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4/24/2006 What's up? Everything's great. Like TI's song, I'm living the "Good Life." Happy Birthday, man. How was your party? The party was crazy. Thank you. Lil' Wayne was there, Juelz Santana, Allen Iverson, Trina, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Killer Mike, Usher, Neyo, and Young Buck. It was bananas. It was sickening. It was all love. What kind of party favors do you give guests like that? That is my party favor. That's my party favor to the general public and the people that support me and the Apphiliates. I called my big time homies to come chill and I show love to the people for them to be able to see some of their favorite artists and celebs. It's just a good time. I'm in a good position. I'm happy to be here. I have a lot of people in the industry and streets that are supporting me. That's a good feeling. Are you happy with the response you've gotten from the Pharell and Little Brother tapes? Definitely. I've gotten nothing but good comments. I've heard certain things through all the positives, I still hear negatives like some people don't think the "Snowman" tape is as good as "Trap or Die" or some people might not like the Pharell tape. I'm working with my favorite people and the tapes are flying out of the stores. You can't please everybody. I don't put nothing out if I don't love it. Before I drop a tape, I'll ride to it for a straight week to make sure it's straight. I've been banging them out and people have been coming to me to work. I've just been trying to keep it consistent. Are you happy with how the Little Brother tape is doing? I've gotten good reviews off that. Before I did it, I heard ramblings like, "Why is Little Brother working with DJ Drama?" and "Why is DJ Drama giving his brand to Little Brother?" I think the title said everything, "Separate but Equal." We proved a point. Even though people think of Young Jeezy and TI as being associated with "Gangsta Grillz," good music is good music no matter where it comes from. I was reading a 9th Wonder interview where he said "If Dram says it's hot, people will listen." I'm glad to be in that position. I've been a fan of Little Brother and if it takes me to cosign them for niggas to pay attention, then so be it. People are talking about this tape and you can't go wrong with this, whether it's positive or negative. You can't please everybody. I'm a fan of Little Brother. I ride to the tape, so F what everybody else says. Has it sunken in how valuable your cosign has become in the game? Yes and no. Of course I'm aware of it, but I'm still living it so it's real important for me to not get caught up in the hype. I realize that I'm in a very good place and from a DJ's standpoint, I'm in a place where a lot of DJ's want to be. It's a steady grind and I have to keep it moving. I'm looking for what's next. I'm on to my next tapes and working on my album. It's about being consistent. Even where I'm at, there is such a higher level to what there is. I just look at it like I might be on the 13th floor, but it's a 50-story building. Have you seen any jealousy amongst other mixtape DJ's? Not personally. I get a lot of love and respect from people. I think that's because you can't take away from my grind. I put in work. I talk a lot of shit on my tapes, but for those who know me, I'm a real down-to-earth type of dude and I give respect. I don't go on the internet and run my mouth about how hot I am. I keep it moving and I think people have seen how far I've come. I don't really think I get a lot of jealousy from DJ's. I get a lot of respect and I think I inspire people. A lot of people tell me I'm motivation. I'm a real live physical person. If I was able to do it, you can be able to do it. All I did was put in work. People have said stuff that Drama's been in the right place at the right time and it was easier for him because of where he was at. You've got to make the best of your situation and I think that's what I did with mine. And I don't show nothing but respect to other mixtape DJ's because I realize how hard the grind is. When I see somebody that's hot, I show love. What do you think of the problems going on between DJ Scream and DJ Smallz? I don't really condone DJ beefs. Scream and Smallz are both friends of mine and I respect both for what they do. I can't really call it. That's on them. It's a very competitive sport that we're involved in and for whatever reasons, it went down the way it went down. It's a very street game. There are rules to abide by and not everybody always abides by the rules. I wish the both of them success. I don't really think DJ beef is all that hot. We're not rappers. People really don't care. I'm not mad at it. Everybody wants to be on top, and if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. DJ Smallz made it a point to emphasize his age and your age in my recent interview with him. Should age be a factor in DJ'ing? Most definitely. What