since was working at the 0:50:58.640 --> 0:51:02.680 station and and Circe and Little John were partners in 0:51:02.760 --> 0:51:05.640 BMME and John used to be up there all the time. 0:51:05.760 --> 0:51:09.000 And you know John, he's one of the most down 0:51:09.040 --> 0:51:10.880 to earth, humble guys in the world. 0:51:10.960 --> 0:51:12.640 And I literally just asked him. 0:51:13.160 --> 0:51:14.719 You know, this was the time when I was paying 0:51:14.719 --> 0:51:16.560 attention to what was going on on the East Coast, 0:51:17.040 --> 0:51:20.000 and I asked him, like, yo, would you host a 0:51:20.080 --> 0:51:21.759 mixtape for me? And he was like sure, and he 0:51:21.840 --> 0:51:24.640 came to my crib in the fourth Ward and hence 0:51:24.680 --> 0:51:27.759 the Gangster Grizzils Drop was born, and you know he 0:51:27.880 --> 0:51:32.160 hosted the tape. Jason Jeter is the first person to 0:51:32.440 --> 0:51:36.080 ever call me. He got my number off the back 0:51:36.120 --> 0:51:39.120 of a mixtape from the barbershop. Now think about this. 0:51:39.280 --> 0:51:43.560 I get a thousand DMS a day about artists trying 0:51:43.600 --> 0:51:46.640 to get on. The first phone call I ever got 0:51:47.280 --> 0:51:49.440 was from Jason Jeter and he was like, Hey, my 0:51:49.560 --> 0:51:52.000 name is Jason Jeter. I have this new artist signed 0:51:52.400 --> 0:51:55.640 to LaFace. We have a song with Beanie Siegual called 0:51:55.640 --> 0:51:58.440 two Blocks nine. I got one of your mixtapes. I 0:51:58.520 --> 0:52:00.400 want to bring him through to freestyle all on one 0:52:00.400 --> 0:52:01.919 of your tapes. And I was like all right, sure, 0:52:02.000 --> 0:52:05.879 cool whatever. So I seen you don't know, never met 0:52:06.040 --> 0:52:09.560 Tip never, wasn't even familiar with the two Glocks, not 0:52:09.680 --> 0:52:12.600 a record yet. So he literally comes to the crib. 0:52:12.920 --> 0:52:16.279 Jeter and Tip super shy and quiet at the time. 0:52:17.000 --> 0:52:19.560 You know, I had my equipment in like where the 0:52:19.719 --> 0:52:22.319 laundry room would be. He comes in there, I pick 0:52:22.360 --> 0:52:24.800 a beat. I picked the for the fan beat, the 0:52:24.920 --> 0:52:28.160 Rockefeller Ye with the one with a mill and everybody 0:52:28.200 --> 0:52:30.600 on it, and he freestyled on that and at the 0:52:30.680 --> 0:52:32.880 end of the freestyle he said, you know, King of 0:52:32.920 --> 0:52:36.600 the South. And I remember once him and Jeter left, 0:52:36.680 --> 0:52:38.880 I went the sense like, yo, this nigga said, he's 0:52:38.920 --> 0:52:43.080 the King of the South, like he's tripping like. So 0:52:43.320 --> 0:52:46.160 that was literally our introduction. And then you know, Jeter 0:52:46.320 --> 0:52:49.360 was also from Jersey, so he was paying attention to 0:52:50.040 --> 0:52:52.160 my mixtape Grind and what I was doing, and they 0:52:52.200 --> 0:52:54.879 were kind of you know, once things didn't work out 0:52:55.160 --> 0:52:58.080 between them and La Reid, they got on their mixtape Grind. 0:52:58.120 --> 0:52:59.560 So we were kind of both coming up at the 0:52:59.600 --> 0:52:59.920 same time. 0:53:00.600 --> 0:53:04.120 Where I lived on Glenn Iris, Coach K lived around 0:53:04.160 --> 0:53:04.880 the corner from me. 0:53:05.040 --> 0:53:07.480 Ah okay, we got cool with Coach K. 0:53:08.440 --> 0:53:11.319 He had this group called Jadis, who Bobby Creek Order 0:53:11.440 --> 0:53:13.920 was a part of who later outside to Shady. That 0:53:14.080 --> 0:53:16.600 was Coach K's first group, and then he also used 0:53:16.600 --> 0:53:20.360 to work for Alan Henderson in Hindu when Alan Henderson 0:53:20.400 --> 0:53:22.680 had a record label, but