The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: DJ Drama Part 1

Episode Date: July 19, 2026

Back in 2022, Questlove and Team Supreme hit Atlanta, where they checked in with old pal DJ Drama. Fittingly, in Part 1, Drama revisits his Philly roots and shares some overlapping histories with several of the QLS hosts. The Gangsta Grillz creator recalls growing up in the 2-1-5, making pivotal Hip-Hop mixtapes as a B-Boy, and taking his talents to Atlanta to pursue a dream and an education. In Part 1, he reveals how that journey led him to Lil Jon, T.I., and Jeezy. This was taped on location in T.I.'s Super Sound Studios.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. A home world cup only happens once in a lifetime, and we are not missing a second. I'm Castle 1021. On the 1021 podcast, me and the crew, break down every match like it's personal, the drama, the upsets, the debates you'll be having all day,

soccer, culture, and chaos in one place. Pick aside, we already did. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your, your podcasts. and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song.

Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments,

And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes, our debates, and a few laughs along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the I-Heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.

Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. Do you know I just found out who Sidney's, weenie was. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to you're the problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. All right, y'all. So in 2022, we went to Atlanta for a block of tapings,

and we got to kick it with the one and only DJ drama. We brought some of the Philly history to the ATL, as we spoke about his earliest days, his love of hip hop, and some of his most recent work. And this was a really, really cool conversation, a two-parter. And we chatted until the studio and film crew damn near kicked us out. So shout out to T.I. For letting us use the studio,

formerly Dallas Austin's lab. And shout out to DJ Drama and the whole team. Here is part one of DJ Drama. Supraima role call. Supraima. Suprima. Suprima. Supreme a roll call

Supriam Subrama Roll call Supreme Supra Superma roll car Warm up my pinini Yeah

On my forming grill Yeah Warm her for Nani Or my Gangsta grill Yoh Hey Supriva

Subima Supriva Role call Supraima Sub prima Sub prima Role call My name is Fonte

Yeah DJ dramas My peoples Yeah The best gangster Grills Yeah Separate but equal

What the fuck Supra Supraima Roca Supremea Roll Call Supra Supraima My name is Sugar

Yeah I don't need no drama Yeah But I do need a DJ Yeah Fucker you're hired Role Call Hey

I'm offended Supraima Supremea Rollca Suprama Supraima Roca It's Laea Yeah

And it's a must Yeah. You know that DJ Drama? Yeah. Was my college crush. Roll call. Suprema. Suprema.

Role call. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, subprima roll call. Is DJ Drama? Yeah. You know my mama? Yeah. She's a white lady. Yeah.

She didn't go to Grady. Yeah. Yeah. Supremea Roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, subprima, Ro call. Suprema, Subima, Supraima, Sub prima,

Supraima. Roe Call Suprema So Suprema Roca Oh boy All right

That was fun Yeah So that's the episode Yeah See you next go around All right Look I will Shut up man

All right So I will say this much Back when My band started The Tour In 1994 I kept receipts Of which DJs were

open to us and feeling and supporting us. And of course, you know, some cats up in New York, Tony Toca, you know, Tony Touch, showed us love. This cat named Boo the Barber, who used to do these blends. Showed his love, of course, Philly's own Cosmic Kev, DJ Cash Money. But there was one mixtape in particular that always got run on our tour bus. And it just said, I'll delve on it. You know, it meant something to me because this is the first time that I'm hearing Malik B and Tarek and Dice for All

actually on a mixtape. And we just ran that tape over and over. Like that was damn near the soundtrack to 1994 and 95 on our tour bus. So cut to seven years later, you know, once the roots sort of evolve and whatnot, and now we have two tour buses. As I've joked before,

that there was this Slithron tour bus in the Griffindor tour bus. So I'd be on Slith. Litherin, which was Tariq's bus, and, you know, which was, it was always popping on his bus. We were the nerd bus, but, you know, his, his drawing was always popping. And it wasn't until, like, the end of maybe the phrenology tour where Tariq's trying to explain to me that every time I hear this little, he's trying to explain to me that that's Tyree from back in Philly, it's dramatic.

And I'm like, wait, it doesn't make sense, though. it doesn't only because the thing was is that that mix tape of 94 I've never heard someone just devote an entire mixtape to what we called underground or backpack rap or whatever you know what I mean which is why the roots couldn't find any real estate on your S&S or your Tony Tuck I'm not Tony Touch like you know like Slay or yeah all those like we barely got on them joins I was like wait a minute he what and they're like yeah man he moved to Atlanta and now he's you know i've always wanted to have this conversation with if you know it's like we never

chopped it up for real so dope i knew one of these days we were going to have a conversation so i wanted to save it for here i'm glad i know we've had a couple of interactions on i g about it but never like in-depth this is going yes this is our first in-depth conversation so ladies and gentlemen please welcome to quest love supreme the the master god himself Mr. Thanksgiving. Yes. DJ drama. Oh, man.

Thank you. Thank you. A.K.A. DJ Dramatic. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Do you get tired of those people like always pointing out the Mason Dixon line of your before and afterlife? No, I don't get tired of nothing because they could never care. So yeah, nothing, nothing tires me when it comes to that.

Okay. It's a very important part of this story for myself and for hip-hop. and for Southern culture, like in a lot of ways, you know, like, what if I would have went to Temple or what if I would have went to NYU? You know what I'm saying? So the fact that this kid from Philly who literally grew up watching the roots as his inspiration of, wow, you can really do this, and DJing for Bahamadiyah.

And, you know, my roommate when I got to college was Rubik's, whose best friend was Talib Qauli, and I'm DJing Lyrrists' lounges. And then that kid goes. on to be a part of and transform, like, trap music and gangster girls becomes, like, the most important mixtape series literally of all time, but also how important it was to southern hip-hop culture. So, yeah, it's one of those, it's one of those, like, destiny stories to me when, you know, when it's told. And, like, I've literally been in Atlanta longer than I was

in Philly, but those 18 years of born and raised in Philly, once from Philly, always from Philly, you know what's the last time you say join? I say John all the time. There you go. All right. Just checking. Even at Mean Streets, like, you know, some of my employees who started interns, like, we have signs up like, do not come in this John. Or in our new building generation now, like there's a big sign of Kobe or we have like a Philly map on the side. So we still wrap. Word up. Okay. That's what's up. Of course, Laya. You mentioned on your roll call that you two went to Clark. So now you're probably from a lot of. I remember the day.

I thought it was always that I had a crush on you. No, don't do that. I did. That's a lie. Me and Nadine used to fight over you all the time and you know that. Let's not do that. Yeah, I thought it was the other way around. But I went down to me.

I used to have the, I used to still wear the green fatigues from Igoberg. Like when I got the school. With the dashy. I still had them joys. And the locks. Yeah. Definitely had the long locks. So that's why this is the whole interesting thing.

