Dram

Rapper, singer, and producer DRAM fuses smooth R&B textures with idiosyncratic hip-hop through conversational delivery and vivid imagery. His mainstream breakthrough arrived via the 2016 multi-platinum Top Five Billboard hit “Broccoli” alongside Lil Yachty, after which his buoyant debut album Big Baby D.R.A.M. reached the U.S. Top 20 while hosting appearances from Young Thug and Erykah Badu. Serious recognition followed in 2017 with a Grammy nomination for “Broccoli” and another in 2018 for the Gorillaz track “Andromeda.” By decade’s end he had adopted the Shelley FKA DRAM moniker and foregrounded vintage soul influences on the 2021 album Shelley; reverting to the DRAM name for the reflective 2022 magnum opus What Had Happened Was … left the sound anchored in classic R&B, a direction that persisted on the lighter 2024 release DRAM&B.

Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith was born in Landstuhl, West Germany, to a military family, relocated to the United States as an infant, and spent his formative years in Hampton, Virginia. While establishing his music career he held jobs at shipyards and call centers; DRAM, an acronym for “Does. Real. Ass. Music.,” issued the debut mixtape #1 Epic Summer in 2014, which contained the regional club hit “Cha Cha.” National visibility came in 2015 after Cleveland R&B station Z 107.9 FM adopted the track as its “weekend warmer,” a push that reached Beyoncé and prompted her to share footage of her own rendition. Capitalizing on the Queen B endorsement, “Cha Cha” was reissued that year, #1 Epic Summer resurfaced as an EP, and the single climbed to number one on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. DRAM followed the momentum with the October 2015 project Gahdamn!, appeared on DP’s “For the Love Of,” and collaborated with the Social Experiment and Donnie Trumpet.

Months later the Lil Yachty-assisted “Broccoli” became a multi-platinum U.S. success, entering the Billboard 200 Top Five by mid-2016; the track also earned multi-platinum certification in Canada and gold status in the U.K. October brought the debut LP Big Baby D.R.A.M., which entered the Top 20 and featured “Broccoli” plus Erykah Badu on “WiFi” and Young Thug on “Misunderstood.” The album attained gold certification domestically and yielded the single “Cash Machine,” which peaked at number six on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and received a U.S. gold certification. Additional guest spots included Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book, Neil Young’s Earth, SBTRKT’s “I Feel Your Pain,” E-40’s “Slappin,” and Mod Sun’s “Smokin’ What I’m Smokin’ On.”

A 2017 Grammy nomination arrived for Best Rap/Sung Performance on “Broccoli,” accompanied by the standalone single “The Uber Song.” Further joint releases encompassed the A$AP Rocky– and Juicy J–featuring “Gilligan,” Matoma’s “Girl at Coachella,” and Calvin Harris’s “Cash Out.” DRAM toured with Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott, then contributed two tracks to Gorillaz’s Humanz album; “Andromeda,” showcasing his smooth sing-rapping, earned a 2018 Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. He also dropped the EP That’s a Girls Name, teamed with GRiZ on “It Gets Better,” and appeared on projects by Smoke DZA, Nick Grant, and Yung Gravy. In 2019 he performed on Injury Reserve’s self-titled debut and issued the singles “Litmas” and “The Lay Down” with H.E.R. and watt. The latter track previewed his April 2021 follow-up Shelley, issued as Shelley FKA DRAM; its polished vintage R&B reflected the more deliberate stance toward music, mental health, and physical well-being he cultivated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reclaiming the DRAM identity, he released the single “WHAM” ahead of the November 2022 album What Had Happened Was … on his own Waver Records imprint. The project extended Shelley’s soulful palette with deeply personal lyrics, and 2023 brought additional singles such as the Will Hill collaboration “Summer Nights” and the ZYA duet “Conflicted.” In April of the following year he delivered his fourth album, DRAM&B, tempering the tone of Shelley and What Had Happened Was … with flashes of his earlier playfulness.