Drama
DJ, producer, label boss, and more, Drama is one of the most important, famous, and even infamous players in the mixtape game. While riding out the 2000s and 2010s as the host of his high-profile Gangsta Grillz mixtape series, Drama co-founded the Atlantic Records sublabel Generation Now, finding chart-topping success with a new wave of rappers who included Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow. Drama's streetwise working method is prolifically producing for other artists as well as releasing mixtapes of his own. Tyler, The Creator's 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost was inspired by Drama's Gangsta Grillz series and narrated throughout by Drama himself. In 2022 alone, Drama was behind no fewer than ten projects highlighted by the Top Ten Jeezy collaboration SNOFALL. The momentum continued in 2023 with additional charting releases such as I'm Really Like That and I Showed U So, the latter a team-up with Yo Gotti.
Drama began his career in hip-hop in his native Philadelphia under the name DJ Drama. It was in Philly that he befriended Bahamadia, although he wouldn't become her DJ until he made the move to Atlanta in the late '90s to attend Clark Atlanta University. While at CAU, he also began his popular Automatic Relaxation mixtape series, which focused on neo-soul and soulful rap, plus he formed his crew the Aphilliates featuring DJ Don Cannon, DJ Jamad, Ox Banger, and DJ Sense. After a short gig as DJ for Slum Village, he began a new mixtape series, Gangsta Grillz, which would become the prime showcase for hardcore artists looking to connect or reconnect with the streets. Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Jim Jones were just a few of the artists to host a volume of Gangsta Grillz, but it was during the making of Vol. 7 that he met his future employer, T.I. As the official DJ of T.I.'s Grand Hustle organization, Drama became better known, and a cameo in the 2006 film ATL didn't hurt either.
What did hurt was a January 2007 police raid on the Aphilliates office, which found both Drama and Don Cannon under arrest for racketeering, along with 81,000 mixtape CDs being confiscated. Three months later, legal threats from another DJ Drama forced him to change his name to simply Drama. Despite these legal hassles, Drama took his Gangsta Grillz series aboveground late in the year as the legit release Gangsta Grillz: The Album arrived in December courtesy of Grand Hustle/Atlantic. Lil Wayne, OutKast, Pharrell, T.I., and Young Jeezy were just a few of the artists who contributed to the star-studded album. A second volume followed in 2009. In 2011, Third Power became the first Drama album without the Gangsta Grillz tagging, but the guest list would remain big and powerful with names like Wiz Khalifa, Freddie Gibbs, Wale, and Chris Brown all included. Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, and Tyler, The Creator were some of the names that landed on the 2012 follow-up Quality Street Music. In 2013 he let his sense of humor show by hosting the Urbane Outfitters, Vol. 1 mixtape from the online hip-hop comedy team ItsTheReal. After taking on an A&R job at Atlantic Records in 2014, Drama and Cannon co-founded Generation Now in 2015, a new label affiliated with Atlantic whose aim was to sign innovative new rap talent. That same year Drama executive-produced Luv Is Rage, the first commercially released mixtape from early Generation Now signee Lil Uzi Vert, who proved to be a huge success for the new label, hitting the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart with 2017 studio debut Luv Is Rage 2.
As Generation Now continued finding new artists to work with, Drama found time to host mixtapes, as always, and to release new music of his own like 2016's Quality Street Music 2 and 2020's 12 AM in Atlanta 2 with Atlanta rapper 24hrs. Drama played a significant role on Tyler, The Creator's 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost, the mixtape king himself narrating the record in the style of his Gangsta Grillz by-then nostalgic tapes. Especially busy in 2022, Drama was behind mixtapes like the Dreamville/J.Cole collaboration D-Day, teamed with OMB Peezy for Misguided, linked up with Symba for Results Take Time, joined forces with Jeezy for SNOFALL, and more, all within the span of a few months. Most successful was the Jeezy collaboration, which entered the Billboard 200 at number nine -- a career high for Drama. He showed no signs of slowing down in 2023, collaborating on mixtapes with Kash Doll and French Montana before releasing his seventh studio effort, I'm Really Like That, in March of that year. The album was as special-guest-heavy as most of Drama's work, with contributions from Lil Baby, Jack Harlow, Roddy Ricch, Tyler, The Creator, T.I., Lil Wayne, and so many others. I'm Really Like That debuted at number 67 on the Billboard 200. Two months later, Drama and YOVNGCHIMI co-presented a Gangsta Grillz tape showcasing Mvrda Gvng. That August, Drama and Yo Gotti were behind I Showed U So, on which Gotti exchanged verses only with Rich Homie Quan and Moneybagg Yo.
© David Jeffries /TiVo
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