Drega "I know Gandhi didn't die so I could spit it nice".
FEBRUARY 18, 2009 - Toronto rapper Drega hooks up with his Royalty Radio co-host and deejay extraordinaire Dj Andre 905 for the remix to Jay-Z's "Run This Town". The fifty some odd bar verse features Drega touching on a number of subjects from buying a condo to the work of Mohandas Gandhi. "I feel like people take what Gandhi did for granted, I mean he stopped the British so we could be free, not so I could talk about how big my dick is, even though I do anyway" says Drega facetiously.
The song is a renewal of sorts for Drega as he reignites his passion for witty and raw lyricism. "I decided I don't want to do fluff anymore. There's way too much fluff on the radio and even indie artists have their fluffy radio single" said Drega.
Currently Drega is in the studio with producer Neo Tempus from The Anime Boyz working on his next album.
I went to India for three weeks in October and while I was there shot the video for "Hottest Goan In The Hood". I wanted to create a video that shows the vastly different areas of India from the slums, jungle, city and desert. I do wish I had taken more shots of the poorer areas but I felt I didn't want to be overly exploitative. Anyway, in the above video you'll find shots from Mumbai, New Delhi, Goa, Jaisalmer, and Jaipur.
As for my performance I know I'm smiling way too much, but it was hard for me not to think like "I'm in a dessert rapping...this is insane".
Here's some footage of me and my homie Suri at Ambiance Shopping Mall in Gurgaon (South Delhi), the mall is 1 km long and 4 stories tall. Welcome to the New India?
Here's my epic fail of an interview with producer Boi-1da. The funny thing about is that this was done the night that Drake's Forever was released so I was thinking "ah man I'm going to get a million hits", however, things didn't go according to plan. Thanks to Famous and bad lighting!
Rapper Jay Grind from Hamilton hollar'd at me to do a track after I interviewed him on Royalty Radio, so I asked him to jump on "Hottest Goan In The Hood", even though he's not Goan.
As promised here's the first single from The Artful Dodger called "I Run the Show". Here's a little bit about how the song came together.
The Making of “I Run the Show”
Currently, Drega is working on his next project entitled “The Artful Dodger” which will combine east coast lyricism with Electro, House and Indie Rock Rhythms. The first single, “I Run the Show” which was produced by Drega is inspired by hip-house group LMFAO. Drega explains, “I was actually in Niagra with my girlfriend for our anniversary and we we’re at a club and we we’re about to leave and the deejay announced this group, neither of us heard of, was about to perform and me and my girl looked at each other like, ‘okay we’ll stay another five minutes’. What eventually happened was that LMFAO shut down the club.”
With an idea in hand, Drega created the production for the beat having been a beat maker for over 10 years he knew how to put together a musical backing that neatly combined house, electro and rap. “When I got home, I just went to my keyboard and made the general idea for the beat within about five minutes, it took some time to get the sequencing right, but once I had it I was just dancing crazy to it, the vibe was perfect,” explains Drega.
The lyrics for the song are meant to inspire fun as well as individuality. Drega raps, “No ceaser or waves or gel in my hair, cause your girl’s gonna mess it up when I get there”. “Even though I’m talking about my hair, it’s a metaphor for my obviously unique look in that I don’t look like a rapper, which is basically the concept of the whole album” says Drega.
Check the "Bollywood remix" I did with Kostal out in Houston, Kaysha from Paris, Taz from Mumbai and Samy Elmousif from Montreal. It's getting a great response from the internetz.
Here's an encounter I had at the grocery store with Indian rapper Ravi Ross. I was honestly a little scared approaching him, but did ask him about his latest album Deeper Than Roti, and his beef with UK-Desi rapper 50 Rupee. Peep it.
Download "Spaceships & Ferraris"