we got cool with Coach 0:53:22.800 --> 0:53:25.000 K and then he told me like, yo, I got 0:53:25.080 --> 0:53:28.520 this this artist from making. His name is g Z 0:53:29.200 --> 0:53:31.640 and he had an album out. The first album they 0:53:31.680 --> 0:53:34.400 put out was called Come Shop with Me and then Jeez. 0:53:34.719 --> 0:53:37.400 I would Coach would bring g Z over and I 0:53:37.400 --> 0:53:40.239 would make show CDs for Jez. I would charge them 0:53:40.239 --> 0:53:42.400 like one hundred dollars and he would come and I 0:53:42.440 --> 0:53:45.240 would He would just he would he was doing shows 0:53:45.280 --> 0:53:47.879 and making and I would like make CD. He would 0:53:47.880 --> 0:53:51.040 take instrumentals, whatever instrumentals were hot at the time, and 0:53:51.280 --> 0:53:53.200 I would just make him a little like show CDs 0:53:53.520 --> 0:53:56.480 to put together. As Gangster Girls was becoming a thing. 0:53:57.360 --> 0:54:00.640 So then I did like John tape then like I 0:54:00.719 --> 0:54:05.239 think Scrappy hosted one. Then Jeter called me and was like, yo, 0:54:05.800 --> 0:54:08.160 I've been listening to the tapes. I got this idea, 0:54:08.520 --> 0:54:11.920 let's do an all t I and PSC Gangster Grills. 0:54:12.320 --> 0:54:13.440 And I was like, bet, you know. 0:54:13.560 --> 0:54:17.040 And at the time, I'm I'm just fascinated by Green 0:54:17.120 --> 0:54:19.279 Lantern and who Kid and what Fifth is doing and 0:54:19.719 --> 0:54:22.560 what they're doing, and so Jeter and Tip gave me 0:54:22.640 --> 0:54:25.000 the opportunity to do the type of mixtape that I 0:54:25.160 --> 0:54:25.640 wanted to do. 0:54:25.719 --> 0:54:29.400 So you felt, because I'm just amazed that your amount 0:54:29.440 --> 0:54:31.600 of faith. It's so weird, like I need to have 0:54:31.719 --> 0:54:36.880 this conversation because I'm such a no now no, or 0:54:37.160 --> 0:54:39.920 who going to be there? Who are going to be there? 0:54:40.080 --> 0:54:41.960 Like that sort of thing and get me out of 0:54:42.000 --> 0:54:45.160 this or whatever. But it seems to me that your 0:54:46.480 --> 0:54:49.279 the key to your success is the word yes, absolutely yes, 0:54:49.400 --> 0:54:52.680 and absolutely give. 0:54:52.800 --> 0:54:57.160 When I go outside, I give my number to everybody. Wow. 0:54:57.440 --> 0:54:59.160 The worst thing that I can do is not answer. 0:54:59.200 --> 0:55:02.200 It's not right because I think about that all the time. 0:55:02.239 --> 0:55:05.440 What if I would have told Jeter no, Wow? So 0:55:06.080 --> 0:55:07.880 now I think about all the news I've told the 0:55:07.960 --> 0:55:10.080 Jeters in my life now, don't they Don't get me wrong, 0:55:10.160 --> 0:55:12.399 I've you know, I mean, I've missed out on some things. 0:55:12.480 --> 0:55:12.719 Have you? 0:55:13.200 --> 0:55:13.399 Yeah? 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:15.840 Have you passed up on a moment that, like, damn 0:55:16.040 --> 0:55:19.279 I could have had? Blah blah blah. Of course name 0:55:19.400 --> 0:55:23.239 three three notable You probably worked with them since, but 0:55:23.239 --> 0:55:25.160 at least like you could at least introduce them to 0:55:25.239 --> 0:55:25.879 the world or whatever. 0:55:26.040 --> 0:55:26.239 I mean. 0:55:26.280 --> 0:55:28.960 I've said this before, but Drake definitely wanted a gangster 0:55:29.080 --> 0:55:32.480 grills very early on, all right, for sure, and you 0:55:33.080 --> 0:55:34.600 didn't know about him, or it was just like you 0:55:34.680 --> 0:55:37.560 were too busy or it was I just it didn't happen, 0:55:37.920 --> 0:55:39.640 you know. I mean he wentn't he because I mean 0:55:39.680 --> 0:55:43.400 he did a Southern Smalls tape like DJ Smalls, So 0:55:44.080 --> 0:55:46.040 at the time there was there was Southern smoking. 