 What's up everybody once again is brand man Sean and we're back for another leak up with brand man and today I'm linking up with DJ Dramos this dude is dope man he's a producer of a show that y'all probably know about which is the breakfast club so obviously he's doing something and he's a part of something that's already impacting the culture at large but it's not just that he's still trying to find his way through the game so I think it's an interesting insight to be in a space that he's already in but still trying to continue to carve and not be complacent and he has a podcast that he actually had me on called the dream doc dealers podcast and he's interviewed a lot of dope people on there so we're going to get into that the podcast why it exists some of the interviews he's done there and then just some of the learnings he's had some of the game some of the inside game he's had based on his position at the breakfast club as well so DJ Dramos welcome man I appreciate you doing this but in fact I appreciate you having me on your podcast first and foremost but what's up man how you doing I'm good bro now of course man I appreciate you doing mine that was one of my favorite episodes I got to do so I actually learned some stuff myself so that was a good one hey hey okay so let's start here man because I want to know like where did you like how did you get to where you are like how does one go from are you you got your name is DJ Dramos so I'm assuming that you were you were doing a records in a club or something at some point or you wanted to be a DJ and then maybe you pivot it or are you still trying to DJ heavily to somebody who's producing at the breakfast club right how did how does that transition happen did you even want to be in music yeah I mean I always played music I always you know I play the instruments and things like that and I'd originally actually played in bands and then I had just kind of always been into all kinds of music so I always wanted to find ways to express myself and once I stopped doing the whole band thing I kind of got interested in DJing and we're taking it more seriously I had always had an interest I had like turntables at the house but I just kind of messed around in my basement um and that kind of sort of led me to this path right now you know so once I started DJing it just made me have to pump out there a lot you know so I was out in the club meeting people I was meeting other DJs uh promoters this and that and I would just DJ anything I could you know kind of get my hands down at the time and I would just go and meet people as much as I possibly could like if there was an opportunity to meet somebody I was doing something that I found interesting or was one of my peers or any of those kind of things I was out you know if I wasn't working as uh on a Friday or Saturday night or Thursday I was out at a bar or club you know in the New York region to the area to meet people um and through that I you know met somebody who worked at one of our sister radio stations here in New York called KTU um and you know through years of just kind of nurturing that relationship and becoming close friends with him and his whole crew and essentially meeting everybody that worked at the radio station that led to me getting like a really entry level position at the radio station just like monitoring the the boards overnight from like midnight to six a.m uh at the that radio station but then that kind of got me in the door and that would eventually lead me to getting the connection to to get on the breakfast though basically. So well I want to pause therefore you're talking about you don't monitoring the board overnight what does that look like for somebody who doesn't come from that world? Yeah uh I mean it's it's a really boring job to be honest I this year you're one of the only people in the building at that time so um basically you know go in at like 11 30 whatever it is uh try to go in a little earlier just so I can kind of like catch the last shift of people you know so I can kind of you know get some time in with them um but then you can bear by yourself when you open at six a.m just kind of monitoring the board making sure that transitions between songs and everything are and tight and the commercials and all that stuff here properly um but really at that time there was nothing else to do you just kind of sit there you know uh and while I was there I was on my computer you know all night watching my breakfast sub-interviews ironically and like kind of mapping out you know what I wanted to do and then just learning the game you know and just being in the building like that I would stick around you know in the morning for a little bit even if I was tired I would come in you know even extra early some days and like I would video interviews for other radio jocks just to kind of keep getting my name in there and keep putting myself in there that that's kind of all the little things you know I did. All right we back just wanted to make sure we had the best audio visual quality possible and yeah you talked about just that all right that overnight grind trying to figure out your next move and really being born you knew you didn't want to be there what so obviously you had to do good enough of what you were doing for the connection to even matter though right like did you did you like were you excelling on the boards were you telling people in this time that I want to do something bigger or did it kind of all organically happen? Yeah man I walked into it knowing like I you know it was getting paid basically minimum wage you know what I'm saying so I walked into it knowing that I this was my chance to get a foot in the industry you know I mean and that was the way I approached it the entire time regardless of what how you know the hours were trash and the pay and all that stuff I went into it with the purpose I knew from the start like this is going to be my entryway into doing the things I want to do and I just have to suck it up for now you know so I think people recognize that attitude they saw that they saw the drive they saw that anytime they need to do something I was there you know I would sleep on the floor you know I would do anything I would be sleeping in people's offices under their desks you know because they need to coverage in a couple hours you know what I'm saying so I did everything I had to do yeah so from that you know then you know with that you start being on the top of people's minds when things you know happen when opportunities come about because you're that guy who's always there and always showing up you know you start being somebody who is on in the top of somebody's mind when an opportunity comes and that's kind of you know always been the my path but so that's the key right there just especially when you're starting off just be available be present you know absolutely and you know and and don't get caught up in like the short term of it like you know I did a lot of stuff or maybe I wasn't paid to do it you know or um or I was exhausted or you know it wasn't like really worth the time that I was putting into it you know but I did it you know and because I knew the long-term vision you know was it was going to pan out if I just kept doing this you know I didn't allow myself to get caught up on the fact that maybe I was losing money going back and forth so much you know and all the tolls and everything that I kind of just you know sat there I realized that the long-term vision was bigger than that and you know I just always kept on the forefront of my mind and allowed that to be what you know guide me when it came to saying yes to whatever random thing we asked me to do oh okay so like I mean we as we spoke and you were talking about the fact that you really want to focus on stories all right and your career and particularly as you continue to elevate and being one of those personalities that can tap into the culture find those stories and help deliver those stories and whatever formats you you know decide to explore being on the breakfast club obviously that's just one of the outlets where so many stories for the culture have come from my curiosity man is especially knowing the impact of story narrative that that when it comes to artists when it comes to just public figures what did you learn or what have you learned in terms of delivering a great story like how well lessons have