Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith (born August 3, 1988), known professionally as DRAM (; an acronym for "does real-ass music", briefly Shelley FKA DRAM), is an American musician, singer, rapper, and record producer from

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

. He is best known for his 2016 single, "

Broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...

" (featuring

Lil Yachty Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper. He first gained recognition in August 2015 for his viral hit "One Night (Lil Yachty song), One Night", the lead single from his debut extend ...

), which peaked at number five on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song preceded his debut studio album ''

Big Baby DRAM ''Big Baby DRAM'' is the debut studio album by American rapper DRAM. It was released on October 21, 2016, by Empire Distribution and Atlantic Records. The album features guest appearances from Young Thug, Erykah Badu, Lil Yachty, Playboi Carti, Tr ...

'' (2016), which was released in October of that year by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Early life

Massenburg-Smith was born in

Landstuhl Landstuhl (), officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl (), is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Municipal Association of Landstuhl. Situated on the north-west edge of the Palatin ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Before the age of one, he moved to the United States and was raised in

. His mother was in the military.Lawrence Burney
Meet D.R.A.M., the Virginia Artist Who Stopped Following the Rules of Rap and Had One Epic Summer

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

, October 8, 2014 As a teenager, Massenburg-Smith was an ardent fan of the singer

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name), or Belal or Bilel, including a list of people with the name * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad, made calls for prayers * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places * Bi ...

and recalls discovering his unreleased second album '' Love for Sale'' when it leaked online in 2006, later citing the song "White Turns to Grey" as his favorite "hidden gem" in music.

Career

In March 2015, DRAM released his debut EP, ''#1Epic'' through

and

Empire Distribution Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, ...

. The EP included the single "Cha Cha", which peaked at number one on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. In October 2015, his debut mixtape, ''Gahdamn!'' was released. In April 2016, DRAM released his hit single "

" (featuring

). The song gained international success and peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming his first top five song in the country. In October 2016, he appeared on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

'', performing "Blessings (Reprise)" with

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

Ty Dolla Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Griffin gai ...

, Anthony Hamilton, and

Raury Raury Deshawn Tullis (born June 10, 1996) is an American singer-songwriter and rapper. He is known for his eclectic sound, mixing the genres of soul, hip hop and folk. Born and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia, he was the inaugural artist signe ...

. His debut studio album, ''

'', was released on October 21, 2016. The album received many positive reviews. DRAM was featured on the single " Andromeda" from British virtual band

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

for their fifth album, ''

Humanz ''Humanz'' is the fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on 28 April 2017 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It was the band's first studio album released in seven years, fo ...

''. He also provided uncredited guest vocals on the track " We Got the Power" from the same album.

Other ventures

He voiced Wallace in the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

animated series, '' Lazor Wulf'' (2019–2021).

Personal life

Massenburg-Smith supported

Jon Ossoff Thomas Jonathan Ossoff ( ; born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia since 2021. A member of the ...

and

Raphael Warnock Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ( ; born July 23, 1969) is an American politician and Baptists, Baptist pastor serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, ...

in the

2020 United States Senate elections The 2020 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, with the 33 Classes of United States senators#Class 2, class 2 seats of the U.S. Senate, Senate contested in regular elections. Of these, 21 were held by Republican Party (U ...

, performing at a rally for both in 2020.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

DRAM
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

DRAM
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:DRAM 1988 births Living people African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers People from Neustadt an der Weinstraße 20th-century African-American musicians Musicians from Hampton, Virginia 21st-century American rappers Atlantic Records artists Southern hip-hop musicians American contemporary R&B singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Virginia Rappers from Virginia Record producers from Virginia American hip-hop singers American hip-hop record producers African-American record producers