0:55:46.080 --> 0:55:48.920 It was Gangster Grills. So so, and then Bumby was 0:55:48.960 --> 0:55:51.919 a very early believer. So then I did the Tip. 0:55:52.560 --> 0:55:54.560 I did the Tip Gangster Grills and that just like 0:55:54.680 --> 0:55:57.239 took off in the streets and it was like, you know, 0:55:57.440 --> 0:56:00.600 Tip was on fire, Gangster Grills was coming to thing, 0:56:01.280 --> 0:56:03.840 and you know that's that was the soundtrack of the 0:56:03.840 --> 0:56:05.239 streets in Atlanta and the t I P. 0:56:05.400 --> 0:56:06.600 S C Meets Gangster Girls. 0:56:07.120 --> 0:56:09.719 And then I did a tape for Bun and then 0:56:10.880 --> 0:56:13.320 I did a Gangster Grills party and I had like 0:56:14.080 --> 0:56:16.359 I had it. It was in Buckhead and I think 0:56:16.480 --> 0:56:20.520 Tip hosted, Bone Crusher hosted, I think David Banny. Yeah, 0:56:20.560 --> 0:56:22.560 I did a tape with David Banner, bone Crusher host 0:56:22.600 --> 0:56:24.880 and I was Gangst Girls like seven and was like 0:56:25.120 --> 0:56:27.520 that that was insane. That was a big one. But 0:56:27.600 --> 0:56:29.799 it was still a compilation at the time. So then 0:56:30.400 --> 0:56:33.160 coaching Jeezy took me out. They wanted to take me 0:56:33.239 --> 0:56:34.840 to lunch one day, so they took me to the 0:56:34.880 --> 0:56:37.799 spot called Harry and Sons and Jez tells me, Yo, 0:56:37.880 --> 0:56:38.680 I was at your party. 0:56:39.600 --> 0:56:39.719 Yo. 0:56:39.800 --> 0:56:41.440 I don't know how much you know, but the streets 0:56:41.680 --> 0:56:44.640 like fuck with you, you know. And I'm like, We're like, 0:56:44.760 --> 0:56:46.480 you know, I'm I'm in the streets something. 0:56:46.520 --> 0:56:47.239 We're aware of this. 0:56:47.640 --> 0:56:49.799 Yeah, I'm very unaware. Like when he his his. 0:56:49.960 --> 0:56:52.560 Version, his what his streets are wasn't what my streets were, 0:56:52.640 --> 0:56:53.799 Like my streets were. 0:56:55.440 --> 0:56:58.479 Yeah, well I was familiar, you know what I'm saying, 0:56:58.520 --> 0:57:02.120 because I was doing par parties for like BMF and 0:57:02.200 --> 0:57:03.960 things of that nature. But the streets for me were 0:57:04.040 --> 0:57:08.000 like going to the flea market and selling boxes of CDs. 0:57:08.120 --> 0:57:10.680 You know, you're not going to Bankhead or I'm going 0:57:10.719 --> 0:57:14.160 anywhere or I'm going anywhere that they sell CDs. I'm going, 0:57:14.719 --> 0:57:17.320 but I'm not, you know, in the streets. Yeah, I'm 0:57:17.400 --> 0:57:20.880 selling the mixtapes. I'm not selling nothing but mixtapes, right, 0:57:21.680 --> 0:57:24.520 you know. Yeah, So then you know, Jez tells me, like, yo, 0:57:25.160 --> 0:57:27.320 when Meach goes to campus, that's where he goes and 0:57:27.400 --> 0:57:30.600 gets his Gangster Girls from like he's listening to your 0:57:30.600 --> 0:57:33.040 ship and he's like, listen, I got this vision, like 0:57:33.560 --> 0:57:35.080 I want to do a Gangster Girls with you. 0:57:35.400 --> 0:57:37.320 Like he had it all mapped out and I was 0:57:37.400 --> 0:57:39.000 to I was listening like no doubt. 0:57:39.240 --> 0:57:42.000 But at the time I had never done a tape 0:57:42.080 --> 0:57:45.360 with somebody who wasn't known yet, and that was the 0:57:45.360 --> 0:57:47.120 first time I got paid for a tape. They gave 0:57:47.160 --> 0:57:51.120 me a thousand dollars and we did the tape. It 0:57:51.200 --> 0:57:52.240 was called Streets Is Watching. 