you learned being in that environment so far I mean I think it all all starts with honesty you know with yourself I think one of the the good things I think about them is that people know they already put themselves out there you know I mean they talk about their own personal lives a lot you know they critique each other you know they do a lot of things like that where I feel like whoever they're interviewing comes into there knowing that you know not only are they being put on the display but at least the people asking the questions are hiding either you know and I think there's a level of accountability that comes along with that and I also think they've built they've built a reputation where they know that you know these guys aren't going to shy away from the hard questions so you know they know coming into there that that they have to expect that you know what I mean I've worked on a couple different radio programs and things of that and a lot of times the bigger artists will their PR people will give like a list like don't ask these questions don't talk about this blah blah you know and the the breath of thought is the only show that I've seen that would you know just say that tell what that you know I mean they'll ask what they want to ask you know um and and there's something to that you know there's something to the honesty and at the same time I think they do a good job of balancing that out they they they do a good job of letting you know that they're not asking these questions necessarily it's like embarrassed you or anything like that they're doing it really for for the culture because these are what the people this is what the people want to hear you know and they're giving you an outlet and a platform to share your side of the story you know and they do a good job of um making the yes feel comfortable in a way that we're not trying to you know pin you in a bad light or anything that we're asking the question that people want to know and we're giving you that platform to share your story so it's all about the way I think you make somebody comfortable that's one thing I noticed is the way they go about interviewing somebody you know it's a very tactical kind of thing you know you you're very tactical about the way you talk to somebody you want them to feel comfortable in the environment so they're able to you know open up to you know answer the questions that you're asking especially when it comes to those tougher things interesting I never thought about the idea of yeah being open to yourself as an interviewer or just a figure so now you're kind of on even kill what that person who's being interviewed I can definitely see how that creates a whole another level of comfort especially for the more celebrity type figures who are right you know everything is so exposed and vulnerable when you're almost a celebrity in a you know kind of yourself it kind of even certain things out in in its own way actually I mean you you got to think like you know you have somebody like Charlemagne talking about dealing with mental health or you know getting molested as a kid or an M&MV going on there and talking about you know when they had problems with their wives and cheating all these things so it's like yeah that was crazy when he did that that that like I can that meant a lot for me so you know I can get that yeah and that's some sense so you come in and you're like man like these guys are later a lot there you know so at that point it's like what am I hiding you know I mean these these guys are you know asking me personal questions but at the same time they've put themselves out there as well so there is like this give and take that has happened you know yeah yeah it doesn't feel as malicious man I mean right so you have now I think about it is really a unique perspective right observation right so for so long even when I grew up right I was pretty much introverted still technically about nature introverted but I would just be so quiet and observe observe observe and because your position right at like because they're always talking right but your position is pretty much listening and watching and right all these interviews that you've gotten to see I would love to know your perspective from not only the interviewer perspective now like we kind of talked on that but like let's say the artist the politician the you know you name it type of celebrity from your perspective just being a quiet person in the room and watching these interactions what do you think is the difference between an interview that comes off authentic and even makes impact and people's interviews who don't come off as well in those more conversational unorthodox environments like the Rebels Club I mean I think to a degree it starts when the artist just walks in the building so I mean a little like behind it seems to be a bit I can give you is you know Charlemagne always makes it a point to go with like so when they come in there's like a little waiting area right outside of our studio they can see us and we can see them but you know they're like sitting a little oh hold up can you repeat that real quick because it like slowed down pause um so when the artist comes in they have like a little waiting area but it's basically just like a living room in our section in the building so we can see them in our studio and they can see us our windows are glass so but Charlemagne will make a point to leave the studio and go like greet them you know what I'm saying in the living room he'll greet them everybody in their entourage this and that so I think little things like that um you know sort of starting putting people at ease a little bit um and and I think uh you know just you know you're talking about like the the perspective of um if you want to repeat the question a little bit but uh the perspective of what I'm seeing when I'm watching yeah I'm talking about the perspective now like if let's just say um I don't know jz right and what makes that different right yeah what makes a difference for me to be the figure and give off a good interview versus one of the interviews that don't come off either it comes off horrible or it just doesn't doesn't have any impact it doesn't feel the same right okay so like I said with the living room thing where they come and say he says hi to everybody immediately off the cuff you're getting that respect level you feel respected you feel seen you feel honored you know what I mean so as an artist you're probably gonna let your guard down artist politician whatever whatever the case uh maybe and then also I think as an interviewer you can't be so hungry or thirsty to create a moment that you you know don't go through levels of this interview you know what I mean um okay you have to allow the conversation to go where it goes you know what I mean like you can write down like some questions that you want to ask but you can't be married to those questions you know I mean because when you're married to that you're missing out on the actual conversation that's happening you know um so there'll be times where maybe they had a you had some questions Charlotte had to question envy and it just didn't get to it because the conversations didn't go there doesn't mean that the interview ended up being bad it sometimes it ends up being better than expected um but you have to allow the conversation to go there and you have to also be not so focused on what your next question is that you forget to listen to what they're saying because you might say something that then sparks the next question you know I'm saying it wasn't planned but you said something interesting that sparks the next thing now all of a sudden we're down like this rabbit hole where I might be you know uh giving you all these tidbits information that wasn't even planned on you know what I mean so you have to allow yourself to to keep it conversational got you yeah man I think the conversation on paying attention to the moment is is huge because one of the things that attracted to me to the breakfast club when it first really started moving is like this media culture of when an artist or you know somebody goes on a media run and they're being asked the exact same questions that every single stop yeah and it'll be like the most generic questions you know really everything they want you to know from a pr standpoint and nothing that makes it worth watching it really is almost like a