Drumma Boy

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Drumma Boy has earned recognition as a Southern rap producer through extensive work alongside prominent regional artists, above all T.I. and Young Jeezy. Born Christopher Gholson in Memphis, Tennessee, he was raised in a home steeped in music, with a mother who performed professionally as an opera singer and a father who played clarinet in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra while teaching at the University of Memphis. These influences introduced him to both classical repertoire and soul traditions. He started crafting beats at fourteen and was already earning income from production work before finishing high school.

Drumma Boy first gained traction within the Memphis rap community, contributing to projects by Gangsta Boo, Yo Gotti, and Tela. Early credits appear on Tela’s Double Dose (2000) for the track “Tennessee Titans,” Gangsta Boo’s Enquiring Minds, Vol. 2: The Soap Opera (2003) for “Sippin & Spinnin,” and Yo Gotti’s Life (2003) for the song “Life.” In 2004 he relocated to Atlanta to focus on Southern rap production. Prior to the move he had already supplied beats for Pastor Troy and the Down South Georgia Boyz on the album ’Til Death Do Us Part (2003). Once in Atlanta he began working with Young Jeezy and the Boyz N da Hood crew, most prominently delivering “Standing Ovation” for the 2005 release Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101.

His breakthrough arrived in 2007 when he produced Plies’ “Shawty,” featuring T-Pain, which climbed into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The next year he handled several tracks each on T.I.’s Paper Trail and Young Jeezy’s The Recession, two of the year’s most successful rap albums.