Triple Threat: Producer, DJ and Engineer ft. Drumma Jai

But I was ready to take that L because I just I felt I didn't know, but I felt like alright, I should be doing this. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine Conversations with Genuine People about Music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. We're from BMO Coops to Pizz, all stonewood distance to is, so part that one more time, part that one more time, part that shit like one more time, They part that one more time. One more time. Ladies and gentlemen, we're here for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. One more time. I am your host, Playback Ben, here with my co-host. Henry with a three, because Henry with A Knee was already taken. God damn it, who took it? Henry, who do we have on the podcast today? We have. you all thought he was dead, but welcoming in ASAP Yams on the podcast. He's been in Cuba for six years. But he came out of hiding to join us on the One More Time Podcast. Yes.

No, no, no, no, no. This is Drummer J, super producer, super DJ, super talent, man. We're happy to have you here. Appreciate it, man. It's a pleasure to be here, bro. For sure. Most def, most def. So Jay, where were you born and raised, my man? I was born in Florida in a country ass city called Tallahassee, which happens to be the capital. And I grew up right south of that in uh a county called Wakulla, which is even more country. Walcala? Wakulla? Wakulla. Can you spell it for the folks that aren't familiar? W-A-K-U-L-L-A. Here we go. Shout out Wakulla. Shout out. So what was it like growing up in in a small country town in Florida? Um it's going to sound uh pretty cliche, but it's pretty fucking racist. But I was growing up, you know, it was pretty fucking racist, so I didn't uh pay it that much attention at the time, like growing up, but yeah, looking back at it.

So I believe it. So what was it like dealing with I mean, did you deal with prejudice growing up, I'm assuming? And so, what was that like? Um, I mean, it was just on the whole levels to that, because um I got to deal with the whole I'm mixed, so it's the black and white thing. Do you expect you to act this way, this, and which is stupid, because we're all just humans. Can we just act like a human, you know what I mean? Preach. On top of having to deal with that with just family, and then going to school, where I think um when I went to high school and ninth grade, I think it was like there's only one high school for the whole county. Wow. Yeah, Wakulla. But I think it was what color high? Yeah, that's it. Part for the course. I was like, If there was multiple, then I would call bullshit on it being a small town. I was like, if you've got more than one high school, you're not the smallest of towns. Uh well, that's the whole county. That's what's bad. Wow. Which is One high school.

But um, yeah, man. And then on top of dealing with that, it's like 2500 kids at the school, and I think it might have been 400 minority. Um, that's including Mexican, mixed, black, Asian, whatever, you know what I'm saying? That's a minority for sure. Yeah, so that's crazy. Like to even think of those numbers back then. It was just, it was just a lot. But even back then, and I think it helped like the kind of dude I am now. Looking back at it, I didn't pay it no attention. Like, you get mad if somebody says something, but I really didn't like pay it attention to like what was going on until like my mom tell me old stories about like, you know, the teachers kind of did this to you, and I'm like, damn, I didn't even look at it like that. Didn't even realize at the time. Right, I just was trying to talk to Katie over there. So were you friends with people of all the yeah, you know, colors? yeah. I've always migrated in in any group. Like sure. Yeah, it doesn't like to me it don't matter. I don't see color like that.

Like I just, you cool, we're cool. You cool, we're cool. I can hang out wherever because I'm gonna be me regardless. Which is crazy because clearly color was a big deal to a lot of people in your town, it sounds like they looked at you differently, and that they didn't have that same approach. Yeah, so it's just it's really crazy. That Wakulla is a weird place. Sounds like it. Um so do you remember the first parade that you went to at FAMU? yes, I do. I think I was like two or three. We did our research. You did I see. Tell us tell us about that parade as as a two or three-year-old. Oh, man. what you remember, of course. It is so crazy. I remember that, like, it was yesterday. We went to um FAMU with uh Famu, which is uh uh HBCU in Tallahassee, um the Marching 100 Rattlers, whatever. My mom took me to their homecoming, and every homecoming is like a huge deal there in Tallahassee for that particular college.

And um, they had a battle of the bands. So we went to the parade that morning, and I think we went to the battle of the bands, or it might have been vice versa. Either way, we went to that all in one day, and I was just like the drum line came through and all the colors, and I'm just like, what I wanna do that. And so I went home. My grandma tied a damn ice cream. You know how they got the sherbet ice cream buckets, the big gala bucket. Yeah. She tied it a string through it, and I fucking marched circles in her yard. The rest of the day. So you had a one-man marching band? Yeah. I tried to go over and play all the drums every once in a while. That was your Eureka moment. That young. That was when you decided. Because anybody that knows me from that, like, they'll tell you, like, he's been beating on shit ever since. Wow. Two years old. Yeah. So other than that, what other stuff did you use as drums? Man, um.

Great question. My mom was working at the state at DMV at this time and filing shit. That's when paper and all that, you know what I'm saying? So she would bring home the boxes, like from her job, and I would just, I'm talking about any, it don't matter what size, I would make the drum set. Like I'd have smaller boxes for the toms, a big one that like I literally was making it. And um, at one point, I had like that shit is so y'all break it up, Bearies, man. I had an old. that's what we do, Hell yeah. Right, right. I had a uh, it was in my room. I had this tall ass dresser, so I took one box and put it um at the bottom, and then like in the third dresser, I took it for the kick? Yeah, You know what I'm saying? and then I took I'm like imagining it. in my head. okay. So we got this box, and then it's the dresser, the box, and then I took um, you know how they have the water in office, like the big ass The jugs. I took two of them because we had those, so I took two of them and stuck them kind of like stuck the thing in the um dresser, closed it, and now I got two Toms. I got this drum right here, I got another bucket right here, and I'm just yeah, going crazy.

