By Natalia Kopelman
When Drizzy P was 15, his friend got some music equipment for Christmas and a beautiful thing happened— Drizzy found his passion. Once they set up in his friend’s basement, Drizzy was there every night. “I really fell in love, so I decided to run with it.”
In 2019, Drizzy connected with his manager Geedy on Instagram. Together, they started their own record label, Above Nothing, and produced an impressive body of work including two albums, several singles and music videos. “Geedy comes up with the concepts for my videos and schedules all my sessions…he tells me where I need to be and what I need to do. He’s taught me a lot about life and always pushes me to be better.”
It was also Geedy who had a connection to Mack Maine, president of Young Money and lifelong friend of Lil Wayne. Drizzy met Mack at a basketball gym in Miami and went to a studio session at the Hit Factory that same night. “We played around, basketball…chopped it up a little and headed over to the studio. I played him some of my music and he liked it. Then I got a call, a couple months later, saying he wanted to introduce me to Wayne. That was a real blessing ‘cause I grew up listening to Wayne. He’s been my idol and I’ve tried to emulate a lot of things he does, from his word play to his delivery, to the way he’s able to paint vivid pictures within his songs.”
Musically, Drizzy likes to touch on different genres. “People could say I’m a pop artist, or a hip hop artist. I give ‘em a lot of melodic sounds, I rap…it’s really everything mixed up.” The desire not to be put in a box is so understood, he just smiles and shrugs, “I’m an artist.”
“I like to close my eyes when I go into the booth and really vibe, really feel the energy. I always say it’s like a therapy session. It’s like the beat is talking to me about a certain situation…situations will come to my head when I hear the beat…and I’m just talking back. So the beat is the therapist and I’m the client.”
Since he signed with Young Money (founded by Lil Wayne and presided over by Mack Maine), Drizzy who grew up in a small town outside Philadelphia, says he’s been having a lot of new and eye opening experiences. “Like the club life, it’s awesome…and going to LA was a dream come true because I always wanted to go there, since I was a little kid. It’s giving me a different view on life. It really showed me, like yeah, I’m meant to be here. This is possible.”
“Mack and Wayne…I feel like they saw the hunger in me and the drive to wanna be great. I think they see the versatility within me and that I’m a really hard worker. I try to always outwork everybody and I love the studio, it’s my sanctuary…that’s where I find my peace. So being able to be in the studio, from six at night to twelve in the afternoon the next day…it’s amazing.”
On working with the other Young Money artists, Drizzy says, “It was exciting. They’re really genuine people, very talented…I’m grateful for all of them and we clicked right off the bat. That made it so much easier to make the music as great as we did. Every studio session, seeing Mack Maine thumping his head to the songs we were making…that was super motivating and made me eager to keep pumping out more and more. It was awesome. I’m excited for the world to hear it.”
Next up, Drizzy will be dropping his EP You Hear Me Now and he’s also making some new music videos. He’s shown his industrious nature and seems to embody the energy of a solid work ethic applied to genuine passion. He has a strong heart, you can see that on his face and feel it in his presence. Musically though, he’s sorting through the thoughts in his head. This is a signature trait of someone who helps their generation progress.
“I’m a very hard working individual. I’m loving, caring, family oriented. No matter what the circumstances are, I always keep my head up high. I’m positive.”
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A version of this article first appeared in Honeysuckle's 420 print edition, featuring Lil Wayne and Young Money. Get your advance copy now.
