DJ Drama

American DJ and record executive

Tyree Cinque Simmons (born April 22, 1978), known professionally as DJ Drama, is an American disc jockey (DJ), record executive and music promoter. He initially gained recognition as the DJ for Atlanta based rapper T. I., and continued to gain prominence hosting mixtapes for other hip hop artists. His trademark Gangsta Grillz series is present on releases of which he has compiled; it has been popularized by artists including Lil Wayne, Tyler the Creator, Snoop Dogg, Yo Gotti, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Fabolous, Jeezy, Meek Mill, and Gucci Mane, among others. Alongside record producer and fellow Philadelphia native Don Cannon, he co founded the record label Generation Now in 2015, an imprint of Atlantic Records which has signed artists including Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow. A non performing hip hop artist, Drama's extensive network in the industry enables his albums to enlist both underground and high profile artists to perform lyrics or production. His six studio albums, Gangsta Grillz: The Album (2007) and Vol. 2 (2009), Third Power (2011), Quality Street Music (2012), Quality Street Music 2 (2016), and I'm Really Like That (2023) were each met with moderate critical and commercial reception. Drama has been named "DJ of the Year" at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, and won Best Rap Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for his work on Tyler, the Creator's album, Call Me If You Get Lost (2021).

Tyree Simmons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised largely in Germantown, Philadelphia. His father is black, his mother is white. 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. 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.

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). AMG signed a joint venture deal with Asylum Records in September 2006. The first artist signed was American rapper Willie the Kid. 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. 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, "Takin' Pictures", was released in March 2007 and featured Jeezy, Willie the Kid, Jim Jones, Rick Ross, Young Buck and T. I. The album's lead single—"5000 Ones" featuring Nelly, T. I., Yung Joc, Willie the Kid, Jeezy, and Twista—debuted on BET. The second single, "The Art of Storytellin' Part 4", was released in 2008 and featured Outkast and Marsha Ambrosius. 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, Snoop Dogg and T. I.) and "Ridiculous" (featuring Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, Lonnie Mac and OJ da Juiceman). 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 (Revolutionary but Gangsta Grillz), and Wyclef Jean (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.

Drama released his third album, Third Power in October 2011. It featured the single, "Oh My" (featuring Fabolous, Wiz Khalifa, and Roscoe Dash), 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" 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. 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, Spenzo, and Que. Throughout this time, he continued hosting and producing mixtapes for artists like 50 Cent (The Lost Tape), Nipsey Hussle (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 Lil Uzi Vert, 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 Lil Uzi Vert's August 2017 debut studio album, Luv Is Rage 2. DJ Drama served as executive producer on the album. Other acts signed to Generation Now by Drama include Skeme, Lyquin, Jack Harlow, Lil James, and Killumantii. 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.

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.

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref. 2008 Justo Mixtape Awards Best Dirty South DJ DJ Drama Justo Mixtape Awards Best Mixtape Team The Aphilliates 2018 Global Spin Awards DJ Record Label of the Year Don Cannon and DJ Drama (Generation Now) 2022 Grammy Awards Best Rap AlbumCall Me If You Get Lost