Made his whole kit. Yeah, man. You kitted out. Yeah, we just you know, you do what you gotta do. That's right. Most definitely. So when did you start drumming officially? Because as as official as the box, the box. Unofficially two years, yeah, exactly. So officially When did you transition to, you know, I got a drum set Sitting behind a drum set. Um well my dad was fighting it at first. Like why is that? It's. No, it's loud as shit. Yeah. Right. Right. I don't even think his dad is just old school as shit. I mean, he respects what I do now, but he's he can't make money playing drums. Hey. Hmm. You know what I mean? Thanks, Dad. That motivated me. You're like, all right. That really motivated me, though. He don't understand. I appreciate him for that. Cause I think that was like six, seven, he told me that. And a couple months later, my mom snuck and bought a drum set. Shout out Mama. Shout out Mom, man.

Mama's the truth. A black drum set off Fingerhut. That was my first one. Okay. Beautiful. And and so you started playing drums. And I mean, soon as and bro, I mean, that right there is just that that was just the universe. Cause my mom bought that uh drum set from Fingerhut. Y'all remember Fingerhut? Yeah. The little book that okay, she brought the bullshit drum set out of there. Yeah, it comes in one box, everything, right? Sounds like IKEA. Man. Man, I put that drum set together at six or seven by myself with no help, no instructions. Like, man. Ain't that crazy? Like right out the box. You sound like a drumming savant. I mean it sounded like shit. How did you know how to do that. I I don't know, bro. To this day, I don't. I just took shit out and looked at it, and I was like, all right, yep, this goes like this. And it just started putting it together. It was crazy. Like, for real. It's not a lot of producers that have drummer in their name. I guess drummer boy, but like everybody askes me that too. They're like, so do you play drums for real?

Like, no. No. No. it's just in my name. Yeah, I just put that at the front of my name in the beginning. Yeah, It's crazy. So I mean, clearly, you were on an early track in life with this drumming thing. I mean, two years old, you knew you wanted to be a drummer. Mm-hmm. Six or seven or or you know, what have you, you get a drum set. Then you start drumming weddings at like nine years old or something. I mean, Shit. right. at that. Who's fucking trusting you to drum at their wedding when you can't even see over the drum set? I mean That's pretty fucking good. I mean, really though. What was it like playing for someone's this is their like happiest day of their life, and here you come nine years old, strutting up like I would look at you if it was my wedding. I'd like who is this kid about to drum for my wedding? Man. But like, how did it go? Uh it just I don't even remember that because I think after my mom bought me the drum set, then I started playing in church. Okay, and then the lady, um, I cannot, you know, I think her name is Yvonne was um her name, and she was the first lady to give me a shot, like playing outside of just my family church.

And my mom shots out to mom, man. Give me some of that. Because She Mama is the truth. She used to uh take me up there for rehearsals and all kind of shit, like helping me break the drum set down, everything. Yeah. So playing in the church was a big part of your life then. Oh, yeah, man. Uh all the way up until last year, like during the pandemic, Wow. was the last time I played for a church for real, and that was just due to COVID, you know what I'm saying? We kind of marched off, and I I haven't went back since the pandemic, but um, that's just due to how work has changed and stuff. And obviously, we'll get to you know what you've made of your career, but it is interesting knowing that even up until last year you were drumming in a church. And we'll get to that, but I got a wild story on about uh how I was making it before I doing what I'm doing now. Well, I kind of want to definitely come to hear that. Well, okay, so up until last year, um well, with the um pandemic and all that, uh, I was DJing at Sahara's, and this is right before um, or as I'm meeting AE and that whole friend and that story, right? Shout out Authentic Empire.

Yeah, shout out Authentic Man for sure. My brother's over there. Um, but yeah, I'm okay. So I'm DJing like four nights a week down on Far Road at Sahara's. It was the first club I DJed when I got to Atlanta. And I'm doing that four nights a week, including a Sunday, or I mean a Saturday till three o'clock. Well, at this church that I was playing for in uh Sunday morning. In Dawsonville. Oh no, Georgia. Oh man. Dawsonville, Georgia from Buckhead. So I would get off at like 3:34. At The church, we didn't have rehearsal during the week. You get there at 6:30. The service starts at 9:30, I think it was, and then you do another one at uh 11. So I would DJ all night in Buckhead, get off, drive up there, maybe sleep for 30 minutes in the car, then get in and go play drums all morning Wow. for church. Did people look at you and know that you had just slept for 30 minutes? Or nobody ever did, bro. Really?

Nobody. I'm like, man, he must have gotten such a great night's sleep last night. Right. Like everybody that that the my um homie Sean, shout out him because he helped me a lot. Shout out Sean. Yeah, shout out Sean, But he knew, but it was like, he's like, bro, I don't know how you do it. But he's like, I can never tell if you've been asleep or not. I was like, this is what I do, man. You know, I'm coming here. But but so we kind of skipped ahead, right? Because DJing four or five nights a week. When the hell did you even learn how to DJ, right? You're you're drumming in the church, you're drumming at home. That's a good story. Folks. You you got your start somehow. I mean, when did you first try DJing? Drumming doesn't equate. Give me a bomb, man. Give me a bomb. I've got the gunshot. Okay, gunshot. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I started fucking DJing because I was the bootlegged CD man. Tell us about that car that you used to trap mixtapes out of at the car wash. Y'all did y'all's research, that is funny. Tell us about how important was that truck.

That truck is why y'all have Drummer J. Oh my gosh. Thank God for that truck. Yes. Shout out that truck. Two-door Tahoe, man. Let's go. What kind of sound system was bumping through that thing? Got a couple 12s in the trunk. What are we working with? Man, uh. Y'all want me to start on the outside or the inside? Paint us the whole picture. Wait. Okay. Two-door Tahoe. Because I know it was critical to your start. No, for sure. There's Tahoes with two doors. Yeah, it's a two-door tie. They don't make them anymore, but the the year truck I had, I think it was a 99, 98. It was the last year they did the two-door. But yeah, so you opened the door, and it was two 10 inches, three six and a halves, and three tweeters in each door. Oh my god. That's just the door. Under under each side of the door to the guardrails, I had two like horns pointing each way. So that's four horns under the truck.

