Drumma Boy

Drumma Boy
File:Drumma Boy attends the 2011 BET Awards in Los Angeles.jpg Drumma Boy at the 2011 BET Awards in Los Angeles
Background information
Birth name	Christopher James Gholson
Born	(1983-08-11) August 11, 1983
Origin	Memphis, Tennessee
Genres	Hip hop, southern hip hop, trap, R&B, film music, classical
Occupation(s)	Rapper-songwriter, record producer, composer, entrepreneur
Instruments	Roland TR-808, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Akai MPC-4000, Apple GarageBand, Korg Triton, Propellerhead Reason, Clarinet, Piano, Sampler, Vocals
Years active	2002–Present
Labels	Drum Squad
Associated acts	Young Buck, Young Jeezy, Gorilla Zoe, Plies, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Rocko, Yo Gotti, DJ Paul, Juicy J, Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, Master P
Website	drum-squad.com

Christopher James Gholson, (born August 11, 1983) better known by his stage name Drumma Boy, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, composer and entrepreneur.

Early life

Born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Cordova, Tennessee, he was exposed to music at a young age. His mother, Billie Baker Gholson was an accountant who worked as an part-time opera singer and was the first African-American to graduate from Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and his father, G. James Gholson who retired in 2012, is a retired professional clarinetist and music professor at Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, was the first African-American male to hold the 1st chair position in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, where he is still an active member. His father holds an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Catholic University of America. His father is also an emeritus of the Memphis Woodwind Quintet and a soloist in the United States' Navy Band. His paternal grandfather was a high school principal and has a high school named after him Washington D.C.. The rest of his extended family including grandmothers and aunts were also musicians and taught music in the schools. Drumma Boy says he had a recorder in his hand at age 3 and a clarinet at age 5. His father was instrumental in teaching him about traditional classical music but it was his mother that introduced him to Curtis Mayfield and 1970s oldies. A classical musically trained musician, Gholson began the practicing E-flat clarinet by the age of six and then went up to the B-flat clarinet. At the age of six, Gholson began taking piano lessons.

Mathematics was his favorite school subject growing up. Drumma Boy attended the University of Memphis as a Music Business Major. Taking his father's advice that a college degree would open more doors for career advancement and emphasis on the importance of financial savvy. It was also mainly to satisfy his father's belief that a college degree was a ticket to a solid and stable career. Following his father's advice and by his junior year, Drumma Boy established a name for himself and was quickly becoming the most sought-after producers in his home state of Tennessee. He also produced an entire album at the age of 14 in his hometown. During high school as an amateur producer, he began charging $200 for each beat that he made. In between attending classes, he would shop his homemade beats to local Memphis rappers such as Gangsta Boo, as well as travel to Texas to work on musical projects for Scarface and Bun B of UGK. Following in the footsteps of Memphis native and super-producer Jazze Pha, Drumma Boy enrolled at the University of Memphis as a music business major in 2001 and then flunked out in 2004 due to his burgeoning music career and under-attendance. His father later became upset about him being kicked out challenged him to earn $100,000 within 12 months to prove his independence, Drumma Boy later accepted the challenge and earned $100,000 within 10 months to gain his father's trust. Though Drumma Boy never returned to the University of Memphis, Drumma Boy and his father established the James and Christopher Gholson Scholarship Fund, a scholarship that goes towards undergraduate and graduate students studying music at the University of Memphis, furthering his father and his family's commitment and values towards education and cultural literacy.

Within a two years of leaving his native city, Drumma Boy had fostered relationships with top notch hip hop groups and rappers such as Outkast, Trick Daddy, Slim Thug, Cash Money, Pastor Troy, and Killer Mike.

In October 2013, Drumma Boy conducted a halftime show during the 2013-2014 season opening of his hometown NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Career

Gholson relocated to Atlanta in 2004 and set his sights to become a professional music producer and entrepreneur. Citing his sense of business acumen from his mother, a professional accountant, Gholson founded Drum Squad, an independent umbrella entertainment company that encompasses Drum Squad Productions, a music production company that represents producers and songwriters, Drum Squad Records (a record label), and Drum Squad Films, a film production and distribution company.

Gholson has worked with an array of hip hop acts that include August Alsina, Tela, 2 Chainz, Giggs, Juicy J, Young Buck, Young Jeezy, T.I., Kanye West, OJ Da Juiceman, Lil' Wayne, Nelly, T-Pain, Usher, Ciara, Wiz Khalifa, Wale, Waka Flocka Flame, Gorilla Zoe, Tinie Tempah, Drake, Gucci Mane, Bow Wow, Soulja Boy, Ludacris, Plies, Yung Joc, Fabolous, Roscoe Dash, Rick Ross, Master P, E-40, Monica, Goapele, Stephen Marley, Damien Marley, Rocko, Paul Wall, Lil' Jon, Travis Porter, Chris Brown, Tech N9ne, and Starlito.

