The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: DJ Drama Part 1

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

DJ Drama meets up with Questlove Supreme in Atlanta to revisit his Philly roots. The Gangsta Grillz creator recalls growing up in Philly, 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.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, all. wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's

East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar.

This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice of Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall

and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test once. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alesspian.

Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to a love trapped podcast on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Supremma, Suprema Roll Call. Supremma, Submma, Submina Roll Call. Supreme a Roll Call. Warm up my Panini. Yeah. On my forming grill. Yeah.

Warm her for Nani. Yeah. On my Instagram. Yeah. Suprima, Submira Roca. Supreme a Roca. My name is Fonte. Yeah.

drama's my peoples Yeah The best gangster grills Separate but equal What the fuck Yeah Supremea My name is sugar

Yeah I don't need no drama Yeah But I do need a DJ Yeah Oh fucker you're hired Rolecom Hey

I'm offended Suprima Robcom Slaia Yeah And it's a must Yeah You know that DJ drama

Yeah Was my college crush Roll Kong Suprema, sub, sub, sub, supremer roll call. DJ drama, yeah. You know my mama. Yeah. She's a white lady.

Yeah. She didn't go to Grady. Yeah, call her. Supremar roll. Supriamor roll. 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, 1994. I kept receipts of which

DJs were open to us and feeling the support and of course you know some cats up in New York Tony Toka you know Tony Touch

showed his love this cat named boo the barber who used to do these blends showed his love of course fill his 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 Adelph on it You know, it meant something to me because this is the first time that I'm hearing Maliki and Tariq 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 Slithering tour bus in the Gryffindor

tour bus. So I'd be on Slytherin, which was Torek's bus. And, you know, which was it was always popping on his bus. We were the nerd bus, but, you know, his drawing was always popping. And it wasn't until, like, the end of maybe the phrenology tour

where Tarek'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 mixtape 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 Touch,

like, you know, like, you know, like, Caisley or. Yeah, all those, like, we barely got. I don't want them join us. 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 IG about it, but never like in-depth.

This is going, yes, this is our first in-depth conversation. So, ladies and gentlemen, please work. Welcome to Questlove Supreme, the master, God himself. Mr. Thanksgiving. Yes. DJ Drama. Oh, man. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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 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 Bahamadilla and, you know, my roommate when I got to college was Rubik's who's best friend. was Talib Kuali and I'm DJ and lyricist 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 Phil.

a Philly map on the side. So we still wrap. Word up. Okay. That's what's up. Of course, Laia. You mentioned it on your roll call that you two went to Clark. So now you're from Atlanta.

I remember the day. It was our first day at school. No, don't do that. That's a lot. 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. 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 john. And the locks. Yeah. 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 it was in demand, he would do an automatic relaxation mixtape again. I just want to say that to everybody who's listening. Did you hear this fontage? You hear that all your 50-year-old is out there? Right. Interestingly enough, interestingly 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 lovables 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 were 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 illadelf tape with you know thoughts you have a copy of it i do ah i just I should have brought it. Damn. I definitely should have brought it. I got the green cup. My own boy from Philly, who lives across the street from a mom, 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 to see where I came from and where I'm at now. How it started, how it's going. Yeah, how it's going. So for you, what was your first musical memory? My first musical memory for me is being in Germantown. My dad lived on Rubikam Street and the older kids having the younger kids say the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water. Let it burn.

Let it burn. And they left out motherfucker. Like I literally 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 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 Yeah I didn't get the three stripes so

But they were still Adidas though, right? They were Adidas. They were Adidas, but they weren't just three-striped ones. There was like an Eckerd's drugs. My parents were doing like a... Eckert shit. They were doing, uh, my parents were doing a, they were doing a residency in San Juan Puerto Rico. Anybody from Puerto Rico that remembers, uh, 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 threatened, 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 30th, flew back to the States and came back home with all these messages like, are you guys alive? Are you? 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 they had four stripes. There's like the 1299 George Stripes.