In the front of the truck, the grill, I had three six and a halves and two tweeters. Out the back, we had two 15-inch Eminence just for highs. And in the whole bed of the truck, it was like a massive box with four twelves. That was like a thousand watts RMS apiece. Are you like salivating over there? It's fucking ridiculous. Audio files, dude. I can make this hoodie do this. Yeah, for sure. For someone that hadn't ridden in the car with like any sort of sound system. It probably you heard him coming before you saw him. Yes, a couple blocks away for sure. That's incredible. But that was like our thing down there. You know, that was the thing you see growing up. Everybody got like the cool dudes got the loud truck, whatever. So I was doing that, but um, and because I always liked just loud music in cars. I was always doing that just as a side hobby. But um, I started selling CDs and I used the truck.

Now I'm gonna just play my CDs at this car wash over my truck system, and it just created a vibe, and I wasn't even DJing, I was just like putting them on at first, then fucking virtual DJ. Virtual DJ. I fucking found virtual DJ. Shout out to virtual DJ. Yeah. Come on. So, you know, I just plugged the aux up to the radio and I just started fucking with it. And because I'm a drummer, like syncing the beats wasn't hard at all. So like learning how to mix, that was just hearing time and That wasn't no problem. And then how I got good at song selection was that fucking car wash. Wow. Imagine trying to play a car wash. Nobody thinks about that, but imagine playing a car wash and how many different people. Sounds impossible. Right. You see what I'm saying? So think about that. That was my really like, and then dude that owned it, Shouts out to him too. I can't even remember his name. Shout out to that dude. I think it was Slick or Slim or something like that. But he was just cool.

He um let me come up there, trap out the CDs. If I made good, I threw him a little something back. I was gonna say, did you have to split profits? Yeah, I mean, he wasn't. That's what I'm saying. man. It just in my life is like certain people just was like, bro, I see what you're trying to do, go ahead. Like damn, that's love. Yeah. He could have easily said fuck off or give me all the money that you're making. It's always been like that one person in each moderation of my journey. I think that's a big theme. Like in a lot of people's journey, they meet someone who's like not really asking for anything, but they kind of like meet someone. You're working here, go ahead and work. They see the vision and they kind of just want to help, yeah, yeah, and that's very beneficial. Mm-hmm. I mean, doesn't that give you like hope for humans? Because like sometimes you think just humans are fucking assholes. They are. Obviously, most of us are, but like for someone to just, you know, without I mean, yeah, maybe you you on your own accord, toss him some stuff. he probably never thought about it. He probably never seen it that way. The impact that he was making on you, but like 100%, even in my like short career in music, just having anyone that has been like, damn, like I see what you're doing, and like they don't have any reason to actually care, right? Other than like connecting with you on like a damn like I was there one time, someone gave me a shot.

It's almost just like pay it forward type of thing, you know, type of mentality, which is crazy. Who the hell is playback Ben? Why do I have to message him back? Yeah. Right. No, literally, nah, I would ignore me now. But no, so you know, you start learning to DJ at the car wash, you you know, you're trapping mixtapes, right? Um, what were the real hippies? Man. So that kind of came down the line. So I fast tracked today. So I'm DJing out the truck, and my cousin hires me for the first wedding, which was my first official official uh DJ gig. Rock that, and then it's like another ah moment. Boom. Oh man, I can make. Because at that time I was touring with a gospel group playing drums, but it's like, man, I can make this staying home. DJing by myself, I gotta split it. Oh man, this is great. And then I started You were touring with a gospel group. Yeah. We skipped all of that. I'm assuming you were I'm assuming you were drumming.

Yes. Yes. Uh playing drums at about 16. Yeah, well, at 16, I um I quit uh school, and about two weeks after I uh dropped out of school, I got my GED, and then I just started going like on the road playing. So what was that like? Uh it was crazy because I'm like fucking 16, 17, and every other dude in the group was like 27 and up. I was gonna guess like 50. Yeah, You think of a gospel group. It was younger dudes, but still older dudes. Yeah, you know, what I'm saying? I mean you're 16, so I mean the oldest dude was like 34 at the time, 35. So like, you know what I mean? That was crazy. And I toured a lot, like I think from how did you even get into like the clubs that I'm sure you were playing at? I mean, was it just gospel groups gospel? Not really clubs, no, like okay, yeah. I mean, is it like No. You just go to church. it's a church, it was a church circuit. Yeah, yeah. A Chitlin' church circuit. A church we learned

about the Chitlin circuit um last episode. From Woe. Shout out Woe. Shout out Woe. On episode six. he enlightened me and Henry to the Chitlin circuit. I'm gonna show y'all. I'm looking for it now. So y'all don't think I'm capping. This is Babyface Drum. And I'm like on two albums. Look at that. Baby J. You see what I'm saying? Oh my god. Can we do a clip? We're gonna do my God. Can you send us a picture? So I can show the audience. I got you. So we had to show them both of us. If we go put it out there, look at that one. Oh my god. Look at Baby J. We are looking at Baby Jay. Oh my god. In The Gospel Group. What was the name of the group? They both of these were in Walmart. Like at the time when I was doing this, it's like, oh, I can't believe it. Like what was the name of the group? Supreme Seven. The Supreme Seven. Yeah, shout out to them, man. They made a lot of what I got going on too. That's crazy. Yeah, just the music for being with them. So you you do your stint with the gospel group.

Obviously, you start, you know, doing mixtapes, you know, DJing a bit at the car wash. Do you start DJing at all at clubs in Tallahassee? Yes. That it like explodes rapidly. Um I mean doing any kind of event, bro. Like any, like, it went from DJing at a car wash to a wedding reception to rap parties to a strip club, which cheeks was that was my first club. But then it got to where I was doing at one point, I was doing recess, which is right across the street from uh FSU Stadium, right? Like it's like a rooftop club, got some pool in the middle, and I'm DJing a top 40 night, like straight it at this time, it's like LMFAOs. Pop hits, yeah, just all that stuff like body rock is in the house. You sound like you have a very wide range of like musical influence. So I'm doing this from like 11:30 to 2, 150, something like that, um, on a Friday, right?

