All nutritionists champion broccoli as part of a health-giving diet. It is certainly good for American rapper, singer and songwriter Shelley Massenburg-Smith. Better known under his stage name of D.R.A.M., 28-year-old Shelley is currently occupying a top five spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 with his single, Broccoli.
Of course, the song title does not refer to the vegetable. D.R.A.M. is actually singing about a horticultural product which is anything but healthy for the average person. Broccoli is a seldom used slang term for cannabis.
“It’s only part of what the song is about,” D.R.A.M. insisted. “I needed a title and Broccoli was the best option. It was just the second single I’d released so I wanted it to get noticed. A lot of people know what Broccoli means so I figured it would get my song much more attention than any other title.”
D.R.A.M. has been writing raps since childhood. Things began to get serious in 2005 during his senior year in high school. The young Shelley created music with his friend Key. When a recording booth opened at the Coliseum shopping mall in their home town of Hampton, Virginia, D.R.A.M. laid down 16 bars on a song Key had started.
Listeners around the booth were so enthusiastic that the owner decided he would manage D.R.A.M. and Key. They were understandably delighted. But this feeling changed as songs were ruined by their manager’s remixing. A parting of the ways was inevitable. The disappointment hit Shelley hard. He quit music to work in a call centre.
“I had all these hopes which didn’t work out. I needed to earn a living so took the call centre job. I later decided to attend Kentucky State University. That didn’t work out either but my interest in music had rekindled. I started making beats and recorded about 100 songs on a cheap home studio set up. I called myself DRAMA j and performed at every open mic event I could find.”
It took six more years before D.R.A.M. was seen by the right people. His debut release, the EP #1 Epic, attracted critical acclaim both for the quality and variation of the tracks. A mix of rap and singing over dance beats, it broke many unwritten rules of hip hop.
“There were no rules as far as I was concerned. I wanted to create a batch of feel good songs which people would enjoy and didn’t care how the objective was achieved.”
The end result certainly got D.R.A.M. noticed. His debut single, Cha Cha, peaked just outside the top 50 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. He also found himself in demand as a guest performer on tracks by artists such as Chance The Rapper, DP Beats and E-40. This additional exposure paved the way for his success with Broccoli.
“I created the track with Lil Yachty. We first met through Rick Rubin and got on great. I knew I wanted to do a song with him so I called Yachty about working on Broccoli. We only had the piano and drum loop plus a flute at that time. I had the bridge but no verse. Yachty did his verse before I’d even written mine.
“To be honest, I thought it would just be something good to post on SoundCloud. But I did my verse, we mixed the song together and everybody in the studio started vibing. It was much more than I’d expected and I realised we had a potential hit.”
The track was originally posted on SoundCloud in April. It debuted on the Hot 100 in July and was boosted by the release of the accompanying video. Broccoli has now topped the Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs charts in addition to reaching lofty heights on the Hot 100.
Fans were anxious to hear more. His recently released debut album, Big Baby D.R.A.M., has entered the Billboard 200 at number 19.
“Things are going pretty well but I’m already thinking towards the future. I have a bunch of songs recorded for my next album. I don’t just need to sustain my success, I want to take it to a much higher level.”

IN BRIEF
Papa Roach

American rock quartet Papa Roach will return with their as-yet-untitled tenth studio album early in 2017.
The recording was financed through a fan-funding campaign. Although the album has been recorded, 35 of the 41 exclusives offered to contributors can still be purchased. These range from a private acoustic Papa Roach show at your own home for USD75,000 to an exclusive T-shirt for USD42. Anyone who would like to peruse the offers should visit www.pledgemusic.com/projects/paparoach
The lead single, Crooked Teeth, has just been released. It can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4HNymsoZY

Taylor Hawkins

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has always performed with side projects. In addition to his own bands, Taylor Hawkins and The Coattail Riders, Chevy Metal and The Birds of Satan, he has played drums for many artists such as Brian May, Slash and Coheed and Cambria.
But he has now released his first true solo work. His six-song mini-album, K.O.T.A, features Taylor on lead vocals and playing almost every instrument. The songs are described as “a series of vignettes with a true-to-life cast of characters to create a meditation on life as a rock star stranded in the suburbs.”
The lead single can be heard at (no www.) soundcloud.com/user-391533049

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga recently became the first woman to register four number one albums on the Billboard 200 during the 2010s when her fifth studio album, Joanne, debuted in pole position. Not content with this, she has also been appearing on television in the FX network drama, American Horror Story: Roanoke.
Acting is an aspect of her career which Gaga is particularly keen to develop. The quality of her work has already been recognised. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Mini-Series or Television Film for her performance as Elizabeth Johnson in American Horror Story: Hotel.
Gaga has already contracted to play the lead in a new version of the 1954 musical drama, A Star Is Born. She will also create new songs for the film. Now comes news that Gaga will portray her friend, fashion designer Donatella Versace, in the third season of FX network’s American Crime Story. This will chronicle the 1997 murder of Donatella’s brother, Gianni Versace.

Metallica

Metallica release their tenth studio album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, on November 18.
The Los Angeles-based heavy metal heroes have already issued three of the tracks as singles. Hardwired hit music outlets in August, Moth Into Flame followed in September and Atlas, Rise was released on October 31. Videos have been made to accompany each song. They are all posted in the videos section at www.youtube.com/user/MetallicaTV
An array of live performances and older official song videos can be found on the band’s YouTube page. All of their previous albums are also available to hear in full on YouTube.

Grandaddy

American indie-rockers Grandaddy split up in 2006. The band members moved on to solo careers and other projects. They reformed in 2012 fuelling hopes of a new album.
The band played a number of concerts but no new LP was forthcoming. Their only recorded output was Hang an Ornament, a joint single with Band of Horses. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jason Lytle had produced the Band of Horses album, Why Are You OK. The single came about from his friendship with them.
But just as Grandaddy fans were beginning to despair of hearing new material from the band, word arrives that their fifth studio album has been recorded. Grandaddy’s first LP since Just Like The Fambly Cat in 2006, Last Place is scheduled for release on March 3.
The video for recently released lead single, Way We Won’t, features actor Jason Ritter as a would-be hitchhiker stuck out in the desert. After several failed attempts to get a ride, he appears to find a happy ending. But all is not as it seems. Check out the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRC1gwIdCe4