you know 30 minute ad sometimes right yeah I mean if you notice a lot of their interviews they won't sit there and talk about like you know the movie that somebody's promoting or the album the entire length of the interview or like for too long you know I'm saying they'll they'll get into a real conversation then a lot of times they'll kind of end it talking about that thing so it's a give and take where the person you know gets to promote what they came to do but at the same time now we got a good conversation out of this well you know and that's what people want to hear you know how many times we're gonna ask somebody about their musical influences or things you know things of that nature how'd you get just yep sorry the industry well I mean that's that's all interesting it has its place but at the end of the day it's not showing somebody at the human you know I think that they they do a great job at that you know they do a great job at I don't want to say exposing because it has a negative connotation but uh showcasing who somebody you know really is you know if they're a crazy person they're gonna come out in the breakfast stuff you know uh you know let's say peel back layers right exactly exactly you know you you go into you really get a good feel for who somebody is I think uh especially like that second Takashi 69 interview um I think like when people walked away from watching that one it was like whoa this is like a real dude you know what I mean like regardless of what you felt about it I think a lot of people started feeling some sort of you know like empathy or they looked at him like a real person you know I mean it was something interesting about about that the way that you know that that interview came across and you know that's something that is what makes them special and they weren't looking for the crazy moment where he was out and those all these things it was like they allowed him to have a real conversation you know I mean yeah yeah I got you well like flipped on the other side let's say if I'm an artist right and I want to make sure that I give off of a good interview like the things that are in my control right how do I make sure that I come off well right what what what what should I do differently based on the people you've done you know good and bad I think at the end day you can't walk in there trying to be too cool for the room you know um you you gotta just allow yourself to be relaxed and it's tough as nerve wracking especially in an environment like that man it's breakfast club you know everybody dreams about being on there there's no getting around that but I think you know we live in an age of transparency and if you're trying to give off this persona of perfection or whatever that the case may be that isn't you it's very obvious to the audience you know and um you know I think what makes them so special you're talking about wouldn't they allow people to be humanized it's when people allow themselves to also come across as human you know I'm saying um and allow you to really just showcase your personality and don't try and be the cool rapper who's you know there's rich doing this and that it's like allow yourself to open up you know I mean it's obviously as much too comfortable with but that's what is gonna make people really mess with even more is when they kind of really see like okay what is this person all about you know um there are times where uh there'll be like a rapper that'll come in and I'm not like particularly a fan of or I don't get and then I'll like when it's over I'm like damn that's like that's a smart dude you know I mean like he you know knows what he's doing he's been on his grind and like that makes me if that makes me go check out their office to be honest with you a lot of times where it can be somebody that I never liked them you know had an interest in checking out their music but after the interview I was like you know I kind of want to go about now because I saw a side of them that I really didn't expect to kind of see you know yo I think that's huge man people slip on the impact of an interview because there's been tons of people where when I can see how they think it definitely might encourage me to go check out their music or whatever they do in life and then of course now you can even hear the music a little bit differently because you understand where it's coming from with that context versus absolutely I've never just sounded like before look at I mean look at somebody like Nipsey Hussle you know I think his music you know he this last project was great but he transcended that because he was so open he was talking real stuff you know what I mean like you could you know watch his interviews as just somebody you know get some game from you know I mean like regardless of what you thought about his music like you could still be a fan of Nipsey Hussle because he was deeper than than just the music thing and he allowed himself to showcase all that you know and I think that that is what transcends you know people becoming just you know actually somebody that that people can mess with for a long period of time you know because you are being more than just some dude from the hood who you know has some sort of crazy stories about how he used to be on the block or whatever whatever it is you know I mean like that we've heard that story a million times at this point you know but there's gotta be more depth to it you know there's gotta be when we see somebody like YG you know maybe breaking down talk about Nipsey or something like that like that makes you like be a fan of him a little bit more like behind you know he is like this dude from the streets but he is also a real dude at the end of the day you know what I'm saying so I think that that that really gives you like this extra edge when you're able to really open it up and just hone in on you know showcasing who you are people might be a fan of you even if they don't love your music now you actually just have a fan who always just checks out your stuff because of that you know I mean because they maybe don't like the last project but because they mess with you as a person they're gonna keep looking for whatever that next thing is and hope that they like the next project at least you know oh yeah I like that yeah you keep it goes back to brand man like I always say when you're not hot your brand is your insurance yeah like if you're music ain't popping in streets with people still rock with you they're gonna give you another chance right you know they're always gonna be looking for a reason to rock with you look at like two chains you know what I mean like maybe his music hasn't been hit in the way it did but he has the show on vice land and like people just mess with him as a person you know action bronzes same kind of thing like action bronzes never really popped like gigantically you know as he maybe you know some people thought he would or whatever it is but regardless what you think about his music you see his personality like the show he has with the cooking and all this stuff it's like you know you give yourself the opportunity to be multifaceted and you know when you need to be able to pivot into different areas in different arenas you know yeah 100 that's that's the career long game versus right again that short game as you alluded to earlier which brings me you know back to the fact you you start the dream dealers podcast so to be clear what was the thought process behind dream dealers podcast was this hey I know that I really want to pursue storytelling but what did it start as a project almost just to get some reps in um a little bit I had been in another podcast um that was more of just like fun like we could drunk or artist and interview him and you know it had a little bit of depth but it was more of like a fun thing and I just knew I felt like myself like leaning towards wanting to be able to give people more value you know uh and at the same time I think for me one of my biggest I don't know if it's a calling whatever you want to call it I think I love social media but I hate the way most people use it you know what I mean so to me I developed this because I was like this gives me an opportunity to do something because the podcast for people don't know I do it via Instagram live so you know we can connect right there people can comment this and that's back and forth kind of thing and a lot of those