Drumma Boy Wins “Producer of the Year” | New Projects on Deck

It was 2008 and 2009 that marked some of Drumma Boy‘s most significant accomplishments to date. His production work was nominated in two categories at The Grammy Awards, he was hailed by the New York Times, nominated for “Producer of the Year” at the Ozone Awards and took home the Award for “Producer of the Year” at the 6th Annual Southern Entertainment Awards. This past Sunday while Hollywood starlets adorned the Oscar red carpets, Drumma Boy returned to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee where he was honored yet again with the title “Producer of the Year” at the 7th Annual Southern Entertainment Awards 2010. Other nominees in this category included talented peers Zaytoven and Broadway. The Southern Entertainment Awards which yearly brings in a few thousand people honors some of the most talented in Southern related Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae and Soul acts. They convened this weekend at The Cook Convention Center where the 84 Award categories ranged from “DJ of the Year” to “Mixtape of the Year.”

Growing up with a mother who was an opera singer, a grandmother who was a piano teacher, an aunt who taught music at NYU and a father who was a professional clarinetist and music professor at the University of Memphis, also the first African-American man to hold the 1st chair position in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Drumma Boy’s musical career was solidified as a young child. Influenced and inspired by German composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach to Jazz icons Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis all the way to Academy Award winning Three 6 Mafia and Scarface, Drumma Boy’s musical eccentricity is coated in vintage Rhythm & Blues, P-Funk, Classical and Crunk. He plays with this dichotomy of yesteryear classics and current trends to concoct sophisticated arrangements that fuse the arrogance of hip-hop with the slickness of R&B.

The 26 year old musical prodigy who has referred to his sound as “Gumbo Crack Music” and sites producers Quincy Jones, Raphael Saadiq & The Funk Brothers as his inspirations, skillfully adds crispy, hard-hitting 808 bass lines with gentle touches of rhythmic change and chord progression to each crafted beat. With a penchant for chest-beating percussion, attitude-drenched synths, bass-heavy sounds with backed live instrumentation Drumma Boy also manages to incorporate the grime of the urban streets of Memphis often delineated by a dark gothic sound. His thick and textured composed sounds have continued to dominate the South Eastern music scene, making his name synonymous with Platinum and Billboard charting hits. From the Grammy nominated “Put On” featuring Young Jeezy & Kanye West to his multiple tracks on T.I‘s 2x Platinum selling Papertrail including the hit single “What Up, What’s Haapnin,” Drumma Boy has indelibly left his signature mark on some of today’s hottest rap songs.

In December 2009 The New York Times named him one of the four hottest producers “driving the city” in Atlanta, describing his sound as “a busy bee swarm of synths overlaid with brash bass injections that’s equal parts Memphis and Atlanta.” He was nominated for “Producer of the Year” at the 2008 Ozone Awards, named “Hip Hop’s Illest Soundboy” by The Source Magazine, “Top 5 Producers of 2008” by Vibe Magazine, “Top 5 Producers of 2010” by XXL Magazine, and recently quoted in the January 2010 issue of Rolling Stone surrounding his production work for controversial recording artist Gucci Mane’s #1 Rap Album The State vs. Radric Davis.

Drumma Boy’s current hit “Money to Blow” f/ Birdman, Drake and Lil Wayne continues to blaze the internet with over 5 million hits on Youtube while Canadian newcomer Drake opted to use the producer’s beat bangin’ reputation as inspiration to urge women to dance, “Get to shakin’ something cuz that’s what Drumma produced it for.”

Drumma Boy’s beats can be heard on forthcoming albums from Kandi Burruss (B.L.O.G), Lil’ Jon (Crunk Rock), T.I. (seventh studio album TBA), Young Jeezy (Thug Motivation 103), The Game (The R.E.D Album), Juelz Santana (Born to Lose, Built to Win), Birdman (Pricele$$), Triple C’s (Custom Cars & Cycles), 8Ball & MJG (Under the South), Monica (Still Standing), Goapele (Milk & Honey), DJ Khaled (Victory), Rich Boy (Buried Alive), Lil Scrappy (Tha Grustle) and more.

His current mixtape Welcome II My City is available for download (www.drum-squad.com) and includes guest appearances by Rich Boy, DJ Drama, Greg Street, OJ Juiceman, Rocko, Three 6 Mafia, Yo Gotti, Young Buck, Gucci Mane, Eightball & MJG, Bobby Valentino and Jazze Pha while the first single “Dis Girl” directed by Mr. Boombox has received 5.4 million hits on Worldstarhiphop.

For the young virtuoso who originally inherited his moniker in high school due to his uniquely formulated drum patterns, Drumma Boy has taken his talents to an unprecedented level.