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 pleathered thriller suit and I got four stripes in my Adidas. Yeah, he was a nerd. Well, similar, yeah, I got the wrong. I felt like I didn't get the right Adidas. 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 up, you know, I mean, the first, like, piece of violence. that I got was this compilation vinyl. It was called like street rap. It was like a K-Tale Records join 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 it had Roxanne, Roxanne, U-TFO. K-Tel. And I remember like, you know, literally like memorizing Roxanne, Roxanne by U-TFO. And it had a couple 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 in Love Park there started to be this movement or this group of black skateboarders. So it was, 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 so what about Chuck Trees was he around that 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're a little younger But you know they they used to basically like make fun of me because I could barely land a kickflip and like or even like when we we used to like go to wah-wah and like steal the fucking the jugs of ice tea and everything. And then like when we would 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, is 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 juiced 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 a yeah yeah so it was tough it was tough so i originally got like a belt drive turntable and one mixer um i remember was it a gemini or a technique it was a gemini it was a gemini belt drive yeah it was a gemini so for those that are wondering drive drive versus direct drive belt drive is like you know yeah when you chikikin chicken yeah it takes a long time to rev back up. So like, look a good time. 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?

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 so connected. Philly. 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

transitive axia, if equals B and B equals C. Yeah. By a couple years. Ari's so classy. Like, I always thought he was like slightly older than me. Yeah, we're in the same class. Two-55. 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 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 in 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 Eastern 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 a sense. 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, nonvolving coordinating 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. Bro, I wanted to go to Friends Select or GFS or Penn Charter 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 friend school. But I think it might just be a Philist school.

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, Funko Mart and Sounds a 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. Party and Bulls. Shit was the B-side. So you spend album cuts

and the grooves are this small and not loud enough. Feedback. Super Ghetto Red Red. Getto Red Hot. Super Cat, Ghetto 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, you know,

my introduction to, like, hip hop and DJN. And this was all around that era. A win is a win. A win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands.

I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft.

And we've got a special guest, the director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network. on TikTok. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means,

but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come, look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was basically, solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in someone, correct?

I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to craft. the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been in indicted on fraud charges.

This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast 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 bucks. Right. And so, I mean, lucky for me, my dad had, like, access to stuff, usually, like, band members that succumb to an addiction or whatever, and whatever, leave the equipment.

That's how, like, would inherit drum sets when I was younger. But, like, DJ equipment, though, man, was, like. 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 the Geminii mixer that had the eight-second sampler? Yes. Scratch Master.

Yeah, I had that. Oh, my God. How do you know that? I had one. Well, I had access to one. I always had one. That was like, you were DJ too? No, no, no.

I used to make beats on it. Like, oh, yeah. And looped. 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, I had that. 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? This. Dear Spabby. You know, and then, you know, my grandparents actually, I think, were the ones who bought me my technique

1,200s. 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, $400 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 get 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 gift, birthday and Christmas type gifts and stuff. But, you know, lunch money is how I did my record collection. And then you- Starved. Just starve in school. Starves, yeah. Deal somebody's family.

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 as a filmmaker and she used to do like make independent films and hence how we first met because she brought me to I guess it was was it at Temple

it was for the premiere of Past the Popcorn video 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 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 a video, right. So, yeah, like, my last day

at Roughhouse, just, you know, I just threw spaghetti on the wall, it's stuck, and I just happened to ask Chris Schwartz right after lunch, because I would notice after lunch he'd be in a different mind state. And I was just like, hey, you know, he knew about the roots and, you know, saw some shows or whatever and always wondered 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. He was like 7,500 thing. To do organics? No, to do the past popcorn And we shot past the popcorn on Thanksgiving morning

Wow Like, yeah Shout out to Chris Schwartz A Roughhouse Records And I remember too My other friends used to be cool with Kenyatta I used to look up to Yeah, I used to look up to Yacht

Like but no 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 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, 1030. 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. first studio 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&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. and get those songs on vinyl anymore because they were, 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 of 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, oh, wow. Or, you could get to, Stozy, yeah, those, 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 was there. Get a source magazine.

They have the white man dashiki. Yes, with the, yeah, those things. Oh, I know you're talking about. The hood. Yeah. 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. Yeah. Yeah. 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 20s 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 trying to rock the bells thing, just like Jeff. does, 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 were those DJs? Who was the Sensi? Like, who was the mix that was sort of like, damn, I got to... 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 Ran because... Damn, I forgot Rand. Yeah, because before... Rand's still spinning, right? He was, like, with the WWF ever.

Yeah, okay. I'm not sure. Shout to Cosmic Cab, too. He just took me on a super history lesson, like, Was he nice about it? Who, Kev? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked for like two hours just about.

