Biography
Blending fluid R&B melodies with offbeat hip-hop elements, DRAM employs striking visuals and a chatty delivery in his work as a rapper, vocalist, and beatmaker. The Virginia-based artist first reached mainstream audiences via the 2016 Lil Yachty collaboration “Broccoli,” a multi-platinum Top Five Billboard Hot 100 single; his playful debut album Big Baby D.R.A.M. then climbed into the U.S. Top 20 while hosting cameos from Young Thug and Erykah Badu. Serious recognition followed: “Broccoli” earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Performance, and the 2018 Gorillaz track “Andromeda” brought another nod in the Best Dance Recording category. By decade’s end he had adopted the Shelley FKA DRAM moniker and foregrounded vintage soul influences on the 2021 album Shelley; returning to the DRAM name for the reflective 2022 opus What Had Happened Was …, he retained a classic R&B foundation that carried into the lighter 2024 set DRAM&B.
Born Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith on a military base in Landstuhl, West Germany, he relocated to the United States in infancy and spent his formative years in Hampton, Virginia. While building his music career he held day jobs at shipyards and call centers. The 2014 mixtape #1 Epic Summer arrived first, spotlighting the regional club single “Cha Cha.” National exposure arrived in 2015 when Cleveland’s Z 107.9 FM began airing the track as its “weekend warmer,” a push that eventually caught the attention of Beyoncé, who posted her own version online. Capitalizing on that endorsement, DRAM reissued “Cha Cha” and repackaged #1 Epic as an EP; the single later topped Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. October 2015 brought the follow-up project Gahdamn!, while earlier that year he had already appeared on DP’s “For the Love Of” and joined the Social Experiment and Donnie Trumpet for a collaboration.
Momentum accelerated with the Lil Yachty-assisted “Broccoli,” which achieved multi-platinum status in both the U.S. and Canada, gold certification in the U.K., and a peak inside the Billboard Hot 100’s Top Five by mid-2016. October saw the arrival of his debut LP Big Baby D.R.A.M., which entered the Top 20 and contained “Broccoli” alongside Erykah Badu’s “WiFi” and Young Thug’s “Misunderstood.” The album itself went gold in the United States, while the single “Cash Machine” reached number six on the Bubbling Under chart and earned its own gold certification. Additional guest spots that year 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.”
In 2017 DRAM earned his Grammy nomination for “Broccoli” and issued 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.” He toured with Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott, then contributed two tracks to Gorillaz’s Humanz; the smooth sing-rap cut “Andromeda” secured its own 2018 Grammy nomination. That same year he 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. 2019 brought a feature on Injury Reserve’s self-titled debut plus the singles “Litmas” and “The Lay Down” with H.E.R. and watt. The latter track previewed his April 2021 sophomore album Shelley, issued under the Shelley FKA DRAM name and marked by smooth, vintage R&B arrangements that reflected a more introspective stance toward his music and well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reverting to the DRAM moniker, he released the single “WHAM” ahead of November 2022’s full-length What Had Happened Was … on his own Waver Records imprint. Retaining the soulful textures and personal storytelling of Shelley, the album was followed in 2023 by additional singles such as the Will Hill collaboration “Summer Nights” and the ZYA duet “Conflicted.” April 2024 brought his fourth studio set, DRAM&B, which tempered the preceding records’ introspection with a measure of his earlier playfulness.
Born Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith on a military base in Landstuhl, West Germany, he relocated to the United States in infancy and spent his formative years in Hampton, Virginia. While building his music career he held day jobs at shipyards and call centers. The 2014 mixtape #1 Epic Summer arrived first, spotlighting the regional club single “Cha Cha.” National exposure arrived in 2015 when Cleveland’s Z 107.9 FM began airing the track as its “weekend warmer,” a push that eventually caught the attention of Beyoncé, who posted her own version online. Capitalizing on that endorsement, DRAM reissued “Cha Cha” and repackaged #1 Epic as an EP; the single later topped Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. October 2015 brought the follow-up project Gahdamn!, while earlier that year he had already appeared on DP’s “For the Love Of” and joined the Social Experiment and Donnie Trumpet for a collaboration.
Momentum accelerated with the Lil Yachty-assisted “Broccoli,” which achieved multi-platinum status in both the U.S. and Canada, gold certification in the U.K., and a peak inside the Billboard Hot 100’s Top Five by mid-2016. October saw the arrival of his debut LP Big Baby D.R.A.M., which entered the Top 20 and contained “Broccoli” alongside Erykah Badu’s “WiFi” and Young Thug’s “Misunderstood.” The album itself went gold in the United States, while the single “Cash Machine” reached number six on the Bubbling Under chart and earned its own gold certification. Additional guest spots that year 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.”
In 2017 DRAM earned his Grammy nomination for “Broccoli” and issued 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.” He toured with Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott, then contributed two tracks to Gorillaz’s Humanz; the smooth sing-rap cut “Andromeda” secured its own 2018 Grammy nomination. That same year he 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. 2019 brought a feature on Injury Reserve’s self-titled debut plus the singles “Litmas” and “The Lay Down” with H.E.R. and watt. The latter track previewed his April 2021 sophomore album Shelley, issued under the Shelley FKA DRAM name and marked by smooth, vintage R&B arrangements that reflected a more introspective stance toward his music and well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reverting to the DRAM moniker, he released the single “WHAM” ahead of November 2022’s full-length What Had Happened Was … on his own Waver Records imprint. Retaining the soulful textures and personal storytelling of Shelley, the album was followed in 2023 by additional singles such as the Will Hill collaboration “Summer Nights” and the ZYA duet “Conflicted.” April 2024 brought his fourth studio set, DRAM&B, which tempered the preceding records’ introspection with a measure of his earlier playfulness.
Albums
Singles