By 2008, Gholson soon became one of most sought after hip hop producers in the music industry. In 2008, Vibe Magazine named him one of the Top 5 Producers "making noise" in the music industry and in December 2009 he was named by The New York Times as one of the 4 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 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.

In January 2009, Gholson starred alongside Jazze Pha and Def Jam Recording Artist Vawn in BET's reality series "Welcome to Dreamland". He appeared on a segment of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" while making beats for cast member Kandi Burruss as well as appearing in the studio during an episode of Monica's BET reality series "Still Standing". In November 2009 Drumma Boy released his music video Dis Girl shot by Mr. Boomtown, the first single off his mixtape Welcome II My City, which went on to receive millions of hits on Worldstarhiphop. He has appeared on FOX Good Day Atlanta, Good Morning Memphis, CBS News Channel 9, BET and MTV.

Gholson also does film scoring for independent films. In December 2013, Drumma Boy was commissioned to create film scores for a new independent film called "Blood First" for NaRa Films and O.Y.’s Spotlite Entertainment. He also created film score's for movies called "Chapters" and "Holla 2".

Gholsons's signature drop on his beats is a voice saying "listen to the track, bitch". He is also known for the origination of extending sounds at the end of a verse. "Yeah Girl" or "Yeah Boy" is another signature. There is another signature before the beat drops, which is a young reverbed female voice saying "Drumma Boy".

Other ventures

In 2013, Gholson released his own line of luxury wine called Moreno BHLV. Gholson has also opened “G Factory”—a 20,000 square foot.creative studio in his hometown Memphis, for film and TV show production that will eventually encompass a wood shop, and car detail crew where the space will be designated strictly for creative professionals, artists and painters to hone their talents. Gholson also launched a film production and distribution division called Drum Squad Films subsidiary within his company, Drum Squad. One of the first few independent films called “Chapters” was launched through Drum Squad films in 2012, of which Gholson did additional film scoring for. “Know your History" was another independent film released by Drum Squad films documenting on history of the city of Memphis.

Gholson is also an ardent philanthropist. He takes his time off from music to give back to his local community and was a featured guest at The Heart of God Foundation’s “City of Atlanta Neighborhood Revitalization Ball, an organization dedicated to raising funds to provide for the city’s homeless.

Production equipment and style

Gholson uses a variety of production equipment to compose hip hop beats. He primarily uses an Akai MPC 4000, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Roland TR-808 and electronic keyboards manufactured by Roland, Korg and Yamaha.

Gholson cites Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Raphael Saadiq and The Funk Brothers as his signature music production inspirations with other musical influences ranging from European classical composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Johann Sebastian Bach to American Jazz icons Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis all the way to Academy Award winning hip hop group Three 6 Mafia and Houston rapper, Scarface. He is known for combining classical music chords with urban hip hop street sounds, and for his adherence to the Atlanta trap music sound. His production techniques bring together a diverse array of styles that originate in hip hop, rock, pop, classical, soul, and R&B.

Awards

Drumma Boy won "Best Indie Producer of the Year" consecutively at the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Southern Entertainment Awards. He received a nomination for "Producer of the Year" at the 2008 Ozone Awards and at the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards. His beats assisted with two nominations during the 2009 Grammy Awards including his work on T.I.'s Paper trail (Best Rap Album) and "Put On" by Young Jeezy & Kanye West (Best Performance by a Rap Duo.). In 2011 his hit single "No Hands" for Waka Flocka, Roscoe Dash and Wale received a nomination for "Best Collaboration" at the 2011 BET Awards and picked up the accolade for "Best Club Banger" at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards.

Discography

Official Street Album

• 2009: Welcome II My City (Drum Squad Records)
• 2011: The Birth Of D-Boy Fresh (Drum Squad Records)
• 2012: Welcome To My City 2 (Drum Squad Records)
• 2014: Welcome To My City 3 (Drum Squad Records)

Hosted Mixtapes

• 2010: Young Buck - Back On My Buck Shit Vol. 2: Change Of Plans
• 2012: Young Buck - Live Loyal Die Rich (Hosted with: DJ Crisis)
• 2012: 8 Ball - Premro
• 2014: Drumma Boy's 2k14 All Star Weekend Playlist

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2013	Buck Mentality	Himself	Video Documentary

Production credits

Main article: Drumma Boy discography

External links

• Official website

• Official Beatbuggy site
• Community Drumma Boy in vk