And it's funny because Amir, he said he said if it was in demand, he would do an automatic relaxation. tape again. I just want to say that to everybody who's listening. Did you hear this Fonte? You hear that all your 50 year old is out there? Right. Interesting enough, just even during my most recent tour that I went on, I actually physically got my hands on one, the first automatic relaxation, which was the first CD, which happened to be called, it was hip-hop lovable. Like, people don't realize, like, when I first made automatic relaxation, like, it was before Neo-Soul was a thing, or, like, hip-hop love songs, where, like, hip-hop love songs, where, you know,

like, you know, before everybody was like singing or it was so much melody. So like, you know, it was a hip hop lovable. Like I named it that because it didn't really exist at the time. And then I just recently got my hands on my actual I LaDalph tape with, you know, thoughts. You have a copy of it? I do. Ah. I do.

I should have brought it. Damn. I definitely should have brought it. I got the green cup. My own boy from, from Philly who lives across street from a mom, D. D. He found it in his crib. And I was like.

If you go on my Instagram, I actually show it, the tape, and then I go and then show my Grammy, like, to see where I came from and where I'm at now. How it started, how it's going. Yeah, I was going. So for you, what was your first musical memory? My first musical memory for me is being in Germantown. My dad lived on Ruby Cam Street,

and the older kids having the younger kids say, The roof, the roof, the roof is on. on fire, we don't need no water, let it burn, let it burn. And they left out motherfucker. Like I vividly remember years later, me like, damn, I didn't know they said let the motherfucker burn because they used to say let it burn, let it burn. And then, I mean, my dad was a big doo-op guy, so I definitely grew up around, like, him playing a lot of the Commodores and the temptations and obviously Thriller.

Thriller came out 83, you know, so I was probably like, I was five when Thriller came out. So that was a big moment. And then another one for me was definitely wanting Adidas because of my Adidas. Like I didn't get, my parents bought me the wrong ones. They bought me like, they didn't buy me the ones with the three stripes. Yeah, I didn't get the three stripes. They were. They were Adidas, though.

They were Adidas. They weren't just three striped ones. There was like an Eckerd's drugs. My parents were doing like a. Eckerd shit. They were doing, my parents were doing a residency and. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Anybody from Puerto Rico that remembers, I think back in 86 or 87, when the DuPont Plaza,

there was like a battle between the union staff, which I don't know if they were mom-connected or whatever in the hotel management. They threaten, like, if you don't renegotiate our contract, we're going to blow this hotel up. Because we checked out, we had a New Year's gig in Lancaster, PA that night. So we checked out at, you know, 12 p.m. on December 30. flew back to the States and came back home with all these messages like

are you guys alive? And then we found out that there was an explosion in the DuPont Plaza I think like 18 people died or whatever. But the whole point was there was an Eckerd's drugs

across the street and you know this is when Adidas made top 10 Adidas the red, blue and green like high top thing. And so they were like we got you

top 10 Adidas but it had four stripes. There's like the 1299 And I enjoyed stripes. Not Adidas and not K-Swiss either. Yeah. And that's... Obelibus.

And that's where... Right. And that's when, like, you had to run your shoes down before you got another pair of shoes. So, yeah, just all in seventh grade, I just got laughed at because, you know, I got a plethora thriller suit and I got four stripes in my Adidas. So... He was a nerd. Well, similar, yeah, I got the wrong.

I felt like I didn't get the right of Ditas. I never forget that. I see. I see. But for you, when did at least turntableism? Like, when did that attract you? So for me, I grew, when I grew up, you know, I mean, the first, like, piece of vinyl that I got was this actual, this compilation vinyl was, it was called, like, street rap. It was like a K-Tale record's joint or something.

It had to be something like that. I don't remember where I got it, but, and it had, like, rock box on it and had Roxanne, Roxanne, U-T-F-O. K-Tale. And I remember, like, you know, literally, like, memorizing Roxam, Roxanne by UTFO. And I had a couple of other songs on there. So that was my first actual physical, like, piece of hip-hop vinyl. But around, like, maybe like 10, 11, I got really into skateboarding, you know, and I was super into skateboarding. And it was all about Thrasher magazine. It was all about going down to Love Park. So this is, like, in middle school for me. And, you know, I came up at a time. when down at Love Park, there started to be this movement

or this group of black skateboarders. So it was maybe like seven, eight of us at the time. And, you know, shout to my brother, Stevie Williams. He was like the youngest of all of us, and he was also the best. Fortunately, I was the worst. What about Chuck, Trees? Was he around back then?

I think so. He's older, though. Yeah, he was older. And he's still skateboarding. And he's still old. Yeah, we were a little younger. But, you know, they used to basically, like, make fun of me because I could barely land a kickflip. And, like, or even, like, when we used to, like, go to Wawa and, like, steal the fucking, the jugs of ice teas and everything.

And then, like, when we were skate off, I would always be, like, behind. Get caught. Never got caught, but I was, like, last when we would try to skate back to love. So, yeah, I was super into skateboarding. I think Nickelodeon had, like, skate TV out or something around the time. And then between eighth grade and ninth grade, I went to the movies to go see Juice, and I was just blown away. I think for a certain age group of us as DJs, like, Juice was really, it was really monumental in our careers because, you know, and again, like, in Philly culture, like, we always like, Philly had the DJs, New York had the rappers, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, I knew early on about cash money and Ms. and Jeff and what have you.

So, but it was really juice that started my fascination with like, that's, I might want to try that. You know what I'm saying? Like, I dabbled about, you know, rapping a little bit. Never was really that good at it. And then so ninth grade, after seeing juice, I convinced my mom to buy me a turntable and a mixer. And she did. It was a belt drive originally. I got to, yeah.

So it was tough. It was tough. So I originally got like a belt drive turntable and one mixer. I remember... Was it a Gemini or a technique? It was a Gemini. It was a Gemini. Okay.

Yeah, it was a Gemini Bilt Drive. So for those that are wondering... Drive versus a direct drive. Bill Drive is like, you know... Chiqu, chicka, chick, yeah, when you chikin, exactly. It takes a long time to rev back up. So, like... Look, a couple of times.

Yeah, without a technique, 1,200, you wasn't really doing nothing. So, but I remember I did, like, it was a kid. His name was Ari Foreman. I did his birthday. You know Ari? All right. Yeah, Ari's still around. He's like, he's doing production and film and things like that.

He did some art for us, like him and Tramp and, like, they designed. It's so crazy how the world is still connected. Well, his birthday party was my first party. So I remember the first records. Really? Yeah, he went to Central with me. Okay. Wait, you and Ari are the same age?

We are. Yeah, we came in. Wait, I'm older than Ari? I'm way older than you. So by the trans and vaccine. If it equals B and B equals, Yeah, by a couple of years. Are he so classy, like, I always thought he was, like, slightly older than me.

Yeah, we're in the same class. Two-five-five. Because he's the one that introduced me to Cosmo. Okay, so go ahead. So I used to save my lunch money. My mom would give me, like, $5 every day for lunch. What did your parents do, man? What was that?

My mom is a teacher. She's in education. She's been in education forever. She was, she now has her Ph.D. In education. But when I was in growing up, she would teach in Philadelphia high school. She taught at Alney. She taught at Overbrook.

