Leaning and Rocking
“I done been on crack; I’ve punched a girl out,” tells Young Dro. “One girl just met me and I paid all her notes and stuff!”
For the record, these were merely ludicrous rumors. Fittingly, Djuan “Young Dro” Hart addresses the illegitimate gossipmongers on “Don’t Believe That Shit,” a Spanish-guitar-laced backhander off his debut, The Best Thang Smokin’ (Grand Hustle/Atlantic).
Although Dro, born 27 good years ago in Bankhead, Atlanta, has far from reaped the commercial success of his patna’ of 12 years and label honcho, T.I., the dark-skinned, agile, and flamboyant rapper is very much a bona fide star—and there’s a price to pay for glistening that hard.
Not that Dro worries about hype or innuendo. He’s refreshingly modest, a keen listener, and most impressively, he isn’t the least bit shook to be funny. “I’m very jokeable,” he explains. “But in actuality, I use that to let you know I’m serious. Like I once told a girl: ‘You keep laughing at me; I’mma laugh you right outta your panties!’ And sex is not laughable.”
Equally not laughable is Dro’s spit game. Articulate and charismatic to a fault, his debut showpiece is abundantly littered with rhymes and flows that are as callous as they are gracious. Over the machine-gun lazy bounce of “Gangsta Shit,” Dro strong-arms phrases and clauses just because he can. And even on the swagger-ridden, radio-friendly first single, “Shoulder Lean,” his cadence is exceptional; it’s all in the way he manipulates his voice and tone.
Equally fascinating is how much ground the self-proclaimed Cartier boy’s motley rap style covers. For as much as he loves Raekwon, Biggie, and ’Pac, he also idolizes Goo Goo Dolls, Staind, and Vanessa Carlton. Additionally he’s a fan of mere mortals. You’ve just got to see him say it in his earnest, prosaic style: “I like people in general. I live for people; I live to see people live.”
By Omar Dubois
Photo by Tina Greenberg
