Tyree Cinque Simmons (born April 22, 1978), professionally known as DJ Drama, is an American DJ,

record executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...

and

music promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

. He is the co-founder (with

Don Cannon Donald Cannon (born August 2, 1979) is an American DJ, record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Cannon is a co-founder of the Atlantic Records imprint, Generation Now. He was also a member of the prominent Atlanta mixtape collective, ...

) of Generation Now, an Atlantic Records imprint with artists including

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous fashion, ima ...

Jack Harlow Jackman Thomas Harlow (born March 13, 1998) is an American rapper from Louisville, Kentucky. He started his career in 2015 and released several EPs and mixtapes before he was signed to Don Cannon and DJ Drama's record label Generation Now in ...

, and

Skeme Lonnie Kimble (born January 3, 1990), better known by his stage name Skeme, is an American rapper from Inglewood, California. Skeme has collaborated with various West Coast rappers such as the group Black Hippy, Bizzy Bone, The Game, Dom Ken ...

on its roster. He initially gained recognition as the official DJ for

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

rapper T.I. and as a prominent mixtape DJ with his series, ''Gangsta Grillz''. Numerous artists have appeared on DJ Drama's ''Gangsta Grillz'' tapes, including

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive ...

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

, Jeezy,

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...

, and many others. He was a co-founder of the Atlanta-based DJ and artist collective known as the Aphilliates. Drama has released 5 studio albums, curating tracks with some of the industry's most lucrative talent, the most recent of which being '' Quality Street Music 2'' in 2016.

Early life and education

Tyree Simmons was born from a

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

Father, and

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

Mother in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, also being raised largely in

Germantown, Philadelphia Germantown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Deitscheschteddel'') is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is ...

. At age 13, his sister took him to New York City where he purchased his first mixtape. He began making his own tapes soon after, including one titled ''Illadelph'' which featured artists like

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded a ...

Dice Raw Karl Jenkins, better known as Dice Raw, is an American hip hop artist, from Philadelphia. He is associated with The Roots, and the now defunct musical group Nouveau Riche. He hooked up with the band while still in high school after Kelo, a member ...

, Malik B., and others. He also started experimenting with

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. Simmons attended Central High School in Philadelphia and graduated in 1996. After high school, he moved to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University (CAU) where he studied mass communication. While there, he met two other Philadelphia-raised DJs: DJ Sense and Don Cannon. The three would eventually form the Aphilliates DJ and artist collective. During his studies, Simmons began making and releasing mixtapes under the moniker, DJ Drama. One of his first series (called ''Electric Relaxation'') included a variety of R&B tracks. In 1998, he released his first mixtape (''

Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

'') composed exclusively of

Southern hip hop Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memp ...

acts like Outkast,

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip hop group, they would eventually go on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' ...

, and

Mystikal Michael Lawrence Tyler (born September 22, 1970), better known by his stage name Mystikal, is an American rapper. Early life and education Tyler grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana's 12th Ward. His father, who ran a small neighborhood store, d ...

. The success of that tape led DJ Drama to start the mixtape series, ''Gangsta Grillz''. He would go on to graduate from CAU in 2000.

Career

2003–2010: Career beginnings and ''Gangsta Grillz: The Album'' series

DJ Drama, alongside Don Cannon and DJ Sense, officially founded the Aphilliates Music Group (AMG) in 2003. The group distributed DJ Drama's ''Gangsta Grillz'' mixtape series, which saw early successes with T.I.'s ''Down With the King'' (2004) and Jeezy's ''Trap or Die'' (2005). By 2005, Drama and his AMG cohorts were hosting radio shows on Atlanta's Hot 107.9 and on Eminem's

Shade 45 Shade 45 is American rapper Eminem's hip-hop station on Sirius XM Radio channel 45 and Dish Network channel 6045. History Eminem established his own channel, Shade 45, that plays uncut hip hop. Eminem also established a new morning show, ''Sway ...

channel on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

. In late 2005, Drama produced and hosted Lil Wayne's '' The Dedication'' mixtape, which would spawn a long series of ''Dedication'' tapes. ''

Dedication 2 ''Dedication 2'' is the fifth mixtape by Lil Wayne, hosted by DJ Drama. It is a sequel to Lil Wayne's previous mixtape, '' The Dedication'', and is second in DJ Drama's ''Gangsta Grillz'' series with Lil Wayne. It is one of the few mixtapes in ...