Yeah, I think those were, she went from Alney to Overbrook. So she was at Overbrook when I was at Central. And my dad used to work for this Quaker organization in Philly called AFSC, American Friends Service Committee. And then hit part of his job was spending a lot of time in Eastern Europe. So, like, he used to travel to the USSR at the time. And, you know, and then later on he would go to other parts of East of Europe and, like, you know, help out, like, what are known as gypsies, which pretty much are, like, you know, people of European descent. But they almost get treated as black people over there in the scent. And then my dad, you know, both my parents were very politically active growing up.

So, like, my dad used to be in SNCC, student, student, non-biling coordinating committee. Yeah. So, you know, I grew up going to, like. Because did you go to charter school? Did you go to one of the charter schools? I didn't. I always wanted to go to a charter school. Like Lotus Academy or something.

I wanted to go to Friends Select or GFS or PINChart or PennChartor so bad, like, because I knew so many kids that went there. It's funny because I put my daughters into Friends schools and they're like, oh, Dad, why did you do this to us? And I was like, man, growing up, I wanted to go to a front school. But I think it might just be a Philly thing. It's Quaker. Quaker. And that's like a PA thing. But I went to public school.

Like, my parents couldn't afford me to go to those schools. So I went to Masterman and I went to Central. So I always went to, like, good academic schools. Like, I had good grades in school and what have. you. So yeah, so I used to go downtown between Armands, Funkal Mart, and Sounds of Market, and I would buy my records. And I would, you know, the first records I bought was like, the who's the man soundtrack, heavy D, was who's the man, yeah, party and bullshit was the B-side. So you spend out of them cuts in the grooves are this small and not loud enough.

Super, Super Geto Red, Hot, Super Cat, Geto Red Hot, Fat Joe, Flojo. Yeah, and I, you know, this was around the time when, like, in Philly, like, it was, there was the goats and then there was the square roots. And, you know, that was like, that was, you know, my introduction to, like, hip hop and DJN. And this was all around that era. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together. I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man,

wolf parades, I'll believe in anything, and tattoos all the things she said, and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right now, the greatest tournament on the planet is happening on home soil, and the whole world showed up. Every match, somebody's dream ends, and somebody becomes a legend.

And if you're feeling all of it, the nerves, the heartbreak, the pure joy, you need people to feel it with. That's us. I'm Castle 1021, and this is the 1021 podcast, where the World Cup meets the culture. We react to every twist, say the takes nobody else will, play the games, call the shots,

and celebrate this beautiful game the way it's meant to be. Loud, proud, and a little bit crazy. Upsets, penalties, the goat debate that never dies, we're in it with you, all the way to the final. So don't watch it alone. Bring the passion, bring the hot takes. Listen to the 1021 podcast. on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart women's sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week.

Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out, she beat Sabalinka. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports.

Listen to everyone watches women's sports. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather you know them. Tony and Candice, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast.

Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life.

Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write. I thought you were all going to write a song.

I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, first of all, you know, even for me, like to be a drummer as young as I was, and I would get these catalogs, these Sam Ash catalogs, whatever, drums were like $7,000. Right. And so, I mean, lucky for me, my dad had, like, access to stuff using. like band members that succumb to an addiction or whatever,

whatever, and leave the equipment. That's how, like, would inherit drum sets when I was younger. But, like, DJ equipment, though, man, was like... Right. Expensive. Were you just on one turntable and one cheap radio shack join or, like, a mixer? For a while. I had the, what was the...

I guess it was a gem and I mixer that had the eight-second sampler? Yes, I had... Scratch Master. Yeah, I had that. Oh, my God. How do you know that? I had... Well, I had access to one.

Well, always had one. That was like you were DJ too? No, no, no. I used to make beats on it. Like, oh, yeah, had the sampler. Yes. Yeah, you could loop and you had to like turn the thing to catch it. Perfectly.

Perfectly. And yeah, my finger was like all to up. Yeah, that's sure. I remember I used to write my grandparents, my mother's parents, like letters. And like when I would get good grades, I would like write them letters like, hey, I got good grades. Like, can you get me this? Dearest Papi. You know, and then, you know, my, my grand,

Grandparents actually, I think, were the ones who bought me my Technique 1200s. So they bought me my Technique 1200s. And then I would do little gigs here and there. And I think, you know, at Armands at the time, like, or not even Armands at, I think a Funko Mart. You know, you could buy, speakers weren't like that expensive. So you could, I could, I bought like maybe like, you know, these big ass wolfers and everything. And it might have been like two, three hundred bucks, four hundred dollars for a set. Right.

And then you would have to buy a receiver. What else would you need? That's all gift money, no job. You ain't got a job yet? I didn't have a job. No, this was all, this was before a job. Yeah, I didn't get a job to like 11, 12th grade. So, yeah, it was all pretty much, like, get birthday and Christmas-type gifts and stuff.

But, you know, lunch money is how I did my record collection. Starved, just starve in school. Starves, yeah. Steal somebody's sandwich or. Yeah, maybe go across the street from Central and go to. the pizza spot and maybe get a dollar slice or something. But, you know, definitely I would save up to get my records. So were your parents encouraging or did they see this as just like a hobby?

Definitely just saw it as a hobby. Did you see this as a career or a hobby? You know, interestingly enough, my sister was like a, is a filmmaker and she used to do, like, make independent films. And hence, how we first met, because she brought me to, I guess, Was it at Temple? It was for the premiere of Past the Popcorn video. Damn.

Wow. And there was a young lady who used to direct videos because she did a three times dope video. I can't remember her name. But my sister was friends with her. And then, but she's the one that, that's how I wound up coming to the premiere of Past the Popcorn. And that was where we originally first met.

And I, like, came up to you as a young lad and just introduced myself. Shout out to you. to Abdul Jackson and Kevin Dreher. I forget. Damn, man, you just took me back on some joins, man. I totally forgot. Y'all had a premiere party for that video. For the video, right.

Just not alone. So, yeah, like my last day at Roughhouse, just, you know, I just threw spaghetti on the wall and he stuck. And I just happened to ask Chris Schwartz right after lunch, because I would notice after lunch, he'd be. Ha, ha, ha. in a different mind state. Yeah.

And I was just like, hey, you know, or a bit, he knew about the roots and, you know, saw some shows or whatever and always wanted to like, how can we can get an offer? But he just, he was just that day. He just like, okay, how much? I was like, 5,000? Wow. You'll need 7,000. So you were just like, 7,500 thing. To do organics?

No, to do it past popcorn. And we shot past the popcorn. And we shot past the popcorn on Thanksgiving morning. Wow. Like, yeah. Shout out to Chris Schwartz, a roughhouse record. And I remember, too, my other friends used to be cool with Kenyatta. I used to look up to El Cuyo.

Yeah, I used to look up to Yat. Like, but no, it was, it was for them, it was a hobby. For me, it was still, you know, I thought I was going to wind up going to NYU and being in film school and be a director, like, at the time. That's, but I love DJ and, like, it was my thing. So I definitely had, you know, without even realizing, was putting way more time and effort into my DJ career. And then, you know, I had my stuff in my room at my mother's house.