people I didn't have a relationship with prior to the podcast you know I might have been from a DM an email whatever it is so aside from it being something where I can put people on game I also want to show that you can use these technologies you know and these things that are available to you in the right way to really create something real you know um and and that's when most of people that I focus on also were people that were using tech to you know uh to build up the brand or to create their own businesses and things like that um so yeah I mean it definitely was kind of the precursor to like what I kind of think my grandiose vision of it all is and the way I want to tell stories um but yeah so that I think that you know in this social media era uh there's so much opportunity that that was like my first step and to really be able to showcase and hopefully give people an insight like what can you do with what's it your you know at your fingertips as opposed to just using as something to flex and give people you know the perception that you're doing more than you actually are hey well hey by the way man I'm mentioning that you did it over IG live that was super dope that you had a podcast over IG live because when you were like you know telling me about the conversation but then you mentioned IG live but you said the word is podcast I was confused I didn't know how the hell you were going to do a podcast over IG live I didn't know how to have a setup I hadn't seen that of course I've seen IG live conversations like people just hop on but I never saw like a pre-recorded women recorded and packaged podcast out of that was that um like what did you have like a back-end technology off of that or was that just an app you were using how did you even do that um yeah I was so I have like a audio interface in my studio and I would basically just run from the iPhone the audio into the interface and then I would have a separate mic plugged in as well that was going into the interface and we were all report on to like my reporting software which I ableton uh that I can go back and and I'd also um screen record the interview on my iPhone so uh that's how I got the video aspect of it as well but it was I mean I liked it because I think it gave people a like a sense of urgency where you had to tune in at a specific time which I think is something that is fleeting in the world we live in right now um and it's like if you want to be a part of the conversation tune in at this specific time you know what I'm saying and it gave you the opportunity to be in real time and then also you know obviously with an on-demand culture sort of allowed the other aspects of it as well where I can package it after and release it as a regular podcast as well but um you know for those who want to be a little bit more interactive it kind of gave you both options okay yeah man I definitely appreciated how you did that then the the post production all that stuff the packaging was real slick you make it so somebody wants to post those snippets man come on like how can I not post those well branded snippets man that's that's everything that's the key I mean I gotta keep you in mind as well you know so at the end of the day it's like it's a cross promotion you know so me the cool thing about IG live is it doesn't go out to not only my followers but if you and I are out there because that's your followers as well so now the mindset behind that is now your people are not checking me out they don't probably don't know who the hell I am you know what I'm saying so now I have your followers laying their eyes on me and vice versa you know so that that you know helped me gain more of an audience as well where people are like oh I don't know this dude is but I like the conversation have them go check out what he's doing now you know and also then sending you professional clips sending you professional things to to do that that also allowed me to get value after the fact you know where I can send you stuff that gives you value gives you content for your um your socials at the same time you know when you tag me it's something that's going to send people back to my page now too you know so it's like that reciprocal kind of thing I wanted to make sure I did something that gave both of us values that we both continue to support each other you know I mean so if I if I do some if I give you some trash stuff that you're not going to post it's not really valuable to me you know but if I take the time to make sure the quality of the content is good and that means that's the potential for us both to be getting value out of it you know 100 man I think that's I mean that's the name of the game right the win-win is always going to be the best way to go and absolutely now talking about your interviews man like outside of my interview of course man what what what has been some of the dopest moments in terms of your personal interviews are just dopest people we feel like you've gotten able to to talk to man um there's been some going I I love the conversation with a poem he's gonna write this up a couple times um I recommend anybody to check out his book unlearned he just has a really unique perspective on life and just like if you want to get a little bit more spiritual and and kind of you know dive into some of the things that go along with you know the hustle and all that stuff is cool but you know a lot of times it messes with your mental so to really be able to dial in on that kind of stuff but dope um I'd say um the interview with uh Sweetie's manager was cool because that was right at the time when my type was like bubbling up just a little bit and it was literally like right after that interview like boom she blew up to the world and not because of me but it was cool to to be at that point to feel like I was a part of that you know moment right there you know um yeah I remember after that interview I like pushed really hard at the radio station like yo like my type like Sweetie at Sweetie's dope like you guys should really check out her story and like and that when the record kind of started bubbling up so it was like a perfect form you know um gonna take any credit for anything to happen with it but uh you know I think I definitely was able to get and you know me people can be easier and things like that to really look at the record a little bit more and like and and play it and mix and stuff like that you know I mean he's gonna do that on his own but I think definitely having a co-sign helped out um so that was definitely a cool moment for me uh and to hear kind of her story and how how they really built her up and and how she had this whole vision of how she wanted to do things and the talk of ownership as an artist and to kind of see it in real time happening as it was building that to me that was like something I'm definitely fine when it happened to be my my first episode you know so that was that was definitely a good one yeah hell of a way to start man yeah I was supposed to interview her first and that was actually a thing especially me too because it made me like you know persevere where I was supposed to interview her twice and this is the thing that's tricky about the IG live thing is you put up the flyer tell people tomorrow 7 p.m well then like the day up comes and I think she had to fly out for something so it was like damn now people I think I'm a liar now that I was going to be interviewing sweetie you know uh and unfortunately this again when the song started popping so now she's like running around and you know within the span of like two weeks of me booking and now her whole schedule has changed um so it got to the point where she had to cancel it she had to cancel again the day of and I you know I had to hit up her manager like Max I was like bro I know you know she's really busy but can I at least can I get at least get you on here so that you can give me your perspective and that's how we I've been interviewing him you know um and and it turned out to be a great interview but I think it also taught me to just keep rolling with the punches and like don't allow yourself to kind of give up you know figure out a way to to keep it going and to keep it moving so that uh you know you don't feel publicly I guess but uh it was just a good kind of perseverance moment for me that's what's up man I think it's interesting to hear you say that man because I feel like