Kev has been gently. 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 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 can go in, 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? Yeah, yeah. It's fucking Jay Skiy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Talk about Jay's. God damn. Happy 50th year birthday. Jay's fucking 50, right? Yes. He did. He turned 50. Yes. Because what was the station? It was 103. Yeah, 103.

You stupid. You stupid. With Zulu, Alabama. 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 Ran, Kev, and Jay Ski. And then in Philly, for me, it was DJ Ghetto. And Ghetto was like... Yes, Ghetto. Yeah, 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 named Evil Tracy, too. 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 that degree. But ghetto definitely, like, befriended 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, do you have a regular residency? Are you doing high schools?

So dances is the first club I ever DJed at. Bobby Dance. It was for Joanne Lee's birthday party. No, no, Joanne Lee. Juan 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, 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 functions. 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

to go step by step, which is why I'm, like, leading there. It's a lot. So for you, are you in the mind state of serve my audience? Or, like, I'll 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 to sell. Yeah. And, but I also know that I have a shield 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 and kind of get, you know, they were 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 who was, it was the Detroit. It wasn't, um, things still perish. Okay, Well, he's known for Daredevil 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, And I think that might have been too, you know, of course, you know, it was like, oh, the new Wootenel. Mm-hmm. Okay. But it wasn't. The club owner was like, no. 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 tried 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 & Wesson album cuts and just, you know, I didn't get 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, it's 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 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-ness 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 your people, your person of the people.

I am. Thank you, God. I'm definitely a person to 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 what the paint. See, I got a ego. It's a part of the job. But that's not the capacity he's there to serve that night. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, there's a, it does.

It depends, like, it depends on the gig, too. Like, if I get it, 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 do the Vegas shit. Yeah, like, no, I'm not at the same.

same time, like, I'm still DJ trauma, so I'm not about to fist pump that thing out. Yeah, I was going to say, have you ever had a, uh, uh, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, I mean, moment, or at least that was sort of the shit back in 2014. Yeah, I mean, I've, 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. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Like, when they, 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 Canadian record, so let's say like Go Crazy. Right. Which came out in 2009, 2008. Yeah.

Which, to an 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 is

an audience that knows me for that, when I get on stage at the Wiz Khalifa and Logic show, I start with a title of 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 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. And 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 kind of left sense. Well, what happened was, I didn't know. I mean, like, as much 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. 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 it. Were your parents like, what the hell are you doing? Like, you're in a dorm.

In a dorm, yeah. How are you? 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 hobby. So it was going to happen in college, not just some high school. 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, La'Eille will tell you, like, freshman year when everybody was freak-nicked out, I bought a bunch of t-shirts from this guy named Mute, and I was hustling T-shirts during Freaknick. Like, I didn't partake in none of the activities. Like, or I would set up on campus on, 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 Marker & Marcos? You feel like working in Marcos, too? I mean, Marcos people. I didn't go to college, UC. The AUC, Atlanta University, Atlanta University Center. So that's Clark, Atlanta. 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, what did 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. At 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 Lourist Loungees. I was still at Yinyang Cafe doing poetry shit. You didn't know you was at Yangang. 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, you know, 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 had Nabs in the lab at Club Kaya Sunday night, which was just the ultimate experience. And then I think for me, it would probably be. 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 looked towards as like,

damn, 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, 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 handed him one of my mixtapes, and he was like, yo, this shit's hot. And oddly enough, when you, you guys came to Atlanta one time, I did the same thing with you. I was, I did an interview with you for the magazine. And that was how I, for, you.

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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions. my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

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The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands.

I said, oh, hell no, I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest.

The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters. when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar, this is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up and coming

talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story.

This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.

Greg Alespie and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on Fraud charges.

This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped Podcast 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 outcast 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 I moved here in 96. Okay. 96, Eladelf Half-Life came out.

96 ATLians came out. Muddy Waters, Red Man. Muddy Waters came out. Reasonable. Mob Deep. Second album came out. Hell on Earth, yeah. 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. So just while we're here. All right. So when we asked, you know, L.A. 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, L.A. really wanted. ATLNs to come out first. 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 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 and, 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. He just said that. Yeah. And then it was outcast that 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 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 at this point? So I met DJ Sense literally the first day I get to school in Clark Atlanta. We go to the dorm to Broly Hall.