And then as soon as I get done with that set, I go to the south side of town and DJ the most hood club in the fucking city to like four or five in the morning. And it was just like to me, like, cause these two worlds didn't even know I existed in either world. Right. So it's like I'm up here DJing for all these college kids for FSU and they're like going crazy, then I get over here and it's like all my thug homies and all my homies from the hood and stuff. It's like just that contrast of people, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's crazy. A lot of people didn't even know I was doing that. You think that's translated kind of into the type of producer you are now very adaptable? For sure. Yeah. And just being able to, I mean, because me, I didn't care what kind of event it was, and you know what I'm saying? I don't have a problem with any kind of race or type of people. So at one point I was doing DJing a drag night. Hell yeah.

Like, it was crazy. Like, full on. Like, I had a gate around me. We worked it out. They never bothered me. And I was doing a gate night every uh Saturday. And it was fucking great. We used to go up in there. Yeah. And it's just, you know what I'm saying? But I've never turned down any DJing gig, like ever. So I think by just having that mindset, uh, I can do it. Even though I might not know the genre of music. They like, can you come DJ um for us at a wedding reception? It's going, we want you to play all country though. Man, that's one of the only genres I don't listen to. But we'll figure it out. I got you. You don't just go rock out for two hours and I study it before I go that week. But that's helped you, you think? Oh, yeah, for sure. Cause I can adapt to anybody. One more time. So listen on the One More Time podcast. One more time. When we think someone has dropped a gem. One more time. We ask them to say it one more time. One more time. Tell for the people in the back. Tell them how staying open has kind of helped.

Oh, just stay. I mean, you gotta stay open, man. Anybody from music all the way up to your biggest uh businessmen? It's always because they stay open to new information. They stay open to a new way of doing something, or you know what I'm saying? Like, okay, it might can work this way. They might not use it, but they're gonna check it out first before they just throw it to the side. So I always give everything at least one shot. Right. You know what I'm saying? That almost sounds like you as a kid. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, not caring about what... Anything can be a drum. What? No, well, that. It's things I was more saying, like, not looking at Katie like he mentioned by what color skin she had, and you know, embracing like all sorts of people and then because she was a white girl for sure. Yeah. So so from what I know, the real hippies is really how you got your feet wet with producing. Oh, yeah, for sure.

So so talk to us about transitioning from just being able to DJ whatever fucking event came your way and figuring that out to being part of this producer clique. I mean, what was that like? How did you even how did that happen? That was pretty crazy because I wasn't even um messing, like I wasn't even trying to make beats when I met them. Um I met them as a DJ, and they was um doing uh night, I think it was Wednesdays, like an open mic night, just some regular, you know, they just trying to kick something around the city. And I started going and I DJed one time and um we clicked up, it was just a vibe, like it was cool. They was like, come through the studio, whatever. So I go through the studio one time, first time ever being in like a secular urban studio, you know what I'm saying? In the the studios I went to are always big for bands, and you know what I'm saying it's a whole gospel group trying to record, not just a dude with a keyboard, just a tiny booth for one vocalist. Yeah, well, this wasn't even the tiny um place, it was like a storefront, it was nice as shit.

But I go there and we all vibing. I'm you know, I'm listening to their music or whatever, and it's just a cool night. So I come back uh about two days later, and I'm just messing around. They had a piano out that day. And I was just playing around on it from I know from church, though, you know what I'm saying? They're like, dude, you know how to play the piano? I was like, uh a little bit, and he's like, Why you don't fucking make beats? I was like, what are you talking about? Why don't you make beats, bro? Like you can play the drums, right? And the piano, like, why are you not making beats? You're a DJ. Those are the two elements of making beats. The melodic part and the rhythm part. G-Fat was like, dude, what are you doing? He was the owner of the studio, hell of an engineer, too. Um, and that's kind of what I was like, all right. And then my first. So was that like an aha moment for you? Yeah, because I opened up um I don't even know. I think I had a crack version of Logic at that time. Shout out Logic by the way.

Man, love it. Logic baby. For sure. Shout out Apple. Shout out. Yeah. Apple. Steve Jobs. I don't know. I I've I've kind of mixed on Steve Jobs. We'll leave that alone. Yeah, but we do like Logic Just for another reason. But we fuck with logic around here. It's Logic Squad. Alright, man. Too much weed. Where was I at? What was we? We got side track. no, just basically being in the studio. Oh, being in the studio opening up your crack version of Logic. Yeah, so um my first couple beats, he was like, Yeah, you should just try it, bro. You don't know what'll happen. So I get logic um messing around with it. And you know Logic has a million corny ass uh loops already in it. For sure. So but a few gems. Yes, a few gems. I done made a uh a couple good beats out of those. But I was, you know, just piecing those together. I'm like, oh shit, I can make beats. Oh, it sounds so good, though. And then I s that that was like another that's like pfft, because it's like, damn, I can do this. And then it got to like, shit, I could play that.

Let's try playing it in there instead of using this loop. And I started figuring out the drums and it just snowballed into an addiction, and uh now we're here. Do you go to uh Beatmakers Anonymous? Right, yeah. You know, I need to. So you find your love for producing, you're obviously a dope DJ that's found success and DJing all sorts of fucking events, country weddings, hip hop, top 40, whatever. You move to Atlanta, you're DJing four to five nights a week, like you said, because you f you know find your way into the scene. How do you meet the AE crew? Who who do you meet first? How does that even happen? Um, how I met AE, that's pretty a good story too. I was DJing at Sahar's. Yeah, and at that time, behind there, there's a studio called Treble Clef, and that's where they was um working at um at the time when they had Euro, and I think it was Noah at the time. I don't even think Bree was there. And um, they brought Euro, Boom Man, and Euro, and um at the time it was a guy named Black, but it's not the black that's Euro's manager. Not Black the manager.

