d.r.a.m.
Live Coverage by TIME SPENT www.timespent.biz Show footage shot by Mike Edmonds http://cargocollective.com/mikedmonds
Last month, True Laurels presented FLAT OUT with performances by D.R.A.M., Greedy and Sadaf, with music by Potionz and DJ Dizzy. Time Spent came through to capture some footage of the performances and I got to catch up with some of the acts as they were finishing up sets or just getting ready to go on. Check it out and stay tuned for the party's next installment!
During FLAT OUT, our people from Time Spent captured live footage of the show and managed to squeeze in a few acts for their series of a capella rap sessions. Before everything got going, they linked up with D.R.A.M. for the most soulful segment they've ever got on tape as he strolled through The Crown harmonizing. Peep the footage above!
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Photo: Ben Cooper
Something is brewing in Baltimore. I know I'm probably the millionth person to say that and I'm not even sure what is actually brewing but, there is something. I can feel it...? Before the past few years, there were two things you were getting from black artists in the city: club music and street rap. That's not a complaint, though; both are still my favorite kinds of music but now there is some form of variety. We badly needed that. Artists like Lor Scoota, Young Moose and Greedy are holding the streets down with their music. TT The Artist, Matic808, DJ Dizzy, Mighty Mark and Angel Baby are doing right by club music. Abdu Ali is doing his best to fuse all of those energies. And with Llamadon and 7th Floor Villains—interchangeable collectives forging a scene with experimental shoot-offs of rap—Butch Dawson, Dylijens, Buffa7o and Black Zheep DZ have a concrete following.
Zheep has proven to be the most ambitious of Llamadon's camp. He's dropped four projects in the past three years and while his artistic progression didn't seem so evident to me most of those times, his latest effort, 8th World, shows him in a more authoritative role when it comes to developing a sound and stringing together tangible narratives. Recently, I had the chance to chat with him about the making of 8th World, where he sees himself as an artist and if he's sharing enough of himself with his audience. Read up!
Right off, I noticed that 8th World is much more melodic in its production than any of your previous work. Is that indicative of the style you wanna go forward with or was it specific to this project?
That’s kind of what I was going for with progressing my sound and the sound for the project. I have more shit that sounds soulful now but that was my aim.
What was the concept behind 8th World when you named the project?
It was kind of an idea behind the seven wonders of the world. It was always a question about what the eighth wonder is and as a standout figure from Baltimore, which is a standout city, I felt like making that my eighth wonder. It's a place that a lot of people don’t get to see. They're on the outside looking in. I just wanted to show people a different perspective of it--even people who're from here. I know it's a different sound than what other people make. That's why it's called 8th World.
How do you know when you've heard the right beat to rap over? Are you in the studio with producers or are you less hands-on with it?
A couple people sent me their beats but 80% of the project was me sitting down with producers and creating with them. I was telling a lot of producers what I wanted. Like Radical the Kid was hands-on, Teklun was hands-on, Eu-IV hands-on. They knew how to sync their signature sounds with mine.
On "Mine" with D.R.A.M., you go over your hustle and desire to keep pushing through. Being on the local scene for the past few years, how do you feel about your own progression and the scene's?
I feel like it’s been moving. Just like the song says, “Ain’t nothing stopping me.” A lot of people on the local scene might not know about me and some people do but it's coming back around because other cities starting to show more love now so they're starting to see what it is.
With the scene, you got people that are in different lanes. That's hard. Everybody gets to focus on a different sound and they're not going for the same thing. It's definitely diverse and I'm happy for this shit. Everybody has their own keys to open the door, you know?
A lot of people don't know that Tim Trees--one of the few locally big rappers we had in Baltimore growing up--is your brother-in-law. Has he given you any useful advice that you've been able to apply to how you're moving?
Yeah he gives me a lot of advice and helps me a lot. Like every time I talk to him he'll help out. He just keeps my head on straight and lets me know that it’s a lot of fuck shit out here so just watch out for it. He helps me with distribution. But it's a lot of personal advice and music advice. Basically just "stay doing you" and don't let nobody stop that.
On "6th Sense" you mentioned that waiting too late to realize that you're not seeing life clear is a fear of yours. Can you elaborate on that. What's cloudy for you right now?
I feel like I’m seeing clear but sometimes when you’re so focused on something, it's still people looking from the outside. I've had this happen to me before. Like I’ve had my mother and father look at me when I first started rapping like, “This nigga crazy. Everybody raps." They looked at me like I wasn't seeing life clearly and in the song I was saying, "what if I wait too late to realize that?" But I feel like I’m not though. I feel like I'm gonna accomplish what I'm going for. I was just saying “what if” because that's how it's always been with that.
