The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Brief: A D.R.A.M. of honesty

FILE
FILE

Breakout artist D.R.A.M will take the IMU stage today at 8 p.m.

By now, the music video’s scene should be familiar: the rappers D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty — both clad in white — ankle deep in a river. Beside them, women twerk atop a semi-submerged, pristine grand piano.

“I was 26 years old when we had dropped this one amazing record,” D.R.A.M. raps, gleeful. “Had the world steppin’ / That’s what I call epic.”

The song is his 2016 breakout, “Broccoli,” and today, Iowa City has a chance to see him perform it in person. D.R.A.M (Does. Real. Ass. Music.) will play at 8 p.m. in the IMU Second-Floor Ballroom, courtesy of SCOPE.

The artist, real name Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith, has been on the rise in both the Stateside and international music scenes for the past two years, with “Broccoli” currently sitting at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“D.R.A.M. is a great up-and-coming artist who is blowing up right now with ‘Broccoli’ and ‘Cash Machine,’ ” said SCOPE talent buyer Haley Henscheid. “He is still gaining popularity, so getting people to recognize that he is the man behind ‘Broccoli’ can be challenging.”

D.R.A.M.’s first album will drop the day after SCOPE’s show, so there’s enough time to get familiar with his two mix tapes, “Cha Cha” — Beyoncé supports the tape’s infectious single, and some suspect Drake stole its beat for “Hotline Bling” — and “Gahdam.”

Though his supple tenor and magnetic energy — not to mention the unexpected sampling of beats such as the Super Mario riff — is now picking up traction in the mainstream, D.R.A.M. seems confident in his voice and self.

“When someone gets passed that mic, and they know deep down inside that they want to say something, or sing something, or produce something but they don’t do that, it’s like killing your musical life,” he said in an interview with Pitchfork. “As soon as I feel something, I act on it. I’ve got to stay true to my feelings, you know?”

— by Tessa Solomon

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