Tyree Simmons was born in Philadelphia and raised largely in Germantown, Philadelphia. His father is black, his mother is white.[4] 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, Dice Raw, Malik B., and others. He also started experimenting with turntables. Simmons attended Central High School in Philadelphia and graduated in 1996.[5][6]
After high school, he moved to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University (CAU) where he studied mass communication.[5][7] 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.[5] One of his first series (called Electric Relaxation) included a variety of R&B tracks.[6] In 1998, he released his first mixtape (Jim Crow Laws) composed exclusively of Southern hip hop acts like Outkast, Three 6 Mafia, and Mystikal. The success of that tape led DJ Drama to start the mixtape series, Gangsta Grillz.[5][7] He would go on to graduate from CAU in 2000.[8]
Career
2003–2010: Career beginnings and Gangsta Grillz: The Album series
DJ Drama in 2008
DJ Drama, alongside Don Cannon and DJ Sense, officially founded the Aphilliates Music Group (AMG) in 2003.[7][9] 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).[6] By 2005, Drama and his AMG cohorts were hosting radio shows on Atlanta's Hot 107.9 and on Eminem's Shade 45 channel on Sirius Satellite Radio.[5][7] In late 2005, Drama produced and hosted Lil Wayne's The Dedication mixtape, which would spawn a long series of Dedication tapes. Dedication 2, released in May 2006, appeared on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was labeled by The New York Times as "one of the 10 best recordings of 2006."[7][10]
AMG signed a joint venture deal with Asylum Records in September 2006. The first artist signed was American rapper Willie the Kid.[7][9] In January 2007, AMG's Atlanta studios were raided by Fulton County 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 charges.[7][11][12] 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 via Atlantic Records. No further legal action was ever taken against Drama or Cannon in relation to the raid.[7][13]
2011–present: Third Power and Quality Street Music series, Generation Now record label
Drama released his third album, Third Power in October 2011.[26] It featured the single, "Oh My" (featuring Fabolous, Wiz Khalifa, and Roscoe Dash),[27] and reached number 95 on the BillboardHot 100.[28] 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" and "My Moment".[6][29] 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.[18]
In August 2013, Drama co-founded The Academy, a DJ incubator and art collective, with Don Cannon and DJ Sense.[30] The Academy announced its first roster of 23 DJs in September of that year.[31] In January 2014, it was announced that DJ Drama would join the A&R at Atlantic Records.[32] Within his first year, he had signed several artists to the label, including Kap G, Spenzo, and Que.[33] Throughout this time, he continued hosting and producing mixtapes for artists like 50 Cent (The Lost Tape),[34]Nipsey Hussle (Crenshaw),[35] Snoop Dogg (That's My Work Volume 3),[36] and Big K.R.I.T. (It's Better This Way).[37]
In 2015, DJ Drama and Don Cannon founded the Atlantic Records imprint, Generation Now. One of their first signees was Lil Uzi Vert, and Drama served as an executive producer on Uzi's 2015 debut commercial mixtape, Luv Is Rage.[1][38] Generation Now also signed Skeme to the label that year.[39] In July 2016, Drama released his fifth studio album, Quality Street Music 2,[40] with the single "Wishing" featuring Chris Brown, Skeme, and Lyquin.[41]
Generation Now had its first number one record on the Billboard 200 with Lil Uzi Vert's August 2017 debut studio album, Luv Is Rage 2. DJ Drama served as executive producer on the album.[42] Other acts signed to Generation Now by Drama include Skeme, Lyquin,[43]Jack Harlow,[44]Lil James,[45] and Killumantii.[46]
In 2021, Drama narrated Tyler, the Creator's album Call Me If You Get Lost, and was credited as a feature on the first track Sir Baudelaire. The album's "intros" and sound was partly inspired by Drama's "Gangsta Grillz" series, and is often credited as a nod to that "mixtape" sound.
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.
In 2024, Kid Cudi (pictured) released his album Insano and Drama narrated half of the album for his famed Gangsta Grillz series.
Generation Now is an American record label imprint founded in 2015 by DJ Drama and Don Cannon. The name of the label derives from a 2004 mixtape Drama and Cannon curated.[66]
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