'', released in May 2006, appeared on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

chart and was labeled by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as "one of the 10 best recordings of 2006." AMG signed a joint venture deal with

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...

in September 2006. The first artist signed was American rapper Willie the Kid. In January 2007, AMG's Atlanta studios were raided by

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

police officers, who seized over 80,000 mixtapes, 4 vehicles, and some recording equipment. Both DJ Drama and Don Cannon were taken into custody on

RICO The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

charges. Hard drives containing tracks from Drama's first "official" album, '' Gangsta Grillz: The Album'', were also seized despite the fact that the album was due to be released "above-board" by

Grand Hustle Records Grand Hustle Records (formerly Grand Hustle Entertainment), also known as Hustle Gang Music, is an Atlanta, Georgia-based hip hop record label, founded in 2003, by American rapper T.I. and his manager Jason Geter. Up until December 2012, the lab ...

via Atlantic Records. No further legal action was ever taken against Drama or Cannon in relation to the raid. Despite the setback, DJ Drama's ''Gangsta Grillz: The Album'' was released in December 2007 on the Grand Hustle label. The album's first

buzz single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

, "Takin' Pictures", was released in March 2007 and featured Jeezy, Willie the Kid,

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

, Rick Ross,

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), best known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He heads his own record label, Cashville, and was a member of the former hip hop group G-Unit. Early life Brown was born in Nashville, T ...

and T.I. The album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

—"

5000 Ones "5000 Ones" is a song by American hip hop artist DJ Drama. The song serves as his debut single and the lead single from his debut studio album '' Gangsta Grillz: The Album''. The hip hop song, produced by Jazze Pha, features vocals from sev ...

" featuring Nelly, T.I.,

Yung Joc Jasiel Amon Robinson (born September 20, 1980), better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 2006 hit single " It's Goin' Down". and as a feature on T-Pain's US number-one single "Buy U a Drank (Shawt ...

, Willie the Kid, Jeezy, and

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastes ...

—debuted on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

. The second single, " The Art of Storytellin' Part 4", was released in 2008 and featured Outkast and

Marsha Ambrosius Marsha Ambrosius-Billups (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album '' Late Nights & Early Mornings'' in M ...

. The album peaked at number 26 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In May 2009, DJ Drama released his second album entitled '' Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2)'', with the singles " Day Dreaming" (featuring

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P ...

, Snoop Dogg and T.I.) and "

Ridiculous To be ridiculous is to be something which is highly incongruous or inferior, sometimes deliberately so to make people laugh or get their attention, and sometimes unintendedly so as to be considered laughable and earn or provoke ridicule and derisi ...

" (featuring

Yo Gotti Mario Sentell Giden Mims (born May 19, 1981), known professionally as Yo Gotti, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record executive. In 1996, Gotti released his debut album ''Youngsta's On a Come Up'' under the alias Lil Yo. He went on to re ...

, Lonnie Mac and

OJ da Juiceman Otis Williams Jr. (born November 23, 1981), better known by his stage name OJ da Juiceman, is an American rapper. OJ da Juiceman was formerly signed to Gucci Mane's 1017 Brick Squad record label. OJ Da Juiceman is also the founder of vanity labe ...

). In addition to his own studio albums, DJ Drama also continued working on mixtapes, including those for Gucci Mane (''Mr. Zone 6''), Chris Brown (''In My Zone 2''),

Dead Prez Dead Prez, often stylized as dead prez, is an American hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self ...

(''Revolutionary but Gangsta Grillz''), and

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

('' From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion''), among others. In March 2010, Drama appeared on T-Pain's musical television special '' Freaknik: The Musical'', in a voice role as a radio announcer named Mr. Thanksgiving.

2011–present: ''Third Power'' and ''Quality Street Music'' series, Generation Now record label

Drama released his third album, ''

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...

, and

Roscoe Dash Jeffery Lee Johnson Jr. (born April 2, 1990), better known by his stage name Roscoe Dash, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his debut single " All the Way Turnt Up" (featuring Soulja Boy), which peaked at number ...

), and reached number 95 on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100. He followed that with the release of his fourth album, '' Quality Street Music'', in late 2012. The album was preceded by the singles "

We in This Bitch "We in This Bitch", censored version known as "We In This", is a song by American hip hop artist DJ Drama. The song was released on February 29, 2012, as the lead single from Drama's fourth studio album '' Quality Street Music'' (2012) and was r ...

" and " My Moment". The album peaked at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' 200, which is the highest a DJ Drama album has gotten on the chart to date. In August 2013, Drama co-founded The Academy, a DJ incubator and art collective, with Don Cannon and DJ Sense. The Academy announced its first roster of 23 DJs in September of that year. In January 2014, it was announced that DJ Drama would join the A&R at Atlantic Records. Within his first year, he had signed several artists to the label, including

Kap G George Ramirez (born July 31, 1994), better known by his stage name Kap G, is an Mexican-American rapper. He is best known for his song " Girlfriend", which peaked at number 10 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Early life George Ramirez wa ...

