Story & Interview by: C*
images by: Christopher “The Cool” Bell
What drives the creative? Is it an engine with perseverance for pistons? Maybe it’s a heart composed of dreams fused with “I will not lose” as bio fuel. Could it be that the driver’s axis percolates from years and years of practice….until they became great? Or is it that they’re cunning when applying the accelerator and brakes. Are they really more equipped than you and I when deciding which roads to take?
Tire marks are a reaction. They are the past tense formed when the path GOD has paved for us meets our most inner passion. As I interviewed super producer Drumma Boy; I couldn’t help but feed off of the radiance from his energy in the studio. I’m talking buffet y’all; Golden Corral style. You see; passionate people are courageous. The energy they emit is contagious to rib cages. It takes something GOD given in addition to guts to pursue a vision. The intestines damn near have to be iron glad to see it through. You wanna know why? Because intestines carry testimonies. Every successful person has some; yet the only difference between them and you may be that they never gave up on their dreams. Even during the times when it was just bread and beans.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve met someone so passionate about the creation process. Not to mention that I never EVER grow tired of meeting people that truly LOVE what they do; to the point that even their gestures convey how confident they are in the fulfillment of their purpose. Drumma Boy’s entrepreneurial spirit inspirits others. While in college at the University of Memphis; Drumma shopped beats to Bun B and artists Tela, Gangsta Boo, and Yo Gotti. Not bad for someone who took a chance by listening to his inner voice. Now he assembles beats for a living simply from the melodies in his head.
What mysteries lie behind the Ray Bans of a beat maker? Hmmm…the world may never know! Maybe he named himself Drumma Boy because he marches to the beat of his own drum?? Quite frankly, I think someone as talented and musically creative as Drumma has to. He paired Kanye West and Young Jeezy together for the smash single “Put On”. He was recruited by T.I. for Paper Trail’s “What up, What’s Happening” and recently by Waka Flocka Flame for the club banga “No Hands” with Wale and Roscoe Dash. Many of his beats paint the scene of southern club nightlife. And like any good artist knows; the stroke of the bristles start with the heart. Not the hands.
C*: This is Corey Jackson for entertainmentreporters.com and today we’re here with super producer Drumma Boy. It’s a pleasure to meet you and may I just say that I’m a fan man, and have been for quite some time. Let’s start with your musical background. I know your father was a clarinetist and your aunt was a piano teacher. Is that correct?
DrummaBoy: Yeah, my father was a clarinet teacher. He taught Clarinet at the University of Memphis. He was in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra ; he’s been in the Orchestra for 35 years. He’s was the first black man to hold the chair and held it throughout the entire thirty five years.
C*: And your brother is a producer too right?
DrummaBoy: Yeah my brother has been making beats; he’s 14 years older than me. He came up with Jazze Pha. Both them boys came up together doing they thing so I was like the lil brother just around it.
C*: I read that while you were in college you shopped beats to Tela, Gangsta Boo, and you worked with Bun B. How was that?
DrummaBoy: Yeah it was actually way before college; it was like 15-16. I bumped into Tela when I was in high school and did some things for Tela and then started working with Boo. By the time I was in college I was getting like 15…..2,000 a beat just in the streets. I had the Yo Gotti projects out. I started hooking up with Boyz in da Hood and I started working with Jeezy until I started making my trips back and forth to Atlanta till I eventually dropped out .
C*: Entrepreneurship is something that is growing within the culture of hip hop. You’ve got the success of producers like yourself and other artists that’s allowing them to express their showmanship in so many different ways. Jay-Z just released some headphones with Skull Candy, Dre has his Beats headphones, Alicia Keys just released some computer software…When can we expect to see Drumma Boy MPC’s out….Drumma Boy Korg Triton’s…because you’ve definitely branded yourself.
DrummaBoy: Yeah definitely, you know I feel like I still gotta lot of work to do and I’m still in my creative process. I think a lot of that is, when ya know, gosh, look how many albums he had under his belt. Look how many units he sold under his own label before he transitioned into the headphones and the PC’s and what not. So definitely, I’m not in a rush, I’ve got some ideas on things that I wanna do, but I like to plan it. I like to write blueprints and I like to organically get there. So I’m sure your definitely gonna see some new things and some technology side of things from Drumma Boy, but right now I’m just trying to stay creative. I’m in a hell of a zone. I aint even thinking about that. I’ll let that come to me. I’m sure HP presented something to Dre. I’m sure Jimmy presented something to Dre like “Yo I got these headphones; I think you should check them out.” A lot of things are presented to you. A lot of things are organically put in your circle so I’m sure a lot of those things will be coming my way soon.