Euro's had two managers named Black. Wow. But um What are the fucking odds? What are the odds? You know what I'm saying? But yeah, so they brought Euro through there, and this is right, like it's crazy how shit worked. This is right before they release Posse. Like, they're just starting the run for posse. And um, at that time I was I'm an asshole. Like, sometimes I could be an asshole, and I don't really like play music for free as a DJ because it's a business and we can make it work, or you know what I'm saying? For sure, we can make it work, but if I fuck with you, then yeah, I'm gonna play a music, but you can't just walk up to me and say, hey, I'm this guy, play my music. Yeah, you're like fuck off. I don't give a damn about your name drops. Right. Like, but um You care about the money. But this night, I just you know, Boom Man walks up to me. I don't know who Boom Man is at this point because I'm just I'm new to Atlanta from Tallahassee. They get shit like two years late, like for real. Like he was a rapper at that point, right? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I used to listen to L.A. the Boom Man. Yeah, see, I didn't know him as a rapper. I didn't even like I didn't even know who he was. I just, hey man, my name's Boom Man, and got my artist, and um, it was funny. I was already playing one of Euro's songs called No Hearse, just because I was, you know, getting in tune with the Atlanta scene or whatever, he had a song called No Hearse that was being played in the clubs, and they gave me posse, and we just ran it up that night. They showed love. I didn't ask for no money, and like two months later, boom hits me on Instagram in my DMs, like, hey, you want to come to Austin with us? I was like, um, sure, for what? He was like, uh, I want you to come DJ with Euro at South by Southwest. All right, well, let's let's go. I don't even know why Boom hit me. Like, I never asked him that like. He clearly left an impression. Right. I was gonna say, do you at all remember that night going really well? I do, but I remember I remember it going as well as anybody else. I would have showed love too.

You know what I'm saying? Like, if I you came in there and we it wasn't especially memorable necessarily to you. No, I just remembered it was cool. We showed love. Played their record, yeah. Club was fine. Drumma J is just that good. No, I I can tell. That's what it didn't mean to hit that. So, what was that South by Southwest trip like? It was um that shit was pretty fucking dope, bro. It uh sucked going there though, because they didn't tell you it was dope. I'm assuming you drove, right? We rode in a fucking van. A 15-passenger van. Like a Hertz Sprinter? not me and Euro, though. It's like me and all the workers. Hey, so they put me in the van with all the workers and boo with them It's like in their own cars and shit. Jay's like, yo, where's Euro at? Right. He's in the in the nice van up ahead. He flew. He's on the jet. Yeah, it's like damn, okay. I think he's in first class as we speak. But nah, shout out to the whole crew that rode there, because we had fun going down there. But we get to the hotel and um Jeezy Escobar, which is my brother, man.

Shout out Jeezy. Burberry Jerry. Come on, man. Back with boys. We'd love to have you on the podcast. We'd love to have you on the podcast. Oh, we're gonna make that happen. Free food, man. Four LA. Let's go. Yes. Yeah, but um, me and Jeezy. So was he in the worker van with you? No, no, no. They're the artists. GA, you know, GA and Twin at this point. That's who I see first. They we get to the hotel and like GA and Twin and uh Jeezy, they all standing out there dripped out. Of course, what the fuck is going on? Had you met any of these people? No. Well, besides your, I guess, briefly at that. club night. so I'm coming in to like. So you show up in the workers' van, not even knowing who you're meeting or working with. Yeah, I'm finna do. Hi, I'm DJing Phil. Hi, South by Southwest. Nice to meet you. I'm Drumma J. Right. Just with my suitcase in hand, you know, tired and everything. How'd the show go? It went great, man. We killed it. Um I didn't think they was gonna pay me, and they paid

me. Huh? shout out, boom. Yeah, shout out because we didn't discuss it. So you know me, but and that's and that's another, and this is could be a gem too. Another way that I excel so fast in doing the beats, the DJing for sure. The DJing is my thing was I'll do the first event for free. One more time. one more time. I used to tell club owners that all the time. Hey man, what he charging you? All right, I'm gonna do the first night for free. But if I kill it and hit them bar sales, then guess what? I need what I want. You know what I'm saying? You gotta prove your value. Yeah, but I know that I can keep these people dancing and turn what makes them keep drinking. Yeah. I do that with uh like mixing and mastering. Yeah, for sure. if someone approaches me for a mix and master, they say, What do you charge? You know, and I give them my price. And but I'll say, you know, I'll do the first one for this. Right. Because I'm so confident that I'm gonna turn your song up so much. You can't turn it away.

You're gonna pay full price once you hear what I can do. Turn it away. Yeah. You can't. You cannot. Great strategy. Yeah, so that's what I've always did. And I mean, it worked the same with that. I didn't ask Boone. He said, Do I want to come? I said yes. I had to pay them some money to go, like for the van and um the hotel and all of that. Hopefully you made more than you had to pay. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But that that just goes to like if you just spend it. But he was ready to not. Yeah, I was ready to take the L. Like, and at this time I'm just working at the club. I ain't got no steady income. Yep. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, but I was ready to take that L because I just I felt I didn't know, but I felt like, all right, I should be doing this. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, how how did you go from the South by Southwest trip to an official relationship with AE? Because that was clearly not official. Yeah. How does, You know, so I mean what happened. How does it progress? We get there, we chilling. And um uh Henry know he ever since he met me, I'm the same dude. I just we laugh.

