Drama - Gangsta Grillz: The Album
This may not be the first album to result from mixtape releases but it feels like a symbolic moment as DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz mixtape series results in an album. I haven't been keeping up with Drama's activities since the mixtape busts but DJ Drama has and that's included feeding the streets with what I assume are legal mixtapes [another practical yet symbolic step] while Gangsta Grillz: The Album got pushed back for a year:
My fan base and what I represent is real different from a regular artist because I consistently feed the street with product, with my mixtapes. As long as I keep doing what I do, as long as I stay hot on the streets then I'm good...I garnered a lot of publicity that a lot of people would usually have to pay for. Me and my movement, The Aphilliates, have done a lot and yeah it would have been good to come out around that time, but that's not the end of my story...it's just a chapter in my book.
Actually seeing the album cover today for the first time brought back a lot of that energy from the mixtape raid period but with what felt like a fresh look after the recent trough fest surrounding all things American Gangster.
Drama says his business is doing fine:
It basically just affected my business positively. It put me on a larger scale. I did a lot of travelling, I got booked for a lot of international gigs and you know the mixtape game as a whole slowed down so that was a definite turn of events, but I think that's slowly, but surely coming back to life because of people like myself and a lot of other people who are putting in a lot of work to bring the game back to life.
DJ Drama is also feeling like he's got to show Atlantic what he can do before they'll fully support his albums:
I think in some ways they have yet to see that I have a movement. It's not something I would say I blame Atlantic for as I do the music industry in general. A lot of labels have got caught up on singles, ringtones and things of that nature. We've all seen Shop Boyz with their big song and Sean Kingston...they have these huge singles but they sell no records. Then you have an artist like Common who hasn't had a lot of video play or radio play out the box and still sold 150 thousand first week because he has a movement, a core fan base and I believe I'm the kind of artist who has a core fan base. People love Gangsta Grillz because of what it represents.
Common actually has a huge media presence these days that isn't just foam but we take his point about building a deep base that will sustain an artist regardless of frothy media attention.
Overall Drama's got a very positive take on the situation:
I'm here to put out a great album, I'm here to make myself money, I'm here to make the Aphilliates money, to make Grand Hustle money and I'm here to make Atlantic money; at the end of the day they gave me the opportunity to do this album and this is business, I know it's nothing personal. This is my first time out the box so I just want to prove to the people that I have a great album and then do another one and another one and another one...So if it takes me to drop this album and to do most of the promotional work for them to understand what my movement is about, then so be it.
The whole interview by Archna Sawjani is quite nice.
Sawjani hits the high notes, politely asks some pointed questions and gives Drama a forum for covering all things Drama including T.I.'s arrest.
You can peep the video for the first single off Gangsta Grillz: The Album over at VidRap:
5000 Ones - Drama f/Nelly, T.I., Diddy, Yung Joc, Willie the Kid, Young Jeezy & Twista
Official Sites:
DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz
DJ Drama @ Myspace
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
ProHipHop's Official [Belated] Stance on T.I.'s Arrest
ProHipHop Posts: DJ Drama/Don Cannon Mixtape Arrests
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