that that that figuring it out and figuring out how to turn you know you could call them losses into right some some semblance of a wind right and having a specific idea in as far as what you want to do in mind are two of the important most important things to have in the entertainment industry because there's so many opportunities so many random ways to make money like so many different characters you know from all sides you know I mean good to bad ugly all that stuff and you can easily get lost in the sauce if you don't have your own mindset principle that you want to run run to and also of course if you can't execute in and how to drive to to roll with the punches because even the way you talk and recall that instance right there yeah I commend you because so many people get like bitter yeah you know what I mean like we'll be like wow you know she said she went she and she ducked me two times and that's it you know that's the whole story like you understood situation blah blah blah and you you got the manager right and and it took no problem with that so like I think that's dope man what are what are your what what what's your personal philosophy man in terms of how you move and and just handle like life and and business I mean I at the end of day it all starts with the idea that I want to wake up every day and you know and not feel like that dread of going to work you know obviously it's gonna be certain days when you feel that way but for the most part you know I had jobs that I hated I know what that feeling feels like and everyone feels again um you know and and it also is at the same time I want to strive for greatness so I don't want to ever I don't want to just be a struggling artist for my entire life either you know um you know and it's trying to find a balance within the two but then at the same time you like you were you were saying you know there are I don't know just and I'm paraphrasing here but kind of shady characters within this world in this industry and you know different things you have to look out for and that might you know tear you down a little bit um it's you know knowing that I don't want to operate that way either you know I want to win the right way and I think that's always something that I keep in the back of my mind is you know winning the right way and knowing that I'm better when it comes when I'm able to collaborate you know and and understanding myself that uh my ability to collaborate my want to collaborate my want to give people a platform I want to uh meet people learn from people you know that is always going to take me in the right direction so it's always trying to push myself to to learn you know what I mean even if it's not necessarily something that's immediately something I want to do I want to know I want to study other people's mindsets you know I want to do all that kind of stuff and that's always what's helped me journey is you know uh being unafraid to ask for ask for help you know or put myself in a position to learn or to strive to learn something and then also when it comes down to it not being shy to put in the work and to pull the trigger at a time you know you can only do research and learn for a bus so long and then you have to actually go and execute that one. 100% man what is what does studying look like to you? Man I'll go down wormholes of like YouTube videos for hours bro that's how I originally found you you know um you can put a topic you got there that I'm like oh it's tough and then I'll go down a wormhole and I'll watch before they were famous stuff you know type of stuff and like before I was with the breakfast sub I used to watch your interviews and study game on people I thought was interesting that they were interviewing and learn about that I used to study interviews that Charlemagne did that Envy did that Yee did to learn about their journey how they did what they did you know I think it's always important to you know find some people that you find interesting and then reverse engineer what they did um you know that that's a big key is is okay what was their path you know okay how can I what can I take wait what tidbits gonna take away you know it's it's kind of like you can you know find that books and I read books and stuff like that and maybe even some books I don't read the whole book but I'll go through and find okay this chapter is interesting I think it speaks to what I want to know boom pull that tidbit you know and find little pieces of everything you can do so and and it's also meeting people man I I always want to put myself in a position to meet people you know the the best of my ability I'll always try and meet up if somebody's a girl from New York let's link up cool you know I always I'll travel and I always try to hit up random people on Instagram and just big y'all I'm in your city you know for this time like would you want to you know get grab a drink or coffee whatever it is because I think it's always interesting to see how people do things you know see how their mind operates a little bit and what can you kind of take away from it you know yeah yeah man I think like that's one of the things that I got to do better sometimes is the meeting people I'm so heads down and and work sometimes I have to actually like plan for myself to just yeah you know detach in terms of digital and get back into some some mix you know what I mean yeah I mean it's definitely tough I think it's it's bounce of it all is like you have to find the in-between space between being super you know tied into what's going on that in the digital space but then also knowing how to utilize that in the real world as well you know and and even like I we were saying before we got I was in Puerto Rico this last weekend and brought I just went out there was like meeting anybody that was doing anything creative artists there were people who own clothing stores you know whatever it is I was just like finding people on IG and like hitting up like yo I'm in town you want to link and like I found this area that is like this cool just like artist haven where you got a lot of like artists and musicians and like clothing you know designers and things like that and it was cool to see the way they're like hustling right now to like create their own world I mean well different bars and restaurants that's all owned by by young people you know and they're like creating their own world here in this area that was originally the hood that was like basically left to be rotted away you know and they're creating their own scene and they're super inspired to see all these co-op spaces that people are sharing like this space and like there's three or four boutiques and they have a coffee shop inside it's like they're like seeing people create all that kind of stuff now I'm like learning I'm thinking okay how can I take that and like even if I'm not necessarily doing it in a literal form how can I create my own co-op in whatever I'm trying to do whether it is a collection with other artists or whatever it may be like what can I take away from the way they're utilizing each other's sources and networks to kind of bring it to my own world as well so what is a co-op technically I just want to make sure I understand that so they'll let's say get a commercial space um and it'll be like uh one in particular was like a two floor space or whatever downstairs they had like a coffee shop and like uh and like a little clothing boutique upstairs like three or four clothing boutique booths basically so what they'll all do is instead of it being one person paying the rent they all basically chip in and pay for the rent for the space and they all run it together basically so you have you know let's say four or five different people that you know have different clothing brands or ideas and things like that and they're all in it together uh to be able to afford this space and they all work together keeping it and you know and yeah and they might rotate out like okay well you know this booth is leaving this month now we're going to bring a new person so it's like they all are working together to create ideas and create a space for whatever it is that they're selling or doing you know so okay no yeah I I definitely am all for something like that man just always trying to figure out how to like a lot of stuff that we think we can't do is just because we try to do alone imagine if you like you wanted the