Team DHH

A collection of friends, rappers and producers I believe in, want to see succeed, and who have agreed to join my team.

JID

Born and raised in East Atlanta, J.I.D — a name adopted and adapted from what his grandmother called him as a jittery child — first appeared on the Atlanta hip-hop scene with his debut EP, Dicaprio, in 2015. Growing up, J.I.D’s first connection with music was through his parents’ collection of classic funk and soul LPs. After a stint at Hampton University playing football, J.I.D also hooked up with fellow MCs as part of the Spillage Village collective. By 2012, he had dropped out of college to focus on music, and in 2014 he headed out on what would be a productive tour with EARTHGANG, Bas, and Ab-Soul. Touring allowed J.I.D to craft his skills, and a year later he recorded and dropped the Dicaprio EP, which saw him team up with a host of producers, as well as EARTHGANG. While keen to distance himself from the generic abrasive trap sound that had dominated the Atlanta scene, J.I.D wanted to deliver something that was more than just about a beat, and instead focused his time and effort on lyrics as well. In 2016, J.I.D, alongside the rest of the Spillage Village crew, released the album Bears Like This Too Much, which saw the rapper honing his unique delivery and inspired lyrics. In 2017, he announced that he had signed to J. Cole’s label (a connection made with the rapper via J.I.D’s part in the 2014 tour with Bas and J. Cole’s friend and producer Cedric Brown), which released the single Never and full-length The Never Story at the beginning of the year.

Cordae

Cordae is an American Rapper from Maryland. He is known for his songs “Old N****s” and “My Name is”. “Old N*****” is a remix of J. Cole ‘s song 1985 where he criticizes how people who enjoy rap from previous generations who talk down to the newer rappers, most notably SoundCloud Rappers. “My Name is” is a remix of Eminem ‘s song “My Name is”. Cordae started writing music at a young age, but did not start recording until he was 15-years-old. At the time, he was really into Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era. He did not take rap seriously until 2017.

Wale

The self-proclaimed “Ambassador of Rap for the Capital,” Wale (pronounced “wah-lay”) was able to transcend his status as local sensation and become a national rap contender using go-go-inspired hip-hop as the vehicle for his clever wordplay and music. Most of the major singles that ensued for him, however, were melodic slow jams spread across the tail-end of the 2000s and well into the late 2010s. These hits, such as “Lotus Flower Bomb” and “Bad,” supported albums that regularly landed near or at the top of the Billboard 200, including the chart-topping The Gifted (2013) and The Album About Nothing (2015). The proper full-length studio releases were supplemented with numerous mixtapes, featured appearances on hits by the likes of Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, and starring roles on multiple volumes in Maybach’s Self Made compilation series. The rapper closed out the 2010s with Wow…That’s Crazy (2019), his fourth solo full-length release to enter the Top Ten of the Billboard 200.

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin was born in Washington, D.C. in 1984 to Nigerian immigrants who’d arrived in America five years earlier. Although the family moved to Maryland when the future rapper was ten years old, Wale was mostly raised in suburban D.C. He attended both Robert Morris College and Virginia State University on football scholarships, and eventually transferred again to Bowie State. The music bug had already bitten him hard, though, and soon he quit college altogether to turn to a recording career. He got his first airplay circa 2003-2004 with “Rhyme of the Century,” thanks to the help of a local radio DJ who believed in his potential. This landed him in the Unsigned Hype column in Source magazine the following year.

In 2006, Wale signed with the local start-up imprint Studio 43 and enjoyed a string of hits in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area that year. Many of those records sampled from ’80s go-go — a more raw, percussion-driven offshoot of disco originating in D.C. — like the popular “Dig Dug,” a tribute to Ronald “Dig Dug” Dixon of go-go band the Northeast Groovers. Smart use of the Internet and MySpace was also a big factor in his success, as it helped über-producer and DJ Mark Ronson (known for his work with Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera, and Rhymefest) to catch wind of the go-go MC in 2007. Wale struck a production deal with Ronson’s own imprint, Allido, and released the 100 Miles and Running mixtape that summer. Despite not being signed to a major label, he was met with positive press from a number of sources, ranging from XXL magazine to The New York Times.