0:57:52.280 --> 0:57:56.640 It was damn it changed my life with just tenills, Right, 0:57:57.680 --> 0:57:58.280 what the fuck? 0:57:58.360 --> 0:58:00.800 Why don't we go to you back then had a 0:58:00.840 --> 0:58:03.760 thousand bucks. Hey faved me a thousand dollars to do 0:58:03.880 --> 0:58:05.120 to tape. It was already working good. 0:58:05.400 --> 0:58:05.600 Yeah. 0:58:05.640 --> 0:58:07.360 You was like, what are we talking about? 0:58:07.880 --> 0:58:08.440 Fifth record? 0:58:08.600 --> 0:58:08.760 Yeah? 0:58:08.800 --> 0:58:10.640 How many you have? 0:58:11.200 --> 0:58:11.400 Yeah? 0:58:11.560 --> 0:58:14.800 Yeah, we still to this day. 0:58:14.960 --> 0:58:18.360 We it's almost like we cut like someone took us 0:58:18.400 --> 0:58:20.240 to the front of the bank line on a Friday. 0:58:20.560 --> 0:58:24.280 Yeah, and I got we gotta go back to Baltic. 0:58:24.040 --> 0:58:27.960 Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue and Oriental Avenue, like we got 0:58:28.120 --> 0:58:31.400 park Place and all that stuff. But we realized that 0:58:31.480 --> 0:58:36.000 there's an early gap that we skipped and it doesn't matter, 0:58:36.160 --> 0:58:37.960 like I could have forty two oscars. 0:58:38.360 --> 0:58:40.760 We have to scratch that itch with black people. 0:58:41.320 --> 0:58:43.520 They never did like the conferences and stuff like the 0:58:43.720 --> 0:58:46.680 how how to be down Jack to wrap the impact. 0:58:46.720 --> 0:58:48.560 We wanted to, but you know GEFFN wouldn't have that, 0:58:48.720 --> 0:58:49.680 so anyway, so go go. 0:58:50.360 --> 0:58:53.320 So then yeah, So originally the tape was called G's Up, 0:58:53.880 --> 0:58:56.200 but that was the name of Scrappy's group at the time, 0:58:56.280 --> 0:58:58.880 so we changed the Streets Is Watching. So when I 0:58:58.960 --> 0:59:02.200 did Streets His Watch, and again, Gangster Grills was a 0:59:02.240 --> 0:59:04.440 bigger brand than Young Gez at the time. So we 0:59:04.520 --> 0:59:08.280 put the tape out and we put it out around 0:59:08.520 --> 0:59:12.240 Birthday bash Era, and you know, within a couple of months. 0:59:13.280 --> 0:59:14.920 I mean, I remember the first person ever teld me 0:59:15.000 --> 0:59:17.080 my man Jay who does Raw Report, who wound up 0:59:17.120 --> 0:59:19.520 doing the DVD with Giz for Trapp or Die. 0:59:19.600 --> 0:59:22.440 But I was on Glen Iris with my dad and 0:59:22.520 --> 0:59:24.480 he drove. He was driving by and he was like, Yo, 0:59:25.080 --> 0:59:26.000 that JEZ tape. 0:59:26.400 --> 0:59:29.160 That's the best Gangster Grills You've ever done. And I'm like, 0:59:29.280 --> 0:59:31.000 we're I just told JZ this other day and I 0:59:31.080 --> 0:59:34.200 was like, we're the new nigga like because I'm tied out, 0:59:34.280 --> 0:59:36.800 you know what I'm saying, Like Tip the King, like 0:59:37.200 --> 0:59:39.600 I'm on fire with Tip and he's like, yo, the 0:59:39.720 --> 0:59:43.720 Jez tape like that shit hits different. So you know, 0:59:43.960 --> 0:59:46.360 a couple months in Coach k is like, drawm you 0:59:46.480 --> 0:59:48.560 gotta come on the road with us, like you gotta 0:59:48.640 --> 0:59:50.240 see what's going on. 0:59:50.560 --> 0:59:53.040 Like they're doing this word for word. There's one thing 0:59:53.080 --> 0:59:54.480 you're skipping that gotta knew this. 0:59:55.240 --> 0:59:59.040 As far as the marketing and the distribution, Yeah, is 0:59:59.080 --> 1:00:00.840 there only one place to get this? 1:00:00.920 --> 1:00:02.920 Because how is Tariq Well, I mean, I guess, y'all, 1:00:03.040 --> 1:00:03.520 I don't know how. 1:00:04.600 --> 1:00:09.680 So really, thankfully the bootleggers were like taking my ship 1:00:09.720 --> 1:00:10.479 to the next level. 1:00:10.520 --> 1:00:12.480 They were doing a lot of legwork for me. So 1:00:12.560 --> 1:00:13.840 you didn't know that you were national. 