brand man network to grow into uh you bought a commercial space and within that it was like you had a studio and then like a graphic design studio whatever it is like a video you know set yeah and all these things and you're an artist in there who are all contributing to it like imagine you know saying like that is like the concept of it you know um because maybe by yourself you couldn't afford like this commercial space but you talk when you get 10 heads in there who are all on their grind and are doing creative things and are coming up with ideas and how you keep making money every month to keep it alive that you know that's a huge thing to be able to have you know yeah man yeah you're definitely giving me some ideas I appreciate that okay well hey what made you go to Puerto Rico by the way um well I'm Puerto Rican so I've been going there since I was a kid uh my family is from there but uh I've always had a connection to it but I also I went there in November with my family and I kind of started seeing the sign of like these artists you know happening and creating their own spaces you know and it's kind of like I saw it happen in Brooklyn uh when it started becoming you know you started getting a lot of the artists turning the areas around and creating cool stores and studios and things like that um and I started seeing the signs of it in certain areas of Puerto Rico uh so I was super interested like I want to go meet these guys you know like these streetwear company brands that they developed on the island things like that uh and it kind of felt like what if I was able to capture some of these moments when it was just starting to rub up like what if you were able to be in Atlanta when that scene was just kind of starting up you know what I mean like we all hear about these stories about like what it was like when this one spot like the Monday night open uh open mic spot where all like the people came out of you know it's like or I watched like uh I came up with the name of shows by Netflix but it's like where they go through the history of hip-hop and like different scenes and things like that um and it was like you know uh Washington Square Park I think was where you would have like to live quality and then the most definitely these guys like you know freestyle and then that was like a senior just to hang out like imagine if you were able to go there when that was like starting to pop off you know starting to bubble up so I kind of I feel like that's what's happening over there and it was super interesting to me and just having the cultural connection to it um you know really kind of drove me to want to go check it out firsthand and you know it's something I plan on I'm doing uh you know more often and even seeing what's happening musically on the island where you're having these giant artists like Bad Bunny like just transform the world you know what I mean um coming from a small island like that and his music you know is transforming you know how he wasn't even talking to English on the car to be I like it record but his verse after hers is one more popular one it's just a DJ it wouldn't play it you know what I mean uh so you're seeing all these things happen you know and so it's definitely like it's cool to kind of see that go try and get a feel for what's going on over there uh and you know maybe be a part of a scene you know if you can while it's kind of in its uh starting phases got you got you yeah that's dope man I definitely just think about things that I have missed because of age you know yeah and then like man I wonder what it was like you know to be in the scene when big boy and Andre were in Atlanta like yeah it's like not you know I was there I wasn't there to hang out you know what I mean I wonder what it would have been like to be 18 20 years old in 96 97 you know what I mean that's that's that's a vibe absolutely I mean we had uh Sam Jackson on the show he was talking about how at one point in New York you had like him Denzel like all of you know those guys and they were doing like Broadway they were doing like not even Broadway but they were like low you know low budget plays in like New York and you can see them all hanging out in the street like that you know what I'm saying like at that time like imagine if you were to be a fly on the wall just like go seeing some of the greatest acts you know uh in history at that point when they were like cutting their teeth and like building their craft you know like how crazy that have been to be a part of that that was you know it's cool to see scenes that happen and you got to be able to pay attention to what's going on and catch them when they're happening it's super crazy man it's always in those concentrated areas where the talent just starts to really trickle in and infrastructure builds out that you you see that kind of thing happen man I'm always trying to figure out where are those and make sure that you know I'm a part of in some form of fashion or at least pay attention to it and learn from yeah I mean look at even uh I was been like doing my own like you know deconstruction of like the Lyric lemonade brand you know I mean um and and they and they built up when that whole Chicago drill scene was happening you know and basically we're like a local blog for Chicago at that time you know so like he's part of a scene while it was happening was the only person talking about it you know and then eventually boom started blowing up from there you know so all that kind of stuff is interesting to me it's like to just see things when it's happening that's when it's the most exciting at that point you know 100% man 100% and oh it's interesting how you have some of these scenes that kind of organically happen or then some of them a lot of them they are organic but it's still us like a central figure like if you think about a very gory in the Motown which is ridiculous how many people were up in that thing absolutely and you know Alcatraz and family there was a few figures New York there's the Russell Rubin prior to them the whole sugar sugar hill is always takes that talent but then it always takes a few minds to understand what's happening just like you understand what's happening in Puerto Rico you see it and then kind of create a little bit of infrastructure to guide that vision because there's a lot there's a lot of talent everywhere really you know what I mean but if nobody knows how to channel a channel and exploit it to be honest yeah it won't be able to flourish yeah there's always going to be the precursor like there's always going to be the person who like lays down that foundation like you'll you'll see in hip-hop and different styles and things like those maybe that one person who like was like every nice it was like the figure that you know started off but for whatever reason they didn't pop off you know I mean and there's always stories like that and and then it's the next person who learned how to okay take what made that that work for them and then how now do you figure out a way to feed it to the masses you know I'm saying like there's always that there's always that person who figures out a way to do that you know and that's what that's super interesting you know some people might say that oh somebody sounds like this person blah blah they might have taken some things from them but then they figured out how to also blow it up even bigger you know how to make it tenfold what it was and that's like the interesting thing about those those whole scenes and everything for for sure man definitely it's always yeah you're right it's always like the multiple sides of some somebody might be bitter somebody you know might be super successful all that stuff cool well all right well let's kind of round it out with this man I'm interested to know like the this year just just this year right how are you mentally approaching like 2020 and how you would like to navigate towards it like what what I actually I'll phrase it like this what kind of like a self-awareness have you process have you gone through to say I was doing this before and this is how I want to allow myself to level up in this year to achieve these next this next level of goals I think um going into this year I know that it's a year of change for me um and I kind of you know you when you get attached to certain things uh that are big or certain ideas this and that it can become scary to pivot