New York, NY – When one listens to Drag-On’s bars, there’s no denying that this man has lived the hard-knock life. Offering a glimpse into the trials and tribulations his native Bronx, the rapper’s lyrics invoke brutality and worry, giving him a larger-than-life presence behind the mic, and making it clear to the world that he’s the furthest factor from a “studio gangsta.”
Which is why it’s stunning — in a reasonably nice means — that, when chatting with the person born Mel Jason Smalls, his st-spoken phrases are considerate, modulated, and remarkably nice.
However don’t get it twisted — Drag-On says that whereas he will not be gangbanging anymore, he’s nonetheless out within the streets. “I nonetheless fuck with the homies I grew up with,” he informed us in an unique cellphone interview, including that he’s calmed down, considerably, since his halcyon days with the Ruff Ryders.
Calming down is a operate his age, to make sure — but it surely’s additionally a end result his experiences, each good and unhealthy.
“There’s lots those who have left me, over time,” he stated. “However, now that I’m by myself, it leaves me in an important place to place out a much bigger physique work.”
That larger physique work contains his newest mixtape, Barz on Fireplace three. That includes manufacturing by Merc Beats, CuddyOnTheBeats, and CrazeOnTheBeatz, Barz on Fireplace three has the assist Again In The Sport Leisure and the rapper’s personal Hood Surroundings file label. Brooklyn MC Maino and Hartford, CT soul man Ru Williams are additionally featured on the mixtape, and its first single, “Icon,” acquired the work trending on DatPiff. (As press time, the tape has greater than 65,000 distinctive listens and greater than 100,000 distinctive views.)
However the success the fering doesn’t shock the business veteran — and he’s nonetheless humbled by its potential to assist him attain an entire new era Hip Hop followers. “Mixtapes get handled like albums as we speak,” he stated. “In the appropriate arms, they act like calling playing cards. They will launch a whole profession.”
Drag-On’s potential to make use of fashionable know-how to his benefit makes him distinctive amongst the so-called “previous heads” Hip Hop, preferring to make use of extra conventional routes of their advertising and marketing efforts. And whereas the MC continues to be comparatively younger, he’s nonetheless practically 20 years faraway from his debut work, Reverse H20.
The then-19-year-old loved a rocket trip to stardom because the album debuted at quantity 5 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Ultimately, Reverse H2O offered over 500,000 copies and earned a gold certification from the Recording Trade Affiliation America (RIAA).
However he wasn’t content material with resting on his laurels — and, he says, veterans who achieve this ten discover themselves drawing the ire the youthful, extra tech-savvy up-and-coming MCs.
When requested about this disconnect between older and youthful generations — a phenomenon unique to Hip Hop, as different musical genres like rock’n’roll characteristic youthful artists venerating their elders — Drag-On waxes a bit poetic. “You already know, respect is a two-way road,” he stated. “Now, I used to be introduced up with respect, so I give it, and I count on to obtain it in return. However, when the youthful rappers had been arising, the older era didn’t actually present them love like that. Perhaps as a result of they didn’t get respect from the labels like that? And so they acquired taken benefit ? I don’t know. What I do know is, the younger ones try to get within the sport, and the older ones aren’t passing down the torch as a result of they need ‘respect.’ However how are you going to count on a younger man to respect you for those who, because the elder, don’t respect him too?”
Drag-On stated that he’s in a singular place to work with individuals based mostly on their “power” — whether or not they work properly with him within the studio or not — and never based mostly on their age. What’s extra, he says, doing so has given him an opportunity to broaden his creativity into different inventive efforts. When the Tables Will Flip, a movie he shot final yr in Las Vegas, can be dropping in April, and he’ll be heading to Detroit to shoot one other movie with Baltimore Snoop.
And his success is all due to his begin in rap music. Regardless the ups and downs, Drag-On says he, in the end, appears like he, and others, are successful on the sport.
“I like the state Hip Hop proper now,” he stated. “Artists are being empowered like by no means earlier than. They’ve extra avenues, and extra autonomy, which provides them the chance to make more cash. I see all this, and actually, I don’t have too many complaints.”
Observe Drag-On’s newest exploits on Instagram at @abbutler914 and @drag_on1.