I'm gonna smoke weed, and that's pretty much all I'm gonna do, is you know, we're gonna do music. Yeah, I I don't really like to do anything outside of that. You know what I'm saying? But um, we get there, and uh I'm just you know, we kicking shit outside everybody's meeting, everybody who don't know nobody, and um me and Jeezy get to talk about weed and how I always boys. How I always played the game is I made sure if I was going in a room or a studio, like when I first moved up here, oh I had gas. Ooh, I'm talking about good gas. I mean, you walked in the door with half a blunt. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And a big one. Yeah, oh yeah. But when Jeezy seen that, he was like, ooh, I'm fucking with you. Why you got flavors? I had brought like five flavors with me out there. Options. And so me and him hooked up on that immediately, and then um, it was kind of like a snowball effect. They seen Jeezy hanging out with me. Um, Euro was kind of standoffish at first, he'll tell you that.

Like me and him didn't really talk we perform, but we ain't really talking and hang out like that till after coming back off of that trip. Then I started going to this uh studio with Jeezy. But even in South by Southwest, they didn't know that I made beats. They didn't know I was an engineer. They just was looking at me as a DJ. So we get there, Jeezy's like, damn, you got the weed. So we rolling up and I start playing beats on my phone. He's like, damn, you make beats too. And then that becomes the snowball. And at this point now, Euro hears a beat, and he's like, damn, okay. All right. And then we like in the hotel room that night, four or five hours playing beats and just rapping over beats off of a damn Bluetooth speaker. Wow. So if you smoke weed, use it to your advantage. Yeah. Leverage. But Make sure you got the dope beats and the dope gas. It's gotta be gas. It's gotta be gas, good boy. Don't bring that. Don't bring the mid pack or the mid beats. So obviously, you know, you've had a career now as a producer over the last, I guess, several years at least, if not, you know, handful of years. What would you say the song is that you're most proud of?

Like, if you had to play one record for someone that you produced, what would it be? It's two for me. And um, one of them would be the Bible song that just came out on Euro's tape. Uh Forum Forever. Yeah, Forum Forever. I think it's number three. Shout out to you. I'd love to have you on the podcast. My brother, man. Uh we're gonna make sure Jay hooks that up. And Jeezy has a song that's not released yet. Oh, unreleased. That's called Feel the Vibes that I think is gonna pull the trigger on that. Let's let's play a snippet of uh maybe the one that's actually out. Yeah, Bible. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, let's play a snippet real quick. All right. Heard them niggas was holding us. I'm shooting bird while I'm holding mine. Mama told me hold the Bible, hit the screen start holding out. How I'm supposed to use a fork, it was in a row. I don't know the sign. Keep quiet like I'm mute, cause I don't wanna let them know I'm blind.

Coming for that crown, I won't let them. Yeah, man. Yeah, so that was Bible by Euro got it. Produced by your boy Drumma J here. That shit was giving us goosebumps, man. I mean, that's that's some real shit. Yeah, man, that's what I'm saying. Man, it's it's like everything with me and Euro, man. That I made that beat in probably like 20 minutes at the house by myself. And then we get in the studio and he hears dung dung dung. All right, load it up. He don't even let the beat drop. Wow, load it up. He goes in there and just That's crazy because most rappers have to wait till the beat drops, and then when the beat drops, they either next it or Keep it going, right? He knew Jay would have a hard time. He made that song in like 15 minutes all the way through. I recorded it at Loud House. Yeah. Okay. And um, yeah, it's crazy, but that's how it always is with me and him. We just It's wild.

We always click since we started working in the studio like that. But yeah. That's that's crazy to turn what you described as a standoffish relationship to now he's trusting you before the beat drops. I mean, that's some trust. Right, right. That's some trust to the city. That's my brother. Like that's my brother. Me, him and Jeezy got a strong working relationship when it comes to the studio. Like, just how I trust them uh with the beats and to do what they're supposed to do. Like, like they trust me to know that I'm not gonna tell them nothing wrong. You know what I mean? So it's like it's it's crazy how our work relationship is now. And and so you mentioned a third song that would be uh one. GA, man. People don't know how hard he is. Gabriel, Gabriel, man. Gabriel, man. He's so fucking hard. Like he's the best. He's so good, bro. Like, he's gonna be so. big. Episode three of the one more time podcast. Wherever you're listening, tune in. Gabriel Averitt, our homie, my client, collaborator of Jay, collaborator of Henry, super dope artist. If you don't What's the song called?

Uh uh Demon in My Bed, I think is what it's called. Yeah. Demon in my bed. It's So hard, bro. Me and him clicked up on that. And that's another thing. Like, I think he was sitting in the studio with me and we made that beat just. quick. Do you like to cook up? From scratch. Yeah, like on the spot, or like from scratch and then take it to the artist. Yeah, some of our best stuff, I know that I've did with any artist is just me making something right there in the studio. Or uh or them hearing something, and then we just bring it to life. Cause I I feel like that's the most organic way. Like, we can play beats for you all day, but that's kind of like a me thing. Like, that's how I was feeling whenever I made the beat. That's right. And I'm making it for rappers. Like, none of these beats for drummer J, I'm making them for rappers. Bro, give them that one more because like this is a topic I'm passionate about. One more time. Say that one more time. All right. Oh, I was just telling a producer this today. He was um at the house cooking up with me, and I don't kind of just he um I kind of like a mentor to him, you know what I'm saying? Just cooking up with him, explaining different things.

That's why I tell him, man, you can't like um how did I put it to him? You can't be worried about how good the beats sound to you. You ain't making it for you. Like, what do you make beats for? Rappers. Producers don't make beats for producers. Like, what is the producer gonna do with it? Like, you making it for rappers, bro. Like, so make it for a rapper, don't make it so beautiful and doing the all this intricate stuff, and just making it for rappers, bro. That's crazy. I say it all the time. The best producers aren't the type of people that bring in an artist and say, Okay, this is what I want you to do. The best producers are like, okay, this is what you do, this is what you're good at. How can I serve that and bring that out of you the best? Right, man. Let me hear your voice, and then we can go from there. Like, what can we do with your voice? Like, let's do that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And that's the difference.