After a bidding war that included offers from Epic, Atlantic, and Def Jam, Interscope finally grabbed Wale for its roster in early 2008. Among the rapper’s first major-label singles the following year were the boisterous “Chillin,” featuring a hook from Lady Gaga, and the go-go-inflected “Pretty Girls,” assisted by Gucci Mane. Those hits preceded and appeared on the full-length Attention Deficit, which arrived in November 2009 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 21. Momentum was sustained with a featured spot on Waka Flocka Flame’s multi-platinum “No Hands.” More significantly, the first fruit of a new deal with Rick Ross’ Warner-supported Maybach Music Group was the compilation Self Made, Vol. 1, in which Wale was prominent. The album’s “That Way” became the rapper’s first gold-certified single as a lead artist.

The rapper’s second full-length and first proper release for MMG, Ambition, landed in November 2011 and hit number two on the Billboard 200. Its success was driven by the mellow slow jam “Lotus Flower Bomb.” One of the year’s biggest radio hits, the Miguel collaboration topped Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart, cracked the Top 40 of the Hot 100, and was later nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rap Song. Between albums, Wale played a major role in Self Made, Vol. 2, highlighted by “Bag of Money,” and supporting roles on tracks from within and outside the Maybach family, such as Ross’ “Diced Pineapples” and Cash Out’s “Hold Up.” In June 2013, the Wale album-release gap was closed by The Gifted, a number one Billboard 200 hit due in part to the multi-platinum ballad “Bad” — the one with the squeaking bed springs — featuring Tiara Thomas (or Rihanna on the remix). MMG’s third Self Made volume, with Wale understandably less involved, was out within only a few months.

Wale’s commercial presence remained at a high level during the latter half of the 2010s. He received a boost as one of the several artists on “Ride Out,” recorded for the Furious 7 soundtrack. Influenced by the TV sitcom Seinfeld but hardly lightweight in much of its subject matter, The Album About Nothing landed in March 2015 and became Wale’s second number one album. Usher, Jeremih, and J. Cole were among the guests, while Jerry Seinfeld himself acted as narrator. A series of singles that began near the end of 2016 — including “My PYT,” Wale’s seventh Top 20 R&B/hip-hop single — led to Shine, issued in May 2017. After parting ways with Atlantic, Wale signed with Warner and returned in 2018 with a trio of EPs: It’s Complicated, Self Promotion, and Free Lunch. The next year, he scored a number 22 pop hit with the Jeremih collaboration “On Chill,” and followed it that October with Wow…That’s Crazy, an album that entered the Billboard 200 at number seven. Along with collaborations like “Won Le Ba” with Davido and Shizzi, 2020 brought a new Wale EP called The Imperfect Storm.

Rich Brian

Pi’erre Bourne

Pi’erre Bourne emerged as one of the pre-eminent rap producers of the late 2010s, scoring major hits with Playboi Carti and 6ix9ine, in addition to working with Kanye West, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and others. Also active as a rapper, he has recorded several solo mixtapes (The Life of Pi’erre series) and singles, showcasing his atmospheric beats and Auto-Tuned crooning. He first gained widespread attention when he produced Carti’s 2017 breakout hit “Magnolia.” He later received acclaim for Sli’merre, his 2019 mixtape with frequent collaborator Young Nudy.