even when you kind of feel it in your gut you know what I'm saying so uh I think for me I'm now at a place where I know it's time for me to pivot and kind of find my own voice within everything you know um and and we had been talking about you know me trying to do more like on camera personality type of stuff and that's definitely something I'm going to be pursuing you know more of uh and that is a bit of a pivot you know because I was doing more radio stuff and I was what I kind of saw myself doing wasn't the whole radio thing um and I kind of have been changing that but also I'm also coming to the year super open to like whatever kind of comes away you know at this point I've laid down a pretty solid foundation of what I can do I've shown that I can you know show up and deliver on the big stages you know and now I'm kind of just in a point where I want to put myself in like this ended loop and just kind of see what the hell kind of pans out what works at this point you know and keep doing what I've been doing um but at the same time force myself to go into the unknown as well you know so it's again the Puerto Rico trip it was just started that you know I plan on traveling to a bunch of places like that but um seeking out the creativity finding out where maybe things uh you know getting inspired to try some different things and we know probably maybe leave New York maybe go somewhere else I don't really know right now but right now is the year of change and I think it's just thrusting myself into a million different things educating myself on everything that's happening and seeing where that kind of leaves me you know oh it's an exploration phase but yeah I mean you you know you learn I learned a lot I have a good mindset going to things I think now it's time to you know see where I can utilize that you know it's the same thing we talked about just now where somebody laid the foundation and then you have to figure out how to bring it to a different thing you know I mean um so that's where I saw the you know what these guys have done I've seen that the mindset that it's going to do that and now I need to apply it somewhere else that is my own lane again today you know yeah yeah I can I really appreciate that man because for one just throwing yourself into that I know it which is a necessary process at certain periods right you gave your growth yes you hit your growth burden then it gets stunted after a period you stop yeah all right I have to push myself out there right around what these next things are and then sometimes it's not a direct connection to the next monkey bar it's like I'm out here I don't know where it's coming from right like so to go through that man is it's definitely I've been there before and to know that you're like running through that period I know I'm gonna have to do that in some form or fashion again yeah it's really dope to see you you know really kind of go into that like in good spirits and taking the head on especially understanding that it's strategic right you know that you want to build for your own but you know that it can't necessarily happen where you are now so you got to figure out where that next thing is absolutely man I think you can't fear change you can't fear change you can't fear the idea of pivoting I mean pivoting is what got me into radio I was DJing that was my main thing you know and then once that I saw that door for radio kind of back open I saw it was not like that I dove into that you know I mean I put everything for that you know and now that I've done the whole radio thing I've done this whole thing I it's it's you know now okay where that next door cracked open you know now it's time to pivot again you know it's time to elevate myself to that next level you know because I think you can't ever look back on these things as you know maybe it didn't pan out exactly how you thought it would or whatever because you know it's gonna pan out the way it's supposed to pan out it's not gonna pan out the way you have in your head obviously goals ideas are fantastic but you can't allow yourself to get so attached to those things you know that you no longer know how to shift out of things you know it's like there are some people who maybe aren't the most talented rapper let's say but their branding is so good you know what I mean their personality is incredible and they probably will come to a point where when the music stuff isn't hitting they need to learn how to pivot somewhere else you know that is more suited to them it's the same thing with the action bronson thing you know obviously he has a fan base he can tour and do all that kind of stuff what he was talking about a massive level he's not a you know a commercial massive success you know I mean but he pivoted and people love his personality you know I mean like people mess with him on that level and he was able to pivot into a niche that you know use what you the platform you've built up from this world and then go ahead and take into a new world you know I mean and and that's a you know a beautiful thing to be able to do and it's having the self-awareness to know okay I'm hitting that ceiling right now you know what I mean maybe yeah my my hard work and perseverance is taking me to this point but that's as far as it might take me in this realm and where is the next connection that you know I can move on to that next phase that allows me to utilize all that learn and then also elevate myself to that next you know version of myself basically that's that's everything man you're actually hitting the core of me because I'm saying what you talked about how people who lay a foundation and then you know somebody else comes in how to take you to the next level especially you know in some situations that first person might even be unknown or never becomes big and you know less the general term big for the sake of big but when I do certain things in certain areas where I feel like I am laying foundation I actually have a mentality of when done right of course at some point the course at some point the time gets past and it you know that next person blows it up on a whole another level or just the next generation blows it up on a whole another level but in the meantime I want to be able to lay foundation step back and analyze myself and exploit myself like really do that back to myself versus allowing myself to get you know get comfortable and waning away and becoming that person in the corner that just didn't right like that person that didn't really max out their opportunities because a lot of times with some of these people these opportunities and these things were there they just saw a difference they were feeling themselves too much through where they didn't see that you had to keep going right they thought it was over nobody else could be bigger than them or whatever you know and I'm not I'm less of a although obviously I am in front of the camera in my way I'm not necessarily an artist where it's like hey I'm trying to be huge personality wise you know I mean public figure rise to that extent but just infrastructurally from business to some of the personality type of things I do the way I want to connect things it's like I lay foundation I analyze and I'm always trying to figure out where am I fucking up where am I yeah where am I leaving a gap for somebody else to come in and do it even better than me not and not you know in their own way that's cool take your inspiration and do it in our way but doing it how I should be doing it right right like that's the part that I try to avoid not that's smart man it's self-evaluation you know what I mean that you have to constantly be self-evaluating like what is working what isn't working what's making me happy but it's not making me happy like you know where can I improve where am I excelling you know you have to constantly force yourself to do that because if you don't you're just gonna get too comfortable and then next you know the grounds me pull that from under you you know what I mean there's gonna be like you said another dude on youtube who's doing you know more numbers than you now it's taking the same concept you did it because you never chose to improve what you were doing you know I'm saying uh or or anything you know or if you are a producer you got stuck making the same exact type of beats eventually somebody's gonna come take your spot as that new hot producer because