, Spenzo, and Que. Throughout this time, he continued hosting and producing mixtapes for artists like 50 Cent ('' The Lost Tape''),

Nipsey Hussle Airmiess Joseph Asghedom (August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019), known professionally as Nipsey Hussle (often stylized as Nipsey Hu$$le), was an American rapper, entrepreneur, and activist. Emerging from the West Coast hip hop scene in the mid- ...

('' Crenshaw''), Snoop Dogg ('' That's My Work Volume 3''), and Big K.R.I.T. (''It's Better This Way''). In 2015, DJ Drama and Don Cannon founded the Atlantic Records imprint, Generation Now. One of their first signees was

, and Drama served as an executive producer on Uzi's 2015 debut commercial mixtape, '' Luv Is Rage''. Generation Now also signed Skeme to the label that year. In July 2016, Drama released his fifth studio album, ''Quality Street Music 2'', with the single " Wishing" featuring Chris Brown, Skeme, and Lyquin. Generation Now had its first number one record on the ''Billboard'' 200 with

's August 2017 debut studio album, ''

Luv Is Rage 2 ''Luv Is Rage 2'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Lil Uzi Vert. It was released on August 25, 2017, through Generation Now and Atlantic Records. The album serves as a sequel to Uzi's commercial debut mixtape ''Luv Is Rage'' (2015). It ...

''. DJ Drama served as executive producer on the album. Other acts signed to Generation Now by Drama include

, Lyquin,

, Lil James, and Killumantii. In 2021, Drama narrated

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future. Okonma self-released his debut mixtape ' ...

's album ''

Call Me If You Get Lost ''Call Me If You Get Lost'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper and producer Tyler, the Creator. The album was released on June 25, 2021, through Columbia Records. The album is narrated by DJ Drama and features guest appearances from 4 ...

'', and was credited as a feature on the first track Sir Baudelaire. The album as a whole was inspired by Drama's "Gangsta Grillz" series and is often credited as being a part of it. A further instalment of the Gangsta Grillz series, ''D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape'', was released on March 31, 2022, in collaboration with Dreamville and J. Cole.

Discography

* '' Gangsta Grillz: The Album'' (2007) * ''The City Is In Good Hands'' (with Snoop Dogg) (2008) * '' Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2)'' (2009) * ''

Third Power Third Power was an American psychedelic hard rock band from Detroit, Michigan, who released one album in 1970. The group was formed in 1969, and became a prominent local club band before signing to Vanguard Records.Quality Street Music'' (2012) * '' Quality Street Music 2'' (2016) * ''12 AM in Atlanta 2'' (with 24hrs) (2020) * ''Fame Or Feds 3'' (with Hardo & Deezlee) (2021) * ''What Would Big Do 2021'' (with Fat Joe) (2021) * ''Gangsta Grillz: We Set the Trends'' (with

) (2022) * ''The World Is Yours: Gangsta Grillz'' (with Badda TD) (2022) * ''Misguided'' (with

OMB Peezy LeParis Dade, known professionally as OMB Peezy, is an American rapper based in Sacramento, California. He is originally from Mobile, Alabama. Background and career OMB Peezy was born to a musical family in Mobile, Alabama and later raised in ...

) (2022) * ''Results Take Time'' (with Symba) (2022) * ''Gangsta Grillz: I Still Got It'' (with Snoop Dogg) (2022) * ''SNOFALL'' (with Jeezy) (2022) * ''God Save the Rave'' (with David Sabastian) (2022) * ''Book of David'' (with

Dave East David Lawrence Brewster Jr. (born June 3, 1988), better known by his stage name Dave East, is an American rapper. East began his career in 2010, and gained attention in 2014 from his eighth mixtape, ''Black Rose''. Its release garnered the attent ...

& Buda & Grandz) (2022) * ''Paint the City'' (with Icewear Vezzo) (2022) * Quality Street Music 3 Deluxe (2023) * TBA * TBA * TBA

Generation Now

Generation Now is an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

imprint founded in 2015 by DJ Drama and Don Cannon. The name of the label derives from a 2004 mixtape Drama and Cannon curated.

Recognition and awards

References

External links

Official website

Gangsta Grillz website

The Aphilliates

DJ Drama
at MTV * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drama, DJ 1978 births Living people Atlantic Records artists MNRK Music Group artists East Coast hip hop musicians American hip hop DJs Mixtape DJs American music industry executives Musicians from Philadelphia Clark Atlanta University alumni American curators Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni