S. Samuel
[As the winter season approaches, SOHH has teamed with McDonald's to heat things up in a four-part series highlighting all-star deejays throughout the United States, dishing on how they put on for their city. Today, Atlanta's DJ Drama gives us a taste of the ATL flavor.]
Let me tell you something about Atlanta. The Atlanta hip-hop scene is a Mecca. You get what I’m saying? We get [all of the latest music] out here in Atlanta. Making and having the music out here, we get the best of all lanes and all cultures down here.
For me coming up as a deejay, Atlanta was a great place [to partake in] this profession. Being here, it’s helped me go on to bigger things that’s more than just being a deejay. There’s so many [deejays] that’s in here in Atlanta that are from so many different places. So what’s happening is you’re getting a lot of good energy from all over.
There’s people from all over that are coming here and going to work with their music. So for me, this is always an exciting place to work from. It wasn’t hard coming down here, originally from Pennsylvania, because Atlanta embraces me as their own and vice versa.
It feels good to have two homes. Of course I was born and raised in Philadelphia, but I came up in “The A”. The way to make it out here is by proving it through your work. I think I’ve definitely proven it [with] what I’ve done as a deejay.
When I’m deejaying, there’s some records that are always going to be guaranteed Atlanta bangers. You’ll always be safe when you throw on a bunch of T.I. records [while deejaying at various venues throughout Atlanta]. You can definitely hit the people with some f*cking Young Jeezy tracks, just put on his Thug Motivation records. If you’re really feeling like you’re in the moment, you can hit them in the head with Pastor Troy‘s “Vice Versa.” You can’t go wrong with those records when you’re in Atlanta.
DJ Drama is a radio deejay and the official deejay for T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records. He is widely known for building a buzz throughout the underground circuit with joint efforts alongside T.I., Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and more. DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and DJ Sense founded Aphilliates Music Group in 2003. The Aphilliates Music Group inked a label deal with Asylum Records in 2006, signing rapper Willie the Kid. As of January 2011, The Aphilliates now operates as its own entity, due to DJ Drama recently cutting ties with La the Darkman and Embassy Entertainment.