If you had to pinpoint one thing you need improvement on, what would that be?
I don't think it's lyrics. I definitely need to keep progressing on my sound. It's no so much about lyrics now because I think I'm a good lyricist. I'm not at my best--nobody is. It's always room for improvement.
As a listener, I always long for more transparency from rappers. Do you feel like you're as revealing as you could be about who you are?
Yeah. I feel like I’m revealing enough for the time. I do that on purpose because you gotta leave some mystery behind it. We progressing everyday so I don't wanna lay everything on the table. It's definitely more shit to be heard, trust me. I'm far from where I wanna be and I'm revealing just enough so as the time goes, my story gonna unravel. I'm writing my book, you know?
One of 8th World's bonuses, "Mr. Slick", is a collaboration between you and Matic808. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Even Tim Trees had a whole album produced by Rod Lee. Why do you think there isn't more exchanging between club artists and rappers in Baltimore?
It’s crazy. I think it’s so hard for Baltimore rappers to work with club producers because we so used to the sound. We always heard it at parties so it's hard to embrace it. We really grew up on it and I fuck with club music so I like to embrace it. I'm not one of the people running away from it just because it's from my city or it's old. You can always mix old with the new.
Do you think if more club producers and rappers worked together more, it would help develop a more-defined sound for Baltimore rap? Because there still isn’t one.
Hell yeah. I think that shit would definitely help a lot because a lot of people love club music, hands down. And some club producers know how to make hip-hop shit too. If they work together it would definitely help blow the spot up.
What do you want people to get out of your music?
I wanna make people feel good, for real. That soulful shit that you can just take in. I don’t want it to be just one message. I wanna be the messenger and tell people shit that they can listen to when they need to get through something.
You’re one of the best local artists when it comes to branching out and working with people outside of the city. Do you think that’s something that Baltimore artists are hesitant to do and what do you take away from branching out?
I think a lot of artists lack the reaching out thing because of where we’re from; that’s kind of how it is. Niggas don’t like to talk and people be anti-social. I learned skills like that from traveling and from my peoples. It’s nothing wrong with connecting; shit happens like that. You can't walk around being anti-social all day. Being social helped me a lot. It helped me make connections I never that I would make. All I can say is that I'll keep on doing that. It's not like I try; it's just instilled in me. Everywhere I go I'm gonna be a people-person.
How is being a part of Llamadon and 7th Floor Villains helping you as an artist at this point?
As an artist, it’s helping me stay grounded. We talk about shit and plan shit. We're pretty much running it more like a label than a collective. We got these individual artists and we all have plans so we try helping each other execute. So it's definitely helping me as an artist and helping us build a brand--as a whole and separately. So aside from 7th Floor Villains the brand name, niggas are actually my homeboys. It's just a genuine feeling and we get to build with each other, progress and make each other better everyday.
Hear 8th World on Black Zheep DZ's Sound Cloud.
This past weekend was the second installment of our FLAT OUT party. The Crown was packed with people who came out to let loose and hear great music from some of our favorite underground artists doing it right now. Thanks to everyone who came out to support and have a good time! Special thanks to Potionz, Greedy, Sadaf, DJ Dizzy and D.R.A.M. for all giving super live and passionate performances. The energy was crazy and already has me anticipating the reaction to the next party. For now, take a look at some performance shots by Diamond Dixon and others by Mike Edmonds!
Photo: Richard Perkins
Originally published for Noisey
D.R.A.M.’s music career began in the now-defunct Coliseum Mall in Hampton, Virginia. It was hardly a place for experimentation, let alone the kind of rule-breaking rap that the rising rapper and singer has taken to making in the years since. But it was a start. “One day, my dude Key hit me up like, ‘Yo! Come over to the mall. It’s a dude here with a booth, and he’s fucking with our raps. Bring your verses,’” D.R.A.M. remembers, talking over the phone in a voice that suggests a smile. Sure enough, there was a dude, Soul, who had been stationed at the nearby naval base in Norfolk and had returned to Hampton to invest $4,000 in a middle-of-the-mall recording booth with a mic and laptop. D.R.A.M. laid down 16 bars on the song his friend Key had started, and “niggas at the booth lost it.”