And then it got to a point when the traffic of the friends coming over and I was trying to make little freestyle tapes and everything. She got fed up because it was like 10, 10.30. And she was like, yo, it's too loud. And so she let me move to the basement. And I moved, you know, that was my first studio in the basement. in the basement of my mom's house. And we used to be down there boom bapping

all day after school every day. And that's where I made I LaDalph. And, you know, I started. My sister took me to New York between 9th and 10th grade. And we went to Harlem. And on 125th, they still had the vendors. And I bought, that was when I bought my first mixtape,

DJS and S Old School Part 2. And the reason why I bought that tape was because all the songs that were on there, when I would go to the record stores, I couldn't get those songs on vinyl anymore unless they were the, you know, the bootleg copies and everything. So I bought S&S Old School Part 2

and I was just literally blown away like by that tape by S's talk game, like how he was putting records together and hence that just really started my fascination with like mixtape culture. And then, you know, clue kind of was coming up on the scene and when I would get clue tapes from the layup and things like I would feel like

when I would go to school, I'd be like, oh, y'all don't know about this yet. Like, y'all don't have this premier J-Rue remix or, you know, this new biggie, grandpuba Tupac song. Like, so I would feel ahead of the curve and, you know, I was just that, you know, and when it came to, like, DJ and, like, you know, there were battle DJs, there was radio DJs. There was, you know, party DJs and there were mixtape DJs, but the mixtape DJ for me was always just, like, larger than life. So for Philadelphia's, uh, the layup.

My current production manager, Keith McPhee, kind of opened kind of like Phillies. I don't know if it's the first culture store, but it was like the spot where, yeah, it was like the spot where you could get like, what was like first skateboarding gear? Like fresh jive. Yeah. Or, you could get. Stozy. Yeah. Triple five.

Triple five soul. Those hoodies. Early echo. It's not the hoodie. Like, yeah, those, I can't remember. It's the. Or even those skateboard. pants that are like the big at the bottom.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I forget what they called. Yeah, the 40 waist johns that were super big. Yeah. So that's, and that's pretty much like, that was just like the cultural epicenter. That's where like mixtapes were. Yeah. You get cryline spray paint.

Yep. You get to caps. All those things. Everything with their play. They have the white man dashiki. The, um. Yes. With the, yeah, those things.

Oh, I know you're talking about the honey. The hood. Yeah. The hood. Yeah. It looks like it. You see like five white boys at lunch playing hacky sack and shit. Yes, yes.

I would rock that shit all the time. And never shower. So all the fuck of the world's this side of those joists. I love your honesty. It's true. Yeah, come on, dog. I mean, the only reason why dudes would shower in their 20 is if a woman is involved or whatever, like their future partner.

But, you know. Come back. Come back. Come back. Yeah, I'm coming back. Anyway, who is the DJ? Okay, I'm talking about rock the bell. things just like Jeff does.

Yeah. My cash money thing, whatever. But for me, I will say that, like, Cosmic Kev is probably the Sensi DJ that I always have in my head when I'm doing a set or whatever. Like, you're always going to emulate someone because, like, if you're making beats, when you get your drum machine, you start to, you know, all right, let me see if I could do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, that sort of thing. For you as a DJ, who are those DJs?

Who was the sensey, like, who was the mix that was sort of like, damn, I got a... Well, I mean... Or were you even into turntableism or blending? I was going to tell you, I mean, because there was... So for me, it was a few. I mean, definitely probably first, it was DJ Rand because... Yeah, I forgot Rand.

Yeah, because before, you know, before... Rand's still spinning, right? He was, like, with the WWF forever. Yeah, okay. I'm not sure. Shout to Cosmic Cab, too. He just took me on a super history level. and like

about... Was he nice about it? Who Kev? Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked for like two hours just about... Kev has been gently. Like, we've been exchanging nice words.

We discussed like his relationship with Rand and how things came about and how, you know, it went from Rand to Kev and, you know. But when, of course, as it as a youngster, like, it was Kobe Cobb and DJ Ran on radioactive every Friday night. So, you know, people don't realize, like, this is obviously before we had, you know, you You can go on YouTube, Hulu, anything, and watch anything hip hop you want. Back in the day, we only had certain outlets. So you would run home to catch Rap City or Friday night I would be tuned in to

Radioactive to hear it. So, oh, you know who else, too? What? Yeah, yeah. It's fucking Jay Skiy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Talk about Jay's, God damn.

Happy 50th birthday. Jay's fucking. 50, right? Yes. He did. He turned 50, yes. Because what was the station? It was 103.

Yeah, 103 something. You stupid. With Zulu. With Zulu as a family. What is Zulu, man? Zulu's around. He came to his birthday party. Zulu was that?

Yes. Damn. So on the radio side, it was definitely Rann, Kev, and Jay Ski. And then in Philly, for me, it was DJ Ghetto. And Ghetto was like, you know. Ghetto used to be our DMC champion. He would go up against Rock Raider, rest in peace, and, you know, do his DMC thing. And, like, you know, Ghetto has another cousin.

evil Tracy too. But, but ghetto, like, ghetto kind of like, you know, took me in as a youngster and was trying to kind of show me how to really cut and scratch and, you know, do things on his level. I could never get it down to, to that degree. But ghetto definitely, like, befriending me as a young DJ too in Philly. So I salute to him. So those were the guys that I was around or were listening to early on. So when you're in the dramatic era, are you, do you have a regular residency? Are you doing high schools? So dances is the first club I ever DJed at. Bobby dances.

It was for Joanne Lee's birthday party. Oh, the eagle? No, no, Joanne Lee. Joanne Lee is a director. He works with Benny Boom. He does a lot of stuff now, too. My brother to this day, I just saw him the other day. But yeah, that was my first actual club gig was Joanne's birthday party of dances.

This might have been, like, 11th grade. And then I was just doing, like, I would get hired to do, like, block parties. or like birthday parties of, you know, kids that I went to school with or, you know, that I knew around town or what have you. And then, you know, we had to, I remember we had this crew that was this crib off Gerard Avenue that we lived at. And I used to do a lot of their function. So, you know, I was getting, you know, gigs here and there just like around Philly as a kid.

Now, as far as your creative output is a concern. And I specifically want to kind of go step by step, which is why I'm like leaving there. It's a lot. So for you, are you in the mind state of serve my audience? Or like I admit I'm very selfish with my DJing. And I do it. Like I'm like Prince doing darling Nikki.

No one cares about the music, but yourself. Yeah. And but I also know that I have a sheet. of protection that will allow me to play a Mr. Rogers song, or I can play the number song by the Pointer Sisters on Sesame Street. Yeah. You know, they're like, what the hell is he playing? Like, yeah, that Questlove's so crazy.

Like, I know I can do rogue shit. Right. And, you know, and oftentimes the openers are like, yo, man, like, that was crazy you did that. Because even one time, I think Fonte mentioned that someone spun Return to Forever or something. It was a... Or Weather Report. Yeah, it was out of a... It was the Detroit.