Smallz has been able to accomplish at the age he's at, he should be commended for it. He's light years ahead of where I was. When I was his age, I was still making tapes myself. It's supposed to be that way. If you're 18 or 19, it shouldn't take you as long to get to where I'm at. You're supposed to learn from me. At the end of the day, age isn't anything but a number and you have to have quality. Smallz is a household name. I don't know how old he is now, but I'm impressed with what he's been able to do at his age. More power to him and anybody doing it. I wish I would have known at 20 what I know now. The other thing about the age thing is that everybody has their time. You can't say someone gets too old or I should have started earlier. Look at Jay-Z, Chuck D, Guru, Ice Cube, or Kid Capri. Everybody has their time and as long as you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, if you stay on your grind, it's going to pay off and people are going to notice that. Just do you and people are going to take notice. What are you dropping next? I have a Yo Gotti and a Young Dro tape dropping on Monday. Then I have a Yung Joc and Lil' Wayne "Dedication Part Two" dropping. Those are dropping this month. Then I'm going to slow down. There are a couple of cats in Philly I'm going to work with. I'm going to finish up my album. I think I've made enough statements for the year. I had a great year last year. It's very important for me to still go hard for the rest of the year. I want the people to know that it's not a game. It's very hard for me to not work. I'm a workaholic. I work 24/7 whether I'm on the road or at home. A lot of people ask me what else I can accomplish in the mixtape game. I agree with them on some terms, but there's always good music. If I don't come out with a tape for two months, I'll be all right. Niggas won't forget about me. Although people do have short attention spans. That's why I work so hard. People do have short attention spans. What do you think of Yo Gotti? I love Yo Gotti. I think he's hot. Do you think Yung Joc will do what Bad Boy's predicting he'll do? I hope so. Who is next out of the South? Young Dro. Yo Gotti is definitely one of them. I'm really pushing the Replacementz. There's a lot of hot artists. Plies is killing it in Florida. I don't want to give out too many names because like you said, I do realize my potential so I don't want to cosign to much because I'm ready for the labels to cut checks when I mention names. How do you feel when people say you only do tapes with certain artists because you're labelmates? So be it. What do I look like sitting here arguing that? It's not true. Before tapes dropped, I knew it would happen. If that's the worst thing they can say about me, cool. Even if it was true, is it a bad thing? I've been hearing a lot of things about me. I've been hearing that I don't do my mixtapes and all I do is yell on them. It comes with the territory. It just means that I've arrived. It could be a lot worse. Exactly. They could be not saying nothing. Are you happy with how TI's album is doing? I'm ecstatic. It's about time. He deserves it. I'm happy to be a part of it. It's crazy. The tour starts tomorrow. Getting on the road is going to be ridiculous. How's your album coming? I'm about half-way done. We're looking to drop it third-quarter. We have everything going in the right direction. We just opened up Apphiliates Studios so we're doing a lot of work there. It's tough because I have a lot of hype around me and I want to take my time. I don't want to undermine the people by rushing it. The moves that I make and the moves that Khaled, Green Lantern, and Clinton Sparks make are extremely important because there has been a lot of downside to the DJ album and we're holding the fate of the albums in our hands. We're just trying to make the best albums possible. What's your priority for the next few months? My album. That's it. What do you want to say to everyone? We're real people out here. One thing that I've been doing recently is going on the internet and I've been reading up on everything. I'm a family man. I get lazy sometimes and just feel like sitting on the couch watching TV. I have to make sure I work and everything. This is what I eat and breathe. This is what I do. If it wasn't for the people, we wouldn't be here. It's just hard work and dedication to get here. A lot of niggas like to talk a lot on the internet. More power to you. If you don't like me, you have every right to. I have no problem with it. That doesn't stop my movement. You can eat and breathe Hip Hop. I didn't get a job and I spent my time not making no money being broke believing in what I had and using my abilities to my advantage. You can't tell me that my opinion in Hip Hop doesn't matter or that I don't represent the shit to the fullest. I've been doing the shit for too long. That's real talk.

By Brian Kayser

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