C*: Your resume of artists you’ve worked with is illustrious to say the least. You’ve worked with everybody from Gucci Mane, 8Ball & MJG, Kanye, Young Jeezy, and the list goes on. How did you learn to become such a facilitator? For example “Put on” that was THE ANTHEM! Still is! How do you learn to maneuver between two titans in the industry like that and then make it one cohesive sound on the track?
DrummaBoy: I just have fun with it. It’s all about having a vision. A lot of times you gotta have a vision on where you wanna go. Like, I’m sitting in the studio and I got Gucci on one side and I got Waka Flocka on another side. So I’m like man, this is the first night out for Gucci. Even five days prior to me knowing Gucci’s going to be out I’m working. Cooking. So I got 30-40 new beats already ready just because I know this man gon’ get out and I know he probably gon take 10-15 of them. And I still gotta have my normal schedule of my Jeezy’s calling, Drake’s calling, Plies calling, Rick Ross is calling….So you gotta understand your load, you gotta understand what you’re worth, understand what you can handle; understand your demand. In that particular situation I knew Gucci likes to rap quick, so it’s like, I’ma go in the studio with 20 of them already ready. Waka on the other hand, “Aw man let’s cook something from scratch man. Let’s cook it up.” So I’m like aight. I go in the A room with Gucci and do Abnormal. First night out. Then I go in the B room at Patchwork and do “No Hands”. Lloyd Banks in the room, Roscoe Dash in the room, man it’s like 50 people in the room. Talking, noise, dah, dah, dah, dah. Like, most people would be like “Man can y’all leave?” You would think there’s no way you gon go in there and make a beat. But I’ll go in there like…because it’s in my head…..so I don’t need no volume. You see what I’m saying, that’s why I understand cats like Beethoven. You know what I mean; who couldn’t even hear, but they was writing music because it’s in your head. And it’s like even if you can imagine what it sounds like; you can hear it. Even if you can’t hear it. It’s some weird shit bro, but that’s the shit I be on. Some I’m in the studio like (Drumma proceeds to hum the baseline to “No Hands”) da/ da da da da da/ da da da da /da da da da da da! And I’m like damn, alright. And then I’ll da da shshhh/ da da shshh/da da da shshhh…..and then add the kick and the next thing you know the whole room like “Ayyyyyyyy!” You know what I’m saying?!!!! “Okay yeah I like that!” Roscoe’s like…..(Drumma does a gesture showing that Roscoe is thinking about what words to add to the newly created beat) Next thing you know five minutes later “Girl, drop it to the floor I love the way yo booty go…..!” We got girls in the room so they actually like moving like, “ Yeah that’s it right there!” Like it’s live; so you get the feedback. It’s like everything … all of the elements that you need is in one room.
C*: I think with your entrepreneur skills …..I’ve read that Bun B and 9th Wonder have begun going to colleges and lecturing on hip hop. It seems like more colleges are becoming interested in the aspects of hip hop as a class. Do you think you could ever see yourself going back to the University of Memphis to teaching on hip hop? Imparting your knowledge to young aspiring musicians and producers to further develop your brand?
DrummaBoy: Teaching is definitely in my blood. It’s something I’m already doing. I just started Drum Squad Foundation. We’re doing a lot of community events and things like that so I’m sure I’ll have an event where I teach and speak and do all that. Even in the workshops overseas; that’s what we’re doing. We’re speaking on publishing, the music industry, inside and behind the scoop, things that producers go through….you know like how to hold up in certain situations….just the whole game and feedback because there are always times when people wanna pick your brain. We have a lot of workshops and alot of other things in play. We’ve got a couple competitions. New Skool Rules is our competition looking for local artists. All around the world you can submit your music through www.newskoolrules.com. So check that out. Drumma Boy Competition. You can click the link and there is a 45 euros registration fee. That’s one thing that we’ve got very heavily going down. There’s been an enormous amount of talent coming through.
C*: You’re on the independent side of things. What advice can you give to up and coming producers about being patient and about not biting at the first smell of money they get?
DrummaBoy: I mean it’s just like the females you date. If you go to a club and you act on your first initial instinct, which might be the first chick that you saw…Then it eliminates all of the opportunity for your future endeavors that you could’ve encountered in that particular field. You see what I’m sayin? So aight, that means that if you rush into a particular publishing agreement, that kind of hinders what could’ve come at you from other publishing or other publishing situations because you’re locked down. Let’s say one label comes at you and you hot. Your 16, 17, and producing your own stuff. You rapping on your own stuff, whatever, whatever. A label offers you 300. If you take the first 300, then that’s saying what you’re worth. As opposed to, naw I’m cool, I’m getting my money in the streets, or I’ma just keep doing my thing for a minute. You know what your value is so there is no rush. When you know what your value is you don’t rush into things. It’s like aight, I’ma sit back and take what’s right for me. So now it’s like ok, now that I sat back, I got offers like 1.5, 1.6,….these people over here talking about 1.7. You know what I mean?