1:00:14.280 --> 1:00:17.440 No I went I when Gangster Girl seven came out, 1:00:18.200 --> 1:00:20.560 I wound up finding out where the bootleg spot was. 1:00:20.680 --> 1:00:22.480 And this was around the time. No I'm sorry, it 1:00:22.480 --> 1:00:24.560 was gangst Girl six. It was against Girl six, but 1:00:25.160 --> 1:00:27.440 it was fifty cent get Richard dot Trying had just 1:00:27.520 --> 1:00:30.040 came out. We wound up finding out where the bootlegs 1:00:30.280 --> 1:00:34.000 spot were in the West End. And we went there 1:00:34.160 --> 1:00:37.760 and I literally saw as many Gangster Girl sixes as 1:00:37.800 --> 1:00:40.640 I did get Richard Doe trying bootlegs, and I was like, 1:00:41.080 --> 1:00:43.240 I was like fascined. I was like, oh my god, 1:00:43.320 --> 1:00:46.400 this is amazing. Not thinking damn, like I'm not really 1:00:46.480 --> 1:00:48.480 making a lot of money, but these niggas is making 1:00:48.480 --> 1:00:49.240 a lot of money. 1:00:49.080 --> 1:00:50.720 Off my ship. But it's a mixtape. 1:00:50.760 --> 1:00:52.560 So it was for me, it was a you know, 1:00:52.640 --> 1:00:54.280 it was a calling, like I mean, it was my 1:00:54.360 --> 1:00:57.080 calling car like, so I was just excited and I 1:00:57.240 --> 1:00:59.200 was moving around like I would. I would come to 1:00:59.280 --> 1:01:01.400 Canal Street in New York and I would, you know, 1:01:01.480 --> 1:01:03.280 even at a time when they were telling me like, nah, 1:01:03.400 --> 1:01:06.160 we don't really check for South mixtapes, I would just 1:01:06.200 --> 1:01:10.440 be like, listen, take this, it's all yours, like you know, 1:01:11.120 --> 1:01:13.000 and let me know how it does. And I would 1:01:13.040 --> 1:01:15.320 call back a couple of weeks months later and they'd 1:01:15.360 --> 1:01:16.760 be like, yo, send us some more. 1:01:17.040 --> 1:01:18.360 So when did death start? 1:01:18.400 --> 1:01:20.040 Is that like after six that from the jump or 1:01:20.120 --> 1:01:20.880 is that like that was. 1:01:21.240 --> 1:01:22.439 It was all around the time. 1:01:22.560 --> 1:01:26.200 It was all around that time, around six around by 1:01:26.280 --> 1:01:29.400 the time Trapper Died came out. Gangster Grills was a thing. 1:01:29.640 --> 1:01:32.560 So it was like I didn't go anywhere in the country. 1:01:32.600 --> 1:01:34.040 I was on tour with TI at the time, and 1:01:34.120 --> 1:01:36.480 I was hearing my shit come out of every car. 1:01:36.840 --> 1:01:38.760 And then I was like, damn, what I'm gonna do next? 1:01:38.880 --> 1:01:41.400 And the next tape I did was Dedication. 1:01:44.000 --> 1:01:46.920 Okay, y'all, So that's gonna conclude part one of our 1:01:46.960 --> 1:01:49.600 conversation with DJ Drama, But wait a minute, you need 1:01:49.680 --> 1:01:52.120 to stay tuned for part two. Well, we speak to 1:01:52.200 --> 1:01:56.040 Drama about making mixtape classics with Lil Wayne, his evolution 1:01:56.200 --> 1:01:59.560 from making those tapes to platinum hits, and why he 1:01:59.760 --> 1:02:03.439 is I'm so proud about working with Fonte and Little 1:02:03.520 --> 1:02:05.960 Brother on Separate But people, oh, y'all don't want to 1:02:05.960 --> 1:02:06.760 miss that conversation. 1:02:06.920 --> 1:02:08.360 It gets deep and so good. 1:02:08.800 --> 1:02:12.000 But listen, stay tuned because we got more with my 1:02:12.200 --> 1:02:17.960 family repens c Au all Day. DJ Drama, Much. 1:02:17.800 --> 1:02:20.400 Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 1:02:23.120 --> 1:02:26.360 For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 1:02:26.640 --> 1:02:29.640 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.