And my room number was 2-15. Crazy, right? And then somebody told since, hey, you know, there's a DJ on the second floor from Philly. And he had 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 rut. 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 scratch. 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 about me and he kind of was like, yo, my name's Donnie Brascoe, 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.

Went on all Philly. It was Dane. Dane was Dane was there. You had a North Carolina. Yeah, Carolina. It was Chris and Ealy. It was Dane. 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 Binkets crew. Wow. Binky. Rest of peace to my brother, Jacks. But so finally, Canon 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's just hard. Like, you know, come through the crib. So it went from me and sense

to me sensing Canon. And then we were just, the three of us were like, you know, damn they're inseparable. Like, while we were in school and we were doing,

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 we I would sell them all and 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 um uh there was cowboy was in there Fahrenheit Sha Kim was super friends and they made us part they we were like the young of the crew and they, you know, invited us in. And the DJ trauma that is currently wish about, okay, okay. And you know, it was, 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. Oh, man. 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, drama. And it just used to frustrate me like, like, man. I'm about to just change my name. And Mars, you know, interestingly enough, was like, yo, don't change your name for nobody. And trauma was his best friend. But, 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 SuperFriends, and we were really trying to be focused, like, on mixtapes. And SuperFriends 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 the Gangster Girls because 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 Gangster Girls. Like, that's my shit. So they basically like... Wait, when did you more, and do gangster grills? I started Gangster Grills in 2000.

So by like 03, 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 Girls 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 T.I. for the first time. Right. I'm hearing, like, everyone that you put on. Right. Jeezy. Trapid. Yeah, yeah, GZ and all those things. Even, like, really the first time I've 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 is, is, 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 him, you know, this was the time when I was paying 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 in the fourth ward, and hence the gangster Grizzials 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 2Glox 9. 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. Sight unseen, you don't know. Never met Tip, never, wasn't even familiar with the 2Glock's

9 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 it. And he freestyled 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 nigga 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 gron 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. Okay. We got cool with Coach K. He had this group called Jadis, who Bobby Creekwater was a part of, who later got signed to Shady. That was Coach K'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 GZ, 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 just, he would, 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 Grills 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 that right

Yeah 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 Jeter's of my life

Now don't get me wrong I've you know I mean I've missed out on some things Have you've 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 it 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 gangster 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 was the soundtrack of the streets in Atlanta, the T-I-PSC meets gangster grills. And then I did a tape for Bun. And then I did a gangster grills party. And I had like,

I had it, it was in Buckhead. And I think Tip hosted, Bone Crusher hosted. I did, I think, David Banner. Yeah, I did a tape with David Banner, Bone Crusher Host, and I was getting Scroars like seven, and it was like, that was insane. That was a big one.

But it was still a compilation at the time. 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. 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 mixtapes. 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. Like, 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. I'm going to change my life with just $10, $100 bills. Right? What the fuck? Why did we go to you?

Back then, right. I had a thousand bucks, shit. He paid me $1,000 to do the tape. He was already working good. Yeah, you was, like, what are we talking about? Right, like on fifth record. Yeah, how many Grammys did you have by this place? Come on.

Oh, yeah, you got me. 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. And we got to go back to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue and Oriental Avenue. Like we got park place and all that stuff, but we realized that there's an early gap that we skipped. And it doesn't matter.

Like I got to 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 Scrappies Group at the time.

So we changed the streets as watching. So when I did Streets is Watching, again, Gangster Girls was a bigger brand than Young Jeezie 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 Raw Report, who wound up doing the DVD with GZ for Trapper Die. But I was on Glenn Iris with my dad, and he was driving by, and he was like, yo, that GZE-Tape, that's the best gangster grills you've ever done. And I'm like, where?

I just told GZ this other day. And I was like, where, the new nigger? Like, because 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 GZE-Tape, like, that shit hits different. So, you know, a couple months in, Coach K is. like, drama, 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 we got you joined. 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. 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 Gangsta Girl 6. It was Gangster Girl 6.

But it was 50 Cent Get Richard Die Trying and had just came out. We wound up finding out where the bootlegs spot were in the West End. And we went there. And I literally saw as many Gangster Girl 6s as I did Get Richard Die 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 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 the death 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 come 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 Separate 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 Reping C-A-U-all-day DJ Drama. Much Love 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 win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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