DJ Drama

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.

He is known for his trademark Gangsta Grillz series, a branding used on projects of which were compiled by Drama, utilized by collaborators including Lil Wayne, Tyler, the Creator, Snoop Dogg, Yo Gotti, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Fabolous, Jeezy, Meek Mill, and Gucci Mane, among others.

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.

One of his first series (called Electric Relaxation) included a variety of R&B tracks.

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.

He would go on to graduate from CAU in 2000.

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).

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.

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."

AMG signed a joint venture deal with Asylum Records in September 2006.

The first artist signed was American rapper Willie the Kid.

He has released 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).

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.

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.

Drama has been named "DJ of the Year" at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, and won a Grammy Award for his work on Call Me If You Get Lost (2021) by Tyler, the Creator.

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.

With 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.