It wasn't, I think it was Theo Parrish. Okay, Theo, okay. Well, he's known for dare devil shit. But my whole point is that as a DJ, you kind of have two choices, which is serve the people,

or establish yourself. Right. So at the time, and oftentimes, like opening DJs have it the hardest because they got to, you got to keep them on the floor. You can't,

I remember once an opening DJ got in trouble. He had, like, an early, copy of Brooklyn Zoo. And I think that might have been too, you know, of course, you know, it was like, oh, the new Woottenge on.

Brooklyn Zoo, okay? But it wasn't. The club owner was like, no. You know, that sort of thing. So for you, were you facing any sort of venue structure that would tell you, like, this is what we want and just play R&B or?

So not in Philly. When I was in Philly, I was very stubborn and very East Coast with my taste in music and what I would play like I remember I would do parties and want to play Dr. Octagon

Wow! Oh Jesus, H. Christ. Yeah, like that's where I was at. Like, I wanted to play. You try to make Blue Flowers work, huh? Yeah, exactly. Like, I was, that's where I was at

in my Philly days. And, you know, I wanted to play fucking Smith and Weston album cuts and just, you know, I didn't get to to the stage or era of pleasing the crowd or my audience until I moved to Atlanta. Atlanta did it.

And I don't even want to frame it like it's a compromise because I do think that you're either going to be an effective DJ or you're going to be a teachable lesson DJ. Yeah, well, I was blessed in my career to be able to be that later on because of who I became and who I was. So once I became DJ Drama,

is like, okay, when they come to see me, they also want to be able to, I can, you know, introduce them to something or be a little more stubborn. But it's really going to Clark Atlanta University and being in the AUC for me coming from Philly where I would have people from D.C. Who wanted to hear Go-Go.

I would have, you know, people from the West Coast who wanted to hear shit from L.A. or the Bay. Or I would have people from Texas who wanted to hear Screw or what, what have you. So it taught me how to be well-rounded. So, okay. So, and that's where I was going to go next. You know, the whole, I mean, especially now, you, you kind of morphed into your drama and this before the age of cell phones. So the whole idea of someone putting their phone in your face is like, yeah, like I hate, I'm a no-request person.

Got you. And that's where my ego gets me in trouble. Yeah, I'm not like that. So you're a person of the people? I am. Thank you, God. I'm definitely a person of the people. I thought that was old school. No, no, no, no. I like when people, like, if I go to Vegas and it's eight women who keep putting bad bunny on their phone, I got to play fucking bad bunny.

So even to this day, you're not offended. Like, motherfucker, I'm DJ drama. Like, I created stars. You don't tell Picasso with the paint. See, I got a ego. But that's a part of the job. But that's not, and that's not the capacity. he's there to serve that night.

You know what I'm saying? It's like... Yeah, I mean, there's a... It depends, like... It depends on the gig, too. Like, if I get a, like, a hipster New York gig for, like... I did something for United Masters and, you know, that night they booked me. Like, I know they want to hear drama shit.

Like, I'm going to play Canon remix and I'm going to, you know, go in and play some Gucci or go here with it. But, you know, if I'm at my Vegas residency, like, I'm there to... Yeah, dude the bag of shit. Yeah, like, no, I'm not at the same time. Right. I'm still DJ drama, so I'm not about to fist pump that thing out. Yeah, I was going to say, have you ever had a, uh,

I mean, moment, or at least that was sort of the shit back in 2014. Yeah, I mean, I've played those records at times. Like, what? But that's not the majority of my set. Like, I know when they book me, like, they want to, they come there for a certain reason. I get it. I get it. People, like, when I go even to Vegas, like,

and, you know, Vegas has had a transition at time where it's become much more hip-hop driven than it was. But I'm just saying, like, when I go to gigs, like, people want to hear DJ drama be DJ drama. You know what I'm saying? So it's like... But is it confusing now at this stage in your life where... Okay, so say an album that I would associate you with,

like any Kenyan record. So let's say, like, go crazy. Right. Which came out... 2009, 2008. Yeah. Which, to old guy to me, I'm still like, oh, that's new rap, even though that's old school. Right.

No, no, no. So, no. So it's confusing now? No, not for me, because I go with the times. And I go, like, I just got off a tour with Wiz and Logic, for instance. So, but, and the blessing for me is, though, is that that's not, like, as much as there's an audience that knows me for that, when I get on stage at the Wiz Khalifa and Logic, show, I start with a tile of the creator record. And then I go into a dream, I play stick off

the Dreamville tape. Because that's still my shit. Like, it's still off gangster grills. That's when DJ Dramatic to me kind of enters the thing. I hate, I don't know if you hate when I go DJ Dramatic versus drama, but it's just how I can define. I knew you when you was a mirror. No, it's nothing. But I was drama first, though. I mean, it wasn't like I was dramatic. I was drama and then I tried to change it to Dramatic. Then I went back. So it wasn't like I was originally DJ Dramatic. I was DJ Drama first. But you, okay, I'll accept that. But you know, when I say dramatic, it's also like to an era, a time when you did have a certain lane that you were in that you have left sense. Well, what happened was, I didn't know.

I mean, like, as much as I was putting into gangster girls, I was putting into automatic relaxation. One just took off from the other. Okay, so let me ask you, when you decide to go to Clark University. Yep. Clark Atlanta. Clark Atlanta. Yep. and I assume that you're transporting your equipment with you.

Yep. So, and that's important. Like, you already know that in your dorm, that your big-ass speakers and your records and your turntables. All had to come with me. Are coming with you. Okay. Absolutely.

No question. Without. Were your parents like, what the hell are you doing? Like, you're in a dorm. In a dorm, yeah. How are you? They, you know, I mean, by that point, I was already, like, kind of, you know, they had, they, it was clear.

that I was on a certain path and I was, you know, this DJ thing was more than a hop. So it was going to happen in college, not just some high school thing and... Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know if they knew. I mean, clearly they didn't see this happening. Like, you know, I mean, my mom, even after school was concerned about me

getting a real, quote-unquote, real job. But yeah, I mean, when I got to school, like, it was, you know, I brought my Philly Hustle with me. Like, Lail tell you, like, freshman year, when everybody was freak-nicked out, I bought a bunch of T-shirts, from this guy named Moot and I was hustling T-shirts during Freaknik.

Like I didn't partake in none of the activities. Or I would set up on campus, we had these green trash cans, and I had this little yellow radio, and I would like hustle my mixtapes in between classes. How did you find an outlet to establish yourself in Atlanta? Well, I mean, the outlet was the AUC. It was our world. I mean, there was enough. And Marking at Marcos?

You feel like working at Marcos, too, was- I mean, Marcos people- I didn't go to college. The AUC, Atlanta University, Atlanta University Center. So that's Clark, Atlanta, that's Morris Brown at the time. That's Morehouse's Spellman. So you literally have four historically black colleges and universities right in one epicenter. So there's multitudes of parties and gigs available.