I'd say, once again, me not being the you know, musical artist or producer in the room, but that's the difference between producer and beat maker in my mind, right? Yeah, agreed. A producer is producing the best quality product for a specific artist and bringing their vision to life, whereas a beatmaker can maybe be a beat factory and they're cranking out beat after beat after beat, but they're not necessarily having this, you know, creative vision in mind for the artist. And I'm not saying it's across the board, but that that would be my outside looking in perspective. You guys are obviously in the in the you know element of it, but that would be no, you nailed it. How I think you nailed it on the head for me. Yeah, I don't get into that conversation because they never like my side of the story, but you hit it right on the head for what I think. Yeah, it's crazy. So we're noticing some pretty dope merch that you got on, yeah, man. Yeah, man. Drum Island. We stand on Drum Island, excuse me, Drum Island, Drum so they can see that. Show the people.

And some and some ice on the neck too. Yeah, to match. What is Drum Island? What inspired it? What is it here to do? That is my brand. Oh, Drum Island is the name of my studios, the name of everything I got going on. And what Drum Island is uh I want to cultivate artists, man. I don't want to like just um sell people beats. Like that's cool, but I want to just put out like the best fucking product ever. Like go back to like really like we was just saying, like, you it I don't want it to be, oh, you can buy a beat from Drummer J. Nah, you can go make a beat with Drummer J. You can go make a song with him, Make a record. Yeah, go get a record from Drummer J, not go get a beat. You know what I mean? And that's what I want to turn Drum Island into. You're not just getting a beat, you're coming over here, and we're gonna make a record, like a real record. Yeah, so you want that like experience, yeah. The whole experience and and more exclusive.

I want to work with people that's really wanting to work. So if you really wanting to work, then I'll go a thousand percent for your hundred. Like, I promise. This is another, you know, I guess hot topic, right? Whether you want to be someone that sends out packs and you know, collects leases or exclusive, you know, purchases or whatever. And I play both of the games. I play both of the games. I got beat stars and all that. But it sounds like Drum Island is more focused on that intimate personal relationship and experience. Use the word organic, yeah, yeah, organic for sure. Yeah, yeah. That's dope. I I think, I mean, that's pretty similar to what you are trying to achieve, I would say, right? This is a hot topic for me for sure. It's very tough. It's like, you know, I can make some money making beats, which is a beautiful thing. Yeah, it's beautiful. But it's like I could sacrifice some money and cultivate something maybe more meaningful in the meantime. Fucking change some shit.

Yeah. Yep. Huge. So Shout out, Water. Water. So, obviously Jeezy and Euro are, you know, two of your closest collaborators within AE, but I know that you mentioned Free Fu. You work with or have been working with Fujiano. Mm-hmm. What's that been like? Man, it's the same. It's been love since we met up, bro. Like, since he got signed. Um we went in the studio and uh probably about I think it was like three weeks after he got signed um with Atlantic and Gucci and all that. They called me in with him to engineer session, and I think that was the first time we might have like really got in the studio. And um he he I think he was kind of trying me. Shout out Fu, man. I think he was gotta try me, bro. He's like, um, yeah, I want that song right there remade. And I was like, all right.

Sat down and fucking 15 minutes, killed the beat. And mind you, you know, food runs with a bunch of people, so it might it's like 20, 30 people in the um studio. So they the majority of them have to like it. Right. The whole crew has to like it. So I'm sitting at the board. How scared were you? Scared? I wasn't scared. It was just like I don't know. I'm like having an anxiety attack. Hell no, hell no. This is why they leave it up to you. It's like I'm who I am. Behind the scenes. Yeah. Yeah, man. I sat down there and killed that shit. I swear to God. Yeah, we made star that night. That's on Fujiano's album he just put out. Oh, nice. Yeah, that was weird. How was your first song with Fu? Yeah. Recorded. And that was like the first experience you had with him and then made the project now? Yeah, I made I had four songs on that project. That's dope. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, Fu's killing the game, obviously. Free him. Free. Fu, man. Man, for sure. He's coming home soon, man. He's coming home. So where's your focus right now? My focus right now is just staying consistent and not getting sloppy.

Yeah. That's my main focus. If I stay consistent and don't get sloppy and just treat it like I'm a professional athlete. Like I go out every night and put up points. So that's what as long as I keep doing that, everything's working how it's supposed to. In the gym every morning. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. That's dope. So you mentioned, you know, your aspirations with Drum Island. Do you foresee yourself trying to be the next big producer? Do you want to be DJing for the biggest artist in the world? I mean, what are you working towards? Like, what would success look like for you? Success look like whatever I can get. And what I mean by that is like I ain't I got goals on doing everything you just said. Yeah. But it's not like one is in front of the other. If the platinum hit comes first, then the platinum hit comes first. If I make a hundred million on crypto tomorrow, that's what comes first. Shout out crypto. You know what I mean?

That's how I am. Like I'm just taking it as it comes. But with the producing, I would ultimately love uh to turn that into like on some Khaled stuff. Like that's the whole executive producer. Yeah, like executive producing everything, putting the right people on the right stuff, make bringing the best beat to life. That's my favorite shit. Yeah, I like making beats and stuff, but like the best part of producing is like connecting the. dots. if I can get a guitar player in here, and then you know what I'm saying, a guy that knows melodies like that, or a guy that's good with effects, or you know what I'm saying? He might just be good with software, and I just get him to come fuck with the melody, you know what I mean? And just make the best song possible, get a get a song right or whatever it takes. Like, yeah, yeah, man. So I know that you know no one likes to live with regrets or wish they'd done things differently, right? But I love asking this question. If you could go back in time and give this six-year-old self, the 10-year-old self, whatever, some words of advice to even be further than where you are today, right? Or or do things differently.