Last month, nine years after that initial recording session, D.R.A.M. dropped his debut project #1EPICSUMMER, which mostly features contributions from local producers, including A$AP-affiliated beat-making group, VERY RVRE. The tape is an upbeat seesaw of raps over airy, percussive beats and singing that sounds like it’s straight out of a church choir. But as smooth as his music comes across in the tape, D.R.A.M took a long time to get to this point.
Shelley Massenburg-Smith, a.k.a. D.R.A.M., was born in 1988 in Germany to a mother who was in the military but has been living in Hampton for as long as he can remember. “Hampton was never really big on supporting open-mindedness,” he says bluntly over the phone. “It’s really old-fashioned here. It’s like one of the first cities in America, so people are really big on values, and there’s not much ethnic diversity. Everybody knows everybody.” Due to the staleness that comes with his hometown’s traditional culture, D.R.A.M. spends the majority of his time in neighboring Norfolk—the place to be if you’re into music, he says.
Despite the attitudes of the wider community surrounding him, D.R.A.M. always was grounded in a diverse range of music. “I stayed with my grandparents a lot growing up and they went to church all the time,” he says. “I sang on the choir. My mom had a little gospel group when I was growing up too. But outside of church, I was just on soul music heavy. People like Al Green, or those songs that you automatically know but never know whose song it is.”
On the phone he tells me that his favorite music ever comes from Parliament Funkadelic, which doesn’t come as a complete surprise considering that the bulk of tracks on #1EPICSUMMER in some way—if not completely—feature his resonant falsetto. “Never Again”, D.R.A.M’s promise to himself to chill on getting too fucked up, sounds like George Clinton taking a trip into the future and trading in acid for molly. He channels funk on the Junior Mafia nodding “Get Money” too where he theatrically talks shit, Clinton-style, before going back-and-forth between singing and rapping.
D.R.A.M.’s music career began in the now-defunct Coliseum Mall in Hampton, Virginia. It was hardly a place for experimentation, let alone the kind of rule-breaking rap that the rising rapper and singer has taken to making in the years since. But it was a start. “One day, my dude Key hit me up like, ‘Yo! Come over to the mall. It’s a dude here with a booth, and he’s fucking with our raps. Bring your verses,’” D.R.A.M. remembers, talking over the phone in a voice that suggests a smile. Sure enough, there was a dude, Soul, who had been stationed at the nearby naval base in Norfolk and had returned to Hampton to invest $4,000 in a middle-of-the-mall recording booth with a mic and laptop. D.R.A.M. laid down 16 bars on the song his friend Key had started, and “niggas at the booth lost it.”
Last month, nine years after that initial recording session, D.R.A.M. dropped his debut project #1EPICSUMMER, which mostly features contributions from local producers, including A$AP-affiliated beat-making group, VERY RVRE. The tape is an upbeat seesaw of raps over airy, percussive beats and singing that sounds like it’s straight out of a church choir. But as smooth as his music comes across in the tape, D.R.A.M took a long time to get to this point.
Listen to "iBG2U," a new song premiering exclusively on Noisey:
Shelley Massenburg-Smith, a.k.a. D.R.A.M., was born in 1988 in Germany to a mother who was in the military but has been living in Hampton for as long as he can remember. “Hampton was never really big on supporting open-mindedness,” he says bluntly over the phone. “It’s really old-fashioned here. It’s like one of the first cities in America, so people are really big on values, and there’s not much ethnic diversity. Everybody knows everybody.” Due to the staleness that comes with his hometown’s traditional culture, D.R.A.M. spends the majority of his time in neighboring Norfolk—the place to be if you’re into music, he says.
Despite the attitudes of the wider community surrounding him, D.R.A.M. always was grounded in a diverse range of music. “I stayed with my grandparents a lot growing up and they went to church all the time,” he says. “I sang on the choir. My mom had a little gospel group when I was growing up too. But outside of church, I was just on soul music heavy. People like Al Green, or those songs that you automatically know but never know whose song it is.”
On the phone he tells me that his favorite music ever comes from Parliament Funkadelic, which doesn’t come as a complete surprise considering that the bulk of tracks on #1EPICSUMMER in some way—if not completely—feature his resonant falsetto. “Never Again”, D.R.A.M’s promise to himself to chill on getting too fucked up, sounds like George Clinton taking a trip into the future and trading in acid for molly. He channels funk on the Junior Mafia nodding “Get Money” too where he theatrically talks shit, Clinton-style, before going back-and-forth between singing and rapping.