So I was... Did you try to find your flock or... No, I can't. Or were you like, okay, where do they end to down here? It just happened naturally because, you know, as you start doing gigs, I mean, you realize, oh, I got people from everywhere. So, you know, I learned very early on. And I shout to my man, DJ Sense.

And Sense is also from Philly. We met freshman year. And he kind of was a little more commercially driven than I was at the time. Like, I was real backpack rap. And he was like bad boy. You know what I'm saying? So us doing gigs together, he kind of helped influence and inspire me to get, you know, he yelled at me one time.

I cut the Benjamins off too early. Oh, wow. I had a gig. He was like, bro, like, you can't cut it off at this part. And he was right,

you know what I'm saying? So us doing gigs together, I kind of got more into my commercial bag. And, you know, because I still, even when I was in school, when I was doing these college gigs,

I was still DJing Lourists Loungees. I was still at yin-yang cafe doing poetry shit. You didn't know you was at yin-gang. You know what I mean? Like, I was still into that world. So I was bouncing between worlds in a way. Who was the DJ down?

here that was your oh shit or your Kaiser Sosa coffee mug slow drop realization thing that this is some neck shit down here that I have to first it was DJ Nabs Nabs was the ultimate I mean he was on the radio

he was on television he was he had he had Nabs in the lab at Club Kaya Sunday night which was just the ultimate experience. And then I think for me, it probably was DJ Mars. Mars also at the time was, you know, he used to be on, he had a BET gig. So he was doing, what was that show called? It was one of them shows. Mars was on the radio, you know, he was on every day. And he was in the

club. So he was like one of, you know, one of those, like the guys that we look towards as like, damn, that's the next level. So. And he was like, one of, you know, one of those, like, the guys that's the next level. So, and he, he, it's funny because I did the same thing with you too. I know you don't remember this, but I used to like write for this like little magazine or like little zine and I went and did an interview with Mars. That's how I like got, I introduced myself to him. I went to go interview him at the station and then I'd handed him one of my mixtapes and he was like, yo, this shit's hot.

And oddly enough, when you guys came to Atlanta one time, I did the same. Same thing with you. I did an interview with you for the magazine. And that was how I first found out about Dilla, because this was the era where you were Dill it out. And you were just, you told me like, yo, all we do is listen to Slum Village. And this is mid, late 90s and everything.

And yeah, so I would kind of, you know, wiggle my way in, however, whatever, to, you know, get my name out there or get my tapes in people's hands. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together.

I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, Wolf forades, I'll Believe in Anything, and tattoos all the things she said, and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, Crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right now, the greatest tournament on the planet is happening on home. soil and the whole world showed up. Every match, somebody's dream ends and somebody becomes a legend. And if you're feeling all of it, the nerves,

the heartbreak, the pure joy, you need people to feel it with. That's us. I'm Castle 1021 and this is the 1021 podcast where the World Cup meets the culture. We react to every twist, say the takes nobody else will, play the games, call the shots, and celebrate

this beautiful game the way it's meant to be. Loud, proud, and a little bit crazy. upsets, penalties, the goat debate that never dies, we're in it with you all the way to the final. So don't watch it alone. Bring the passion. Bring the hot takes.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam Jay. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports.

Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women sports.

Naomi Osaka showing out, she beat Sabalinka. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi. I mean, you get the harm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports.

On the Iheart radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia,

AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it.

And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director, Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. I thought he was going to write. I thought you were going to write a song.

I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo rewatch on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Like, I feel like Atlanta really found itself with what organized noise and nowcasts and all those guys established. Absolutely. So, but the thing is, is that I didn't call it anything. Like, I know, like, New Orleans is bounce and there's bass music in Miami.

But what was Atlanta's culture before trap? Like, first of all, does Atlanta own what we know as trap? Absolutely. 100%. So what was before the BC era of that? It was Dungeon Family. I mean, so you think, I moved here in 96. Okay.

96, Eladelf Half-Life came out. 96, A.T. aliens came out. Bloody Waters, Red Man. Lottie Waters came out. Reasonable. Mob Deep, second album came out. Hell on Earth came out. The score?

And I have an elevator's question to ask you. I came right when elevators kind of hit. Okay, so let me ask you something. All right. And why is elevators like my new Latin quarters? There's so many tangents we can go. So much I got to talk. I want to say.

like, just while we're here. All right. So when we asked, you know, LA read and organized noise, my thing was,

I would ask them, why would they take such a risk with the sonic choice of elevators? Yes, it's a masterpiece of a song,

but who knew at the time? I was just like, yo, who would ever put like a song that's like 86 BPMs, which was very slow

at the time compared to what was hitting? And it was just everything about that song was just like it was a risk it was a hell merry throw that got caught and you know organized noise explained that you know they leaked it first and of course la rebe really wanted ATLans to come out first they put it they took it to the radio station and just like enforced it right right and then but as a DJ like could you explain to me the effect that that song had on or just at the time like yeah

I mean, it was Atlanta. So, again, it was when ATLians dropped, just, you know, the pride and the sonics and the creativity of that album, you know, Southern Playalistic was already a thing. Right. And then A.T. aliens came and it was like, oh, these, these boys is different, you know. I mean, that was the era when 3,000 was walking around with the turban and, you know, goody mob had, you know, dropped and everything. So it was like, I just think the pride in, you know, I hear stories about before Outcasts about how you would go to certain clubs in Atlanta like warehouse and things and people would almost want to kind of act like they were from New York, you know? And then he just said that. Yeah, they just said that. Yeah. And then it was Outcast that was almost brought that pride out where it made people in Atlanta feel proud to be from Atlanta or from the South. You know what I get it. So yeah. So before. The trap era, you know, Atlanta was defined by dungeon family, by So So Deaf, and, you know, by LaFace Records.

And that was, that was the, you know, the trifecta of what Atlanta was. So when you are down here, at what point the cast of characters that were known as the affiliates, how are they amalgamating themselves in your life? Like, are you meeting them now? point. So I met DJ Sense literally the first day I get to school in Clark, Atlanta. I get in, we go to the dorm to Brawley Hall. And my room number was 215. Crazy, right? And then somebody told Sense, hey, you know, there's a DJ on the second floor from Philly. And he had told, he told me it kind of already heard about me in Philly, like, you know, it's crazy to think. I had a little buzz, but he had a, you know, he knew about me.

So we, like, battled it. We battled in my room, like, the first day we met, just kind of going back and forth on the turntable was cutting and scratching. And then, you know, we were doing parties together and we were, you know, like a dynamic duo. And just, you know, people would book me or book him or we would go together and we would do all the parties. And then my next year, this tall, lanky kid gets on campus and, like, he had heard of about me and he kind of was like, yo, my name's Donnie Brasco.

I'm from Philly and I'm a DJ. I make beats and I was kind of, you know, Kyle, you know, him and Kyle went to school together. So Kyle kind of like put a sour taste in my mouth early on, like that, that canon was a nut. Kyle was part of Tyree and them school. It was a whole crew of Philly dudes at Went on in Florida. It was, it was Dane. Dane was Dane was there. You had a North Carolina.

