Cha Cha, Real Smooth. D.R.A.M.

There’s no science to making a hit record. As much as record labels and moguls would like for you to believe they have the formula to making that song, or have that producer for the sound of the moment, there’s no definitive method. There may be more of a rubric to follow to achieve critical acclaim, but who’s to say what the people will gravitate to? Last year, Bobby Shmurda’s gritty, horror flick of a single, “Hot N***a,” became one of the year’s biggest rap songs, and one of this year’s unlikely candidates is a faux-dread donning author of off-kilter drug ballads, whose 3 singles have charted higher than releases by Rihanna, Madonna and Drake thus far on the Billboard Hot 100.

D.R.A.M., who hails from Virginia, knows all about the aforementioned premise. “Cha Cha,” a derivative of D.R.A.M.’s fetishizing of Latin pop culture—“I like to Cha Cha/in a Latin bar/with a Dominican that resembles Taina”—on the surface sounds like something Pitbull would perform at next year’s Superbowl; it’s got that automatic stadium appeal. But D.R.A.M. is a multi-faceted artist, and a skilled expressionist that just so happened to make a song that everyone instantly liked. That constitutes a hit, doesn’t it?

“Some people want to call me a rapper, some people want to call me a singer,” starts D.R.A.M., born Shelley Massenburg-Smith, “Honestly, I’d rather just be the artist.” It’s a pretty popular notion, especially in today’s atmosphere, where having a distinct sound, and making enjoyable music is slowly beginning to take precedent over categorizing an artist—‘does he rap, does he sing?’ The prevalent question today is, ‘does he sound good?’ That answer is, unequivocally, yes. Take “Caretaker” for example, an interlude on The Social Experiment’s Surf album, which features D.R.A.M. His vocals are layered in a mesmerizing melody, which—in the interest of full disclosure—made us think we were listening to the soulful Jamie Foxx bang one out. No one’s ever sounded that sweet singing about groupies. “I don’t always write, but I do go in there like ‘okay, what am I gonna talk about? What’s the hook? And if there’s no hook, it’s like, ‘ok, what is this going to say’.” His recent project, the #1EpicSummer EP, reflects that, ranging in subject matter from poverty to romance and everything in between. “There are certain things that I’ll sing the hell out of, for 8 bars, and then maybe, just do whatever on the rest. It’s all a recollection of all those things. Fusing and mixing.”

Well, whatever it is D.R.A.M., don’t stop. – Khari Nixon