Born Jordan Timothy Jenks in Fort Riley, Kansas, Bourne spent his summers with his grandmother in Queens, New York, where he became interested in East Coast rap. Inspired by his uncle, who was a rapper and graphic designer, he began making beats while in elementary school, and later moved to Atlanta to study sound engineering and pursue a career in music. He began releasing music in 2014, and worked at Epic Records as a sound engineer beginning in 2015, leaving a year later to focus on his career. He released three volumes of his solo mixtape series, The Life of Pi’erre, in 2016, and produced tracks for Young Nudy and Trippie Redd the same year. After meeting Playboi Carti, Bourne produced several tracks on the rapper’s self-titled debut, including “wokeuplikethis*” (with Lil Uzi Vert) and “Magnolia.” The latter was a breakthrough for both the rapper and the producer, with Bourne’s producer tag (“Yo Pierre, you wanna come out here?,” sampled from The Jamie Foxx Show) spinning off into an Internet meme in its own right. Bourne and Carti also recorded a song called “Yo Pi’erre!,” which was announced as being the first single from The Life of Pi’erre 4.

From there, Bourne became one of rap’s most in-demand producers. By the end of 2017, he had produced songs for Lil Yachty, XXXTentacion, 21 Savage, 6ix9ine (“Gummo”), Big Sean, and many others. Bourne produced the majority of Carti’s acclaimed 2018 full-length Die Lit, in addition to producing Travis Scott’s “Watch” and co-producing Kanye West’s “Yikes.” In 2019, Bourne and Young Nudy released their first full-length collaboration, Sli’merre, to critical acclaim. That summer, he issued his official full-length debut, The Life of Pi’erre 4. The hazy, Auto-Tuned set featured the track “Poof” and landed just outside the Top 100 on the Billboard 200.

Skyzoo

Growing up just a block away from The Notorious B.I.G., watching him go from local corner boy to rap superstar, Skyzoo couldn’t help but dream big. The Brooklyn, NY native saw life in all of its “heaven and hell” juxtaposition, being from the infamous home of both Jay-Z and “Do The Right Thing”. He started rapping at age nine, writing about what he witnessed on his daily routines as a child. Those years of observation have turned into first person narratives that have labeled Skyzoo as a “new legend” and have led to his albums being critically acclaimed by fans and critics alike. His storytelling has been commended by all walks of literary life, from hip hop royalty to university professors and everyone in between.

An artist in his own right as well as a songwriter for others, he’s collaborated with a plethora of artists and producers, including the likes of Jill Scott, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, Tyrese, Wale, Jadakiss, Black Thought, Illmind, John Legend, Raheem Devaughn, Talib Kweli, and Spike Lee, just to name a few. His most recent album, “Retropolitan”, a full length collaborative album with legendary producer Pete Rock, has been garnering praise and attention since word of its inception leaked. What stands out most in regards to all of Skyzoo’s accomplishments is how they’ve all come to fruition on account of his own work and will. As his slogan states: Lyrics Will Never Be The Same.

Westside Boogie

A Compton rapper signed to Shady Records who released his debut album Everything’s For Sale in early 2019. Boogie is most notably known for his nasally voice and bitter delivery which sets him apart from the pack. Collaborators include Eminem, Royce Da 5’9, J.I.D, 6lack, Wale, YG, Ab-Soul, Reason, etc.
Spotify Link, Apple Music Link

IDK

The Maryland rapper has been dropping mixtapes every year since 2014 until finally dropping his debut album Is He Real? in 2019. His style is always changing and evolving, going from ignorant trap raps to introspective storytelling. Collaborators include DMX, Pusha T, J.I.D, Swizz Beatz, Chief Keef, Tyler, The Creator, Burna Boy, Saba, Rico Nasty, Denzel Curry, and many more.

Team DHH

JID

Cordae

Wale

Rich Brian

Pi’erre Bourne

Skyzoo

Westside Boogie

IDK

Guapdad 4000

Your Old Droog

Deante’ Hitchcock

MAVI

Jay Versace

Quadeca

Nasaan

Chris Patrick

Redveil

Blaccmass

Armani White

J-S.A.N.D.

Zateb

Deltah Beats

Animist

Brique

Gukie

S.P.I.K.E.

Sevan Mattar

Soundmind

Julian

Sand

Pres

Clyde Cyrus

Geniio

Nick Enaigba

sequel.

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