Yeah, Carolina. It was Chris and Ealy. It was Dame. It was me since. And I had like my school crew and then I had like my Rubik's Jacks and you know my hip hop my Binkus crew.

Wow. Binkus. Rest of peace with my brother Jacks. But so finally Cannon wound up giving me a beat CD and I went home and I listened to it and I was like, yo this shit is fucking fire. So next day I see him on campus

I'm like yo, yo I've listened to your beat tape that shit's hard. Like, you know, come through the crib. So it went from me. me and sense to me since in canon and then we were just the three of us were like you know damn they're inseparable like don't while we were in school and we would do a bunch of gigs together or just support each other or you know when I was selling tapes like canon and sense would make their tapes and I would you know I would sell them all and um we would just do events together

but we the way the affiliates came about is because there was a crew called the super friends which was DJ Mars, DJ Trauma. There was Cowboy was in there. Ferenheit. Shaquim was super friends. And they made us part. We were like the youngest of the crew, and they, you know, invited us in.

And the DJ trauma that is currently wish about, okay, just. And, you know, that was one of the reasons why I tried to change my name to dramatic. It's because of trauma. Trauma and drama. And his name is Tyree. And y'all both had locks.

And we both had locks at the time. And he was on the radio and he was on fire. And it was like everywhere I would go and try to say I'm DJ Drama, they'd be like, trauma and I'd be like, no, trauma. And it just used to frustrate me like, man, I'm about to just change my name. And Mars, you know, interestingly enough, was like, yeah, don't change your name for nobody. And trauma was his best friend. But he, you know, he said, don't change your name for nobody.

Like, if that's your name, that's your name. So we were part of the super friends. And we were really trying to be focused like, on mixtapes and Super Friends were very party driven. And we kind of, we went through a little disagreement at the time. As my memory serves me, Jacob York offered the Super Friends opportunity to do an album. And we were kind of already, you know, filling a certain type of way because, you know, we weren't like they were getting all the gigs and, you know, we were trying to make our name.

We couldn't get no sponsorship for the mixtapes because they were getting all the sponsorship for the parties and everything. And they were like, yo, if we do an album, let's call it Gangster Grills. that's the strongest brand out of all of us. And I was like, I don't, nah, I don't want to call the Super Friends album Gangsta Girls. Like, that's my shit. So they basically, like, when did you morph and do Gangster Grill's? I started Gangster Grill's in 2000.

So by like 0.3, 04 had become a thing, like where it was, you know, Little John was the first person to host it. So I used his voice on Gangster Grill's 4. And it was still just like a compilation at the time. and, you know, I did like Gangster Girls 5, and I just kept using John's voice. Right. How did you, so how do you approach an artist? Because for a lot of the artists that were on Gangster Grill's mixtape, like, as an outsider, I didn't know none of those people. So, you know, I'm hearing TIE for the first time.

I'm hearing, like, everyone that you put on. Right. GZ. Trapper Dio. Yeah, yeah, GZ and all those things. Even, like, really the first time I really paid attention to Wayne and all that stuff is really on Gangster Group. Right. So, like, how are you propositioning them and approaching them to do these things?

Each situation differs in a way, but, like, Little John was, since was working at the station, and Circe and Little John were partners in B&E. And John used to be up there all the time. And, you know, John was, he's one of the most down-to-earth, humble guys in the world. And I literally just asked them, you know, this was the time when I was panning. attention to what was going on on the East Coast. And I asked him like, yo, would you host a mixtape for me? And he was like, sure. And he came to my crib and the fourth ward. And hence the gangster Grizzio's drop was born. And, you know, he hosted the tape. Jason Jeter is the first person to ever call me.

He got my number off the back of a mixtape from the barbershop. Now think about this. I get a thousand DMs a day about artists trying to get on. The first phone call I ever got was from Jason Jeter and he was like, hey, my name's Jason Jeter. I have this new artist sign to LaFace. We have a song with Beanie Siegel called Two Glock's Nine. I got one of your mixed tapes. I want to bring them through to freestyle on one of your tapes.

And I was like, all right, sure, cool, whatever. So. Sight unseen, you don't know. Never met Tip, never wasn't even familiar with the two glocks nine. record yet so he literally comes to the crib Jeter and Tip super shy and quiet at the time you know I had my equipment in like where the laundry room would be he comes in there I pick a beat I pick the for the fan beat the Rockefeller yeah yeah with the one with a mill and everybody on right and he he freestiled on that and at the end of the freestyle he said you know the king of the south and I

remember once him and Jeter left I went to sense like yo this niggas said he's the king of the South. Like, he's tripping. So that was literally our introduction. And then, you know, Jeter was also from Jersey. So he was paying attention to my mixtape grind and what I was doing. And they were kind of, you know, once things didn't work out between them at L.A. Reed, they got on their mixtape grind. So we were kind of both coming up at the same time. Where I lived on Glenn Iris, Coach K lived around the corner from me. Ah. Okay. We got cool with Coach K. He had this group called Jay. He had this group called Jay. who Bobby Creekwater was a part of,

who later got signed to Shady. He was on Shady. That was Coach Kay's first group. And then he also used to work for Alan Henderson in Hindu when Alan Henderson had a record label. But we got cool with Coach K. And then he told me like, yo, I got this artist from making. His name is GZ.

And he had an album out. The first album they put out was called Come Shop with me. And then GZeezy, I would, coach would bring GZ over and I would make show CDs for GZ. I would charge him like $100 and he would come and I would he would just he was doing shows and making. Okay. And I would like make CDs. He would take instrumentals, whatever instrumentals were hot at the time.

And I would just make them little like show CDs to put together. As Gangster Girls was becoming a thing. So then I did like John tape. Then like I think Scrappy hosted one. Then Jeter called me and was like, yo, I've been listening to the tapes. I got this idea. let's do all TI and PSC Gangster Grills. And I was like, bet, you know,

and at the time, I'm just fascinated by Green Lantern and who kid and what Fifth is doing and what they're doing. And so Jeter and Tip gave me the opportunity to do the type of mixtape that I wanted to do. So you felt, because I'm just amazed that your amount of faith is so weird. Like, I need to have this conversation because I'm such a no now, no,

or who's going to be there? Who are going to be there? Like that sort of thing and get me out of this or whatever. But it seems to me that your, the key to your success is the word yes. Absolutely. Yes and.

Absolutely. Like I'm the type of guy, I give, when I go outside, I give my number to everybody. Wow. The worst thing that I can do is not answer. It's not right. Because I think about that all the time.

What if I would have told Jeter no? Wow. So. Now I think about all the news I've told the Geter. in my life. Now, don't get me wrong. I've, you know, I mean, I've missed out on some things. Have you, yeah, have you passed up on a moment that, like, damn, I could have had,

blah, blah, blah. Of course. Name three. Three notable. You probably worked with them since, but at least, like, you could at least introduce them to the world or whatever. I mean, I've said this before, but Drake definitely wanted a gangster grills very early on. All right.