you didn't uh you know elevate yourself you got too comfortable uh you know make getting these checks for a certain head of b and eventually that sound you know goes away you know I'm saying so it's the same kind of I mean even look at um somebody like hitmaker you know I mean like he you know is killing as a producer right now you know I'm saying and and also he's doing a and r for Atlantic you know so he is pivoting he's not afraid to you know he's pivoting and and finding success now that he has allowed himself to be open to not just being you know the dude at the forefront but also being the dude behind the scenes who's pulling the strings and and uh you know putting things out that you know so you can't be afraid to do that and I look at uh you know Charlamagne before I met him I read his first book and he talks about how he was you know rapping at one point and he you know had gotten the attention of like a local record label and things like that and was seeing moderate success within it just based upon his work ethic more than so than his talent um but then you know it got to a point where I think the the guy who he consists mentor with a label owner was like you need to go back into that radio stuff that's where you're calling it you know and you know he was unafraid at that point where he was hit with the realization that his work ethic got him as far as it could because his talent wasn't able to match that you know what I'm saying um and there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever that there's because that you have talent somewhere else that means you know what I'm saying and the second year your work ethic is in uh in line with where your talent actually lies then that's when you're going to be hitting stride and that's why what happened with him it's that's why the one thing I take away from Charlamagne's story is that is he was unafraid to pivot then dole all in the radio and that took off you know what I'm saying um and it took that connection that rap gave him meeting that guy to put it in that perspective for him and he probably met a lot of people along the way doing that but then took that and utilized it somewhere else and his work ethic met his talent and that's why he is where he is you know 100% man yeah I love that idea remember you might not always be where you're supposed to be but make sure you learn something while you're there absolutely for sure well hey man is there anything that you want to leave the people with man because you have so many good perspectives and you're like you've already like I said you got my mind thinking about quite a few things is there anything that you any keys you want to drop on people or just where to follow you yeah I mean both I would say you know I'm really big on people recognizing the power they have in their hands with this phone and please just start utilizing it the right way you know I'm saying like really utilize it as a tool to get your stuff out there and then also get out the damn house once you've done it you know I'm saying like utilize it understand that you know use this thing to create opportunities and then bring those opportunities into the real world you know and there is no shame whatsoever in you know not being that dude or you don't have to put on this show you know I mean like this is going to go with the death fears but hopefully it touches somebody you know where you you don't have to put on this act that you're more successful than you are you know I mean because there's no point in it you know you're living a lie at that point you're not going to be 100% happy you know if you're stunning and you're spending money on all this garbage just to make yourself appear to be more successful you're hindering your own success at that point you know I mean like if you're popping bottles in the club to impress somebody then that's you know what three four hundred dollars five hundred dollars less you have in your bank account to actually put towards creating something real you know I'm saying like like really think about things in real terms we have to get over this whole thing of trying to put on for people put on the show for other people like it makes no sense at the end of the day because you're just going to keep putting yourself in the same position over and over again you know and I know it's tough like you want to be the guest all the girls you want to do that doing all these different things you know but in due time if you make smart decisions in due time that can be you if that is what your goal is at the end of the day you know um but you have to also just allow yourself to be you know humility is okay and and failure is okay as long as you're learning something from it and you know you don't need to put on this whole show you know the people that I respond to when I get DMs and things about the people that are real with me you know I mean like you know I'm like I'm hustle I'm trying to get do this blah blah blah like I got an email the day from some label I'm like I say the name but it was like you had the biggest independent label in all of New York City you know I'm saying I'm like I'm why why is it even like the first tagline that you put out there like to impress you know I'm saying like what's this that makes you know I'm saying like connect with somebody on the human level like be real it's okay like yo I'm struggling I'm hustling stuff you have to do you have any pointers for me like would you mind taking a second of your day that is what's going to crack the code you know anybody who is out there putting you know Mr. Millionaire as they're you know handle on Instagram you know I'm saying they don't they're not a millionaire it's like bro you look horny like anybody who is a thatcher is not seriously you know an actual millionaire be seriously because your IG handle is Mr. Millionaire wherever the hell it is you know um so that's my that my biggest thing I think realize we live in an age of a transparency man and you're gonna find that people are more likely to connect with you when you're just real about it uh and don't be afraid to collaborate and don't be afraid to bring in people there's no shame in being uh you know not as good as somebody at something you know I'm saying like there's no shame in that as long as you uh because you trying to overcompensate for that is just gonna put you behind when you can just collaborate with somebody who is great at something you know I'm saying um maybe you're not the best at putting together like I know somebody's like a dope at a trash video yeah because I'm seriously like be unafraid I'm not good at this like can I collaborate with you maybe I have something to offer you and we can go you know vice versa I don't have money to pay you whatever the case may be like put in that time like there's no there's nothing wrong with collaborating like that's where you're gonna you know get to be where you are I mean like in Jane Dame Dash like all these different things you're seeing the partnerships that people who are unafraid to like collaborate and put the things together you know I mean like that's really who is successful you're trying to be too cool to to you know be open to learning something or collaborating people you just kind of shoot yourself in the foot um but now I've got the whole tangent but I mean you can follow me on socials just at djdramas d r a m o s um and I'm always kind of I'm always connecting with people man I'm always trying to do something so you know people can always hit me up on there I do my best to get back to them you know if there's anything any questions or anything like that but yeah I'm just super open to that kind of stuff I just hope that people uh really begin to realize the power they have and just stop bs-ing and wasting it on trying to look successful instead of actually being successful hey man I appreciate you once again everybody again as he said follow djdramas man watch this watch this as he continues to develop um and and the things he's doing he was already honest with you and told him that he's out here building he's an expiration phase so this this will be an opportunity for you all to watch something like that in real time as always of course if you like this video go ahead and like button if you like it you might as well share it and if you're not subscribed you know what to do hit that subscribe button it's the matwork