Massenburg-Smith started writing raps to spit over the lunch table to Clipse's "Grindin'" beat when he was in eighth grade, but it wasn’t until 2005, his senior year in high school, that things got more serious. After he and Key made their song at the mall, Soul, the recording studio’s owner, decided he liked the two so much that he started to “manage” them. Unfortunately, he ended up ruining their tracks with his mixing, and he turned out to be better at smoking them out than representing them. They predictably parted ways, and D.R.A.M. spiraled into a cloud soon after.
From 2005 to 2009, Massenburg-Smith worked at call centers, briefly trying out a year at Kentucky State University before going back to music in 2008. At that point, he started making beats and recorded close to 100 songs on a $100 mic he had bought. He picked back up, taking on the name DRAMA j, rapping punchline-heavy “real hip-hop,” and hitting local open mics.
Despite this focus, for a good chunk of D.R.A.M.’s life, rap was never even present. It wasn’t until he was home watching music videos in fifth grade that he stumbled across Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life.” “I knew the Annie song but I didn’t even know who Jay-Z was,” he says laughing on the phone. “I was watching ‘The Box’ and went to school the next day and asked people did they know about it. They just all looked at me kinda crazy because I was late on it. I ain’t know!”
That sense of being excited about something everyone else is already jaded with is what comes across as D.R.A.M.'s M.O. on #1EPICSUMMER—the guy who has since dropped the D.R.A.M.A. j name and what he describes as the “rappity rap” tendencies. “Cha Cha,” which has eclipsed 40,000 plays with limited attention, is an overload of claps, horns, congas, video game synths and synchronized “AYYYEEE’s” that come together for what feels like the perfect cookout anthem. Ascending “Cuchadoe” follows suit. On both, D.R.A.M. resembles the guy on the other end of the phone in our conversation: genuinely jolly, going from chill-to-amped in a matter of seconds, with just enough edge to make it clear that he’s serious about putting out quality shit.
“His music might not really portray how smart he actually is,” D.R.A.M.’s friend and the project’s main producer Gabe Niles says over email. “But that's cool because dude is hilarious. The guy you hear singing ‘Cha Cha’ is most likely the same person you’d imagine him being.”
D.R.A.M. credits his new, non-rappity rap exploration with sound to Niles, who is also part of the local Virginia soul duo, Sunny & Gabe. Niles describes working with D.R.A.M as “not even work,” adding, “Most of the time, a song just pops out of nothing, and next thing you know he’s singing like Bobby Womack over some kind of riff that has no business having 808s relentlessly blasting all over the track. I enjoy the fact that we are completely oblivious to any kind of ‘rules.’ It’s like two kids playing with Legos but with genres of music.” The two’s chemistry is even more commendable when you consider how simple D.R.A.M. keeps his content, which rarely ventures outside the topics of partying, getting trashed, and out-rapping the next dude.
That fun-loving side doesn’t mean that D.R.A.M. can’t change modes as needed, though. According to Gabe, there’s still a chip on D.R.A.M.’s shoulder about his rap skills. In an eight-minute track on the tape called “#1EPICRANT” he shows he can keep things traditional if he feels like it. “A lot of hip-hop out here is based on struggle,” D.R.A.M. explains, justifying his choice to keep a foot on either side of a certain sonic divide. “But with this project I really wanted to make feel-good music.” Whether D.R.A.M. possesses the ability to make “real hip-hop” or not is probably beside the point in this era of heading outside of rap’s boundaries, though. And as long as he can prove to continue making fun, exploratory music that shakes the expectation of what a rapper should be, D.R.A.M. is going to be doing exactly the right thing.
Back in July, we started FLAT OUT--a party and show in Baltimore dedicated to showcasing artists that use rap as a foundation, while embracing the genre’s boundless trajectory where electronic and punk have began expanding its soundscape. FLAT OUT is about bringing dynamic underground musical and visual artists together to exhibit their unique talent while ignoring the pretense and remnants of the old guard that heavily cloud the game today.
We're excited to announce the second party's lineup, which spans from experimental, to street rap to Baltimore Club! Saturday, October 25th we'll be at The Crown's Blue Room (1910 N. Charles St.) presenting Hampton Virginia's D.R.A.M., NYC's SADAF, and three artists from Baltimore: club producer, DJ Dizzy, rapper Greedy and DJ/producer, Potionz! Visuals and live coverage will be provided by Time Spent! Flier by Antonina Clarke.
---NO FLAUGIN. NO WHORES. NO PHONIES. CELEBRATE THE REAL AND LOSE YASELF. FLAT OUT---
Check out the FLAT OUT artists:
D.R.A.M.:
SADAF:
DJ DIZZY:
GREEDY:
POTIONZ:
RSVP HERE