For sure. And you didn't know about him or was just like you were too busy or? It was, I just, it didn't happen. You know, I mean, he went and, he, because he, I mean, he did a Southern Smalls tape, like DJ Smalls. So at the time, there was Southern Smoke and there was Gangster Grills. So, and then Bunby was a very early believer. So then I did the tip, I did the tip, Ganks to Grills, and that just, like, took off in the streets. And it was like, you know, Tip was on fire.

Gangster Grills was becoming a thing. And, you know, that's, that was the soundtrack of the streets in Atlanta, the T-I-P-S-C meets gangster grills. and then I did a tape for Bun and then I did a gangster girls party and I had like it was in Buckhead and I think Tip hosted

Bone Crusher hosted I think David Banner Bone Crusher hosted I think David Banner Bone Crusher Host and I was Gangster Girls like seven and it was like that that was insane that was a big one but it was still a compilation at the top Right so then Coach and Gizi took me out

They wanted to take me to lunch one day So they took me to the spot called Harry and Sons and Gizi tells me, yo, I was at your party. Yo, I don't know how much you know, but the streets like, fuck with you. You know, and I'm like, we're like, you know, I'm in the streets selling.

You're unaware of this? Yeah, I'm very unaware. Like, when he, his, his, his, what his streets are wasn't what my streets were. That part. My streets were like. Even being in Atlanta? Yeah, well, I was familiar, you know what I'm saying?

Because I was doing parties for like, BMF and things of that nature. But the streets for me were like going to the flea market and selling boxes of CDs, you know. You're not going to bank hit or... I'm going anywhere. I'm going anywhere that they sell CDs, I'm going. Okay.

But I'm not, you know... In the streets. Yeah, I'm selling mixed tapes. I'm not selling nothing but mixed tapes. Right. That part. You know, yeah. So then, you know, Gizi tells me like,

yo, when Meach goes to campus, that's where he goes and gets his gangster girls from. Like, he's listening to your shit. And he's like, listen, I got this vision. Like, I want to do it gangster girls with you. He had it all mapped out. And I was listening, like, no doubt. But at the time, I had never done a tape with somebody who wasn't known yet.

And that was the first time I got paid for a tape. They gave me $1,000. And we did the tape. It was called Streets is Watching. God damn. I could have changed my life with just $10, $100 bills. Right? What the fuck?

Why did we go to you? Back then. I had a thousand bucks. Shit. He paid me $1,000 to do the tape. He was already working good. Yeah, you was on, like, what are we talking about? Right, like on fifth record.

Yeah, how many Grammys did you have by this place? Yeah, oh, yeah. Come on. Oh, yeah, you get. We still, to this day, we, it's almost like we cut, like, someone took us to the front of the bank line on a Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I got, we got to go back to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue and Oriental Avenue. Like, we got park places and all that stuff, but we realized that there's an early gap that we skipped.

And it doesn't matter. Like, I could have 42 Oscars. We have to scratch that itch with black people. Yeah, they never did, like the conferences and stuff, like the, how to be down, Jack the Rapper, Impact. We wanted to, but, you know, Geffen wouldn't have it. So anyway, so go. So then, yeah, so originally the tape was called G's Up,

but that was the name of Scrappy's group at the time. So we changed it to Streets is Watching. So when I did Streets is Watching, again, Gangster Girls was a bigger brand than Young Jee's. at the time. So we put the tape out and we put it out around Birthday Bash era and you know, within a couple months

I mean, I remember the first person ever told me my man Jay who does Rawl Report who wound up doing the DVD with GZeezy for Trapper Die but I was on Glen Iris with my dad and he drove, he was driving by and he was like, yo, that GZEE tape that's the best gangster grills you've ever done. And I'm like, we're, I just told Gizi this other day and I was like, we're the new nigga? Like, because I'm, I'm, I'm

I'm T-Ied out, you know what I'm saying? Like, Tip, the King, like, I'm on fire with Tip. And he's like, yo, the GZ tape, like, that shit hits different. So, you know, a couple months in, Coach K is like, DROM, you got to come on the road with us. Like, you got to see what's going on. Like, they're doing this word for word. There's one thing you're skipping.

I got to know this. As far as the marketing and the distribution. Yeah. Is there only one place to get this? Because how is Tariq? Well, I mean, I guess y'all, I don't know. how he got your joint with it. No, so really, thankfully, the bootleggers were, like, taking my shit to the next level.

They were doing a lot of legwork for me. So you didn't know that you were national? No. I went to, when Gangster Girl 7 came out, I wound up finding out where the bootleg spot was. And this was around the time. No, I'm sorry, it was Gangs Girl 6. It was Gangs Girl 6. But it was 50 Cent get Richard die trying and it just came out.

We wound up finding out where the bootleg spot were in the West End. And we went there. And I literally saw as many gangster grill sixes as I did get Richard Dye trying bootlegs. And I was like, I was like fastened. I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. Not thinking, damn, like, I'm not really making a lot of money but these things are just making a lot of money off my shit.

But it's a mixtape. So it was for me, it was a, you know, it was a calling. Like, I mean, it was my calling car. Like, so I was just excited. And I was moving around. Like, I would come to Canal Street in New York. And I would, you know, even at a time when they were telling me, Like, no, we don't really check for South mixtapes.

I would just be like, listen, take this. It's all yours, like, you know, and let me know how it does. And I would call back a couple weeks, months later, and they'd be like, yo, send us some more. So when did that start? Is that like after six? Is that from the jump? Or is that like?

That was all around the time. It was all around that time. Around six, around the, by the time Trapper died came out, Gangster Girls was the thing. So it was like, I didn't go anywhere in the country. I was on tour with TI at the time, and I was hearing my shit coming out of every car. And then I was like, damn, what I'm going to do next? And the next tape I did was dedication.

Okay, y'all, so that's going to conclude part one of our conversation with DJ Drama. But wait a minute, you need to stay tuned for part two, where we speak to drama about making mixtape classics with Little Wayne, his evolution from making those tapes to platinum hits and why he is so proud about working with Fonte and Little Brother on Sep. but equal. Oh, y'all don't want to miss that conversation. It gets deep and so good. But listen, stay tuned because we got more with my family rep in ZAU all day, DJ Drama. Questlove Supreme is a production of I-Hart Radio. For more podcasts from I-Hart Radio, visit the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

A Home World Cup only happens once in a lifetime, and we are not missing a second. I'm Castle On the 1021 podcast, me and the crew break down every match like it's personal. The drama, the upsets, the debates you'll be having all day. Soccer, culture, and chaos in one place. Pick aside, we already did. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Portlandia fans.

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia A.O. Rewatch, our brand new podcast, We revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends,

including director Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song about it. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to pop. Adlandia AEO rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam, it's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from together. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments, and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game-changing performances to culture-shifting conversations, we'll give you our takes, our debates, and a few laughs along the way. Because everyone watches women's sports.

Listen to everyone watches women's sports On the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea Every week the news gets worse The world gets crazier And Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible You're the problem

Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was If he got a bunch of women Then I should have a bunch of men Do better or do less So I don't have to do so much I'm Yamanika and I'm out Listen to you're the problem with Yomeney was on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.