What would you do differently? What would you tell yourself, you know, your younger self? My younger self, uh, to pay attention more. Just pay attention more. Awareness. Yeah, being aware. Don't don't live so free. Well, this has been a uh great, great episode so far. We got a final segment we like to do here on the One More Time podcast. I hand it over to my buddy Henry here. Shout out Henry one time. Shout out Henry, man. We still haven't shouted out. Ben. That's spelled with a three on the podcast. Yeah, yes. Yeah, Jay, I I've I've I've never gotten a shout out. if you care to shout me out right now, go ahead. Shout out me, man. That doesn't count. It doesn't count. If it's forced. If it's forced. I tried, man. It's gotta be natural. So okay, this final segment that I like to do is called the rapid fire rampage. Let's go. Buckle up, Jay. It's a three-part rampage. I'll explain each part as I go. Pretty simple. But the idea is um, we're looking for like the first thing that pops into your head.

You know, the less you think the better. We're really tapping into your soul right now. Alright. Okay. So part one of three. It's just gonna be some short answers. I'm just gonna fire some quick questions at you. Just give me some answers. Here we go. Rapid fire rampage Drummer Jay. Rampage. Give us one project. Mixtape EP or album in your top five of all time. Dang, man. Why you gotta do that? We're bringing it, we're coming out the gates. We're coming out the gates, all right? Why you gotta do that? Damian Marley, jam rock. Damian Marley, nice. Okay. That whole album. Okay. So good. Yeah. Give us your favorite hobby to get away from music. Video game. What's your game of choice? I have two equally. Okay. What are they? COD and Fortnite. He's a shooter. He's a top shooter. I love 2K2 though. I will bust your ass.

Sounds like he and Woe would get along. Yeah, actually, those are his two games. So yeah, okay. On that note, give us your favorite sport to play. To play? Probably basketball, yeah. There it is. Give us one genre of music you secretly like. The average drum j fan might not. Oh, I like Chill House. Ooh. That was that even that surprised me. Yeah. That's awesome. Joe Biden exiles you from America tomorrow. Where do you go to live? Um, right at the tip of the border. As close as possible. Wherever the border is, we're gonna go right there. On the Canadian side or the Mexican side. Uh whichever one. Whichever one will have you. Whichever one will take me. Probably Mexico, though, because I hate fucking snow. There you go. It is cold up there. Man, give us one artist or producer that AE should sign today.

Henry. That's fucking love. He didn't even think about it. We did not prep Jesus. Disclaimer, we did not prep Jumbo Jay with these questions. He has no idea about the rampage. I did it. You see, I'm sweating. Give us one of the dumbest things you've ever done. One of my favorite questions on the rapid fire. One of the dumbest things I've ever done. I can't even think of it so much. Don't act like you haven't done some dumb shit, because we all have. Huh? Give us some dumb shit. Um everyone's done some kind of dumb things. Uh this is gonna sound really bad. It's pretty dumb. Uh, a hit and running bucket, but it was just like a fender bender. He had to disclaim it. It was just like a fender bender. Yeah, I just tapped it and she was being a dick, so I just sped off. It's probably pretty stupid because she chased me for a little while, but she chased you.

Oh my god. Give us on the flip side, one of the best decisions you ever made. Moving to Atlanta. Um, just like that. Give us one bucket list entry. Bucket list entry to make music a hobby. Oh, interesting. And not have to rely on it. He really is trying to make money off his crypto thing, I think. He's trying to retire early. That was part one of the rapid fire rampage. It's a lot of work. It is true. Moving on to part two of the rapid fire rampage. It's the this or that part of Rapid Fire Rampage. I'm gonna give you two choices. You're gonna pick one. Alright. Here we go. Live instruments or electronic. Live. Desktop or laptop. Beer or liquor. But look, we gotta choose. Cars or trucks?

Trucks. Samples or all original. Both. Mixture. Mix that one. I like it. They're both important. Swirl. Bolton. Sativa or indica? Indica. Couch lock me, man. House party or the club. House party. Yeah, for sure. DJing or producing. Producing. Boom. For sure. Drums or flats. Gotta disagree with you on that one. That's okay, man. I'm a flat man. It doesn't matter. So on the drum team. I don't like bones, so that's too bad. How could Drummer J not say drums when you ask him the drums. That's a technicality? Yeah. Don't worry, we have all the sound effects you could ever want. Just eight, but it'll work. Cats or dogs. Dogs.

Country town or city life. I like the city. Yeah, I think that kind of ties into when he said the best decision was to move to it. So boom. Last part of the rapid fire rampage coming up. It's the word association. I'm going to give you one word. Give me one word back. Right off the top of your head. Yeah. Get nervous. Here it comes. Here we go. Time. Save it. That's important. Fish. Stick. Also a good one. I can't look at him. 808. In heartbreaks.

Pandemic. Bandemic. Turn a pandemic into a pandemic. He was not lying. Shout out Quavo. We'd love to have you on the podcast. All right. Please. Children. Love them. Zombie. Shoot them. Hair. Cut? I don't know. That's acceptable. Yeah. Fair. Fair answer. Stress. Relief. Money. Power. You're not lying. Keyboard. Fuck it. Fuck it? Mm-hmm. Like fucking. I like my MIDI boards. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Henry was so confused. He was concerned. I know.

That's why I gave you that one. I usually don't like to clarify, but that one I had to. Wait a minute. Did not accept that answer. I know. Politics. Um. Shitty. Agreed. Fujiano. The mayor, man. The mayor. Go. What a rampage. What a rampage, folks. What an episode. This has been Jumbo J on the One More Time Podcast. One More Time, man. I've been your host, Playback Ben, here with my co-host, Henry with a three, cause the E was already taken. It was taken. Wherever you guys consume your podcast, please like, subscribe, follow, drop a motherfucking comment, drop a motherfucking review. Cause we're not going anywhere. Nowhere. We're gonna have folks like Jumbo J on every single week until you are sick of us. We appreciate you guys for tuning in. And until next week, we are We out. Out Out. Peace. Bye-bye. Out.