A new face from Virginia is making waves with his blending of hip-hop and funk. That artist is D.R.A.M. The rising rapper and singer's career began in the now-defunct Coliseum Mall in Hampton, Virginia and has exploded since he dropped his debut project#1EPICSUMMER in the fall of 2014. Once his standout single "Cha Cha" began to catch ears, the larger Germany-born artist got.

"Me and my boy Gabe Niles, we just really sat together and cultivated it," he said discussing making #1EPICSUMMER. "Some beats he produced, some beats I produced, some beats we collab on and some we had outside production. But as far as the layout and what should go here, we sat there just the whole time, nights in a row, five in the morning; eyes burning and tired of looking at the computer screen. But it was only us that were there. I was doing the recording in my crib on my bed; he was doing all the mixing at his sister’s crib in the kitchen. We sit there with this cheap ass splitter on this desktop and mixed it all on these cheap ass iPhone headphones. It was like a child born out of wedlock and still keeping on while the muthafuckas that’s raising them don’t even know what they doing but they know they can’t let it die. You got to feed it. And during the course of that we were having some of the most fun in our lives, just creating a scene out in Va. that was set apart of that bottle service club bullshit. Just real culture." Now that summer is almost here, fans should brush up on the smiley face upstart ASAP. Get to know D.R.A.M.—Emmanuel C.M.

Name: Shelley Massenburg-Smith

Age: 26

Hometown: Hampton, Virginia

I grew up listening to: Funk, old school, oldie but goodies, the shit that our parents grew up on; Parliament, P funk, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins. My dream collaboration would be with Bootsy Collins. “(You're a Fish and I'm A) Water Sign" that’s what really got me. I was already on to them and fuckin' with their shit and listening to a lot of their shit. But when I ran across that one, it made me dig and I was totally submerged.

As far as me rapping, the “Grindin’” beat. When that shit came out, I was in 8th grade. We be in school lunch beating that shit on the table doing the two bars and that turned to four then eight. Next thing you know it, we writing down lyrics on a piece of paper. I want to say I really took rap seriously the end of 2010 cause that’s when I stepped on a platform to perform. 'Cause you can record bullshit on some bullshit as mic for years and years but until you actually stand up and let the people hear what you been doing, you can't really call yourself taking it serious in my opinion.

My approach has always been just don’t be that guy like, “Oh this is that, and this is that.” I always wanted to be the one that you can never put your finger on. I think that even in my personality I just don’t want to be that guy in the box. As far the club music for DMV in particular would be like go-go, [Virginia’s music scene] is Baltimore Club or New Jersey Club. Our influences are all mixed from northern to southern. Back before it was cool to be southern, niggas was on that Dipset wave dumb hard just as far as culture and style. But you still had southern influences because our radio stations were more lenient to play a range of everything. Then as time went on you have some people that were Three 6 [Mafia] heads, some people who were DMX and shit like that. Then you had a few pioneers from the area just making game changing type of shit. Just off the strength that we come from that product of being smack dab in the middle.

Most people don’t know: I used to shoot videos.  I used to be the fucking “paparazzi.” I used to do club recap videos of these ugly ass women with potbellies who had two or three kids and give them three hours of shine. It’s weird being from that perspective a few years ago to now being the one niggas trying to film. Same spot clubs owners curve niggas on bread is the same one hitting us our email. So they get taxed, fuck them niggas, straight up.

My style has been compared to: I get a lot of early OutKast comparisons, Cee Lo, Busta Rhymes. That kills me. This fuckin blind ass man, we step from out of the Paramount building. This nigga comes up to me and I’m like he about to ask me for a dollar or something. He says, “Excuse me, are you Busta Ryhmes?” and I’m just lookin at him with this face like, no I’m not Busta Rhymes. He looks at my boy Gabe’s face like how can this be and Gabe says, “Shit I thought it was him too.” [Laughs].

My style is indescribable. I literally want to continue to do shit that I can’t even put my finger on. Sometimes I have to sit down and try to figure out what influence I used to get what I put out there. I just never like to be ordinary. Just a little random things; I may find a scarf and shit and throw that shit around my neck. Or fuck up my shoes on purpose. I just don’t want to be blended in with shit. I think too many people are worried about how other people perceive him in regards to the culture. I can give a fuck.

Standout records and/or moments to date:  My standout moment is when Snoop brought me out to do “Cha Cha” at UVA. I’m looking at all their faces and they screaming. By the middle of the song they just waving to it. Just the fact that some show up so high, someone that’s world renowned world famous could even fuck with little 'ol me made me feel like I still had a world to gain. So that was the biggest moment so far this whole shit.

My goal in hip-hop is: To take over. And the definition of takeover is we need muthafuckas to be scratching their heads to fit inside of my schedule to get what I have to offer to benefit whatever they have going on. I D.R.A.M. to offer, I don’t think anyone else can offer that.

I’m going to be the next: The next pioneer by taking over, being so unorthodox, you’ll see over the course of the next nine months. There’s certain shit that’s always going to be left field because all types of people have shown interest and I showed interest to all types of folks. It’s just a whole another thing.

Check out more of D.R.A.M.’s music on D.R.A.M.'s SoundCloud (soundcloud.com/only1dram) and follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @

Standout: “Cha Cha”

"Excessive"

#1EPICSUMMER

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