RetCon #1

DraQuan - DraDay3

I decided to give local artists a series called RetCon because they are all looking to rewrite history for a better story. In the case of DraQuan I’m blessed enough to have a place in this story. I remember going on the broke ass podcast where he was a guest along with myself and we started kicking it afterwards. He gave me a choice between like three different names and asked what I thought his tape should be named. I told him “DraDay3, that shit will give you a trilogy and not many people can say they have one.”

Dra is one of those dudes that whenever that opportunity to get in that “million dollar studio” he’s gonna tear some shit up. I watched him work on three tapes at the same time while working a 9-5. His passion for music knows no limitation and I’m super blessed to say Induberantly Media is the home to DraDay3. This album is only 8 songs, 28 minutes but it’s a lot of depth to it and it flows so smoothly.

The moment I knew DraDay3 was gonna be something crazy was when we were headed to the studio and we stopped at a Burger King, Bro was like “you got an aux I can hook up to, I wanna play you something.” He hooked his phone up and some flutes come in. Bo-Bangz come on and starts the hook, then I hear Dra finish it off. ‘Paint’ was the moment I realized Bo-Bangz was not for play play in this game. “All I ever wanted, all I ever need, money got you conceited...” was all I needed to hear for me to know I needed to go check out his Eddie Kane album. Then Dra had an out of body experience on this record, my guy freaked like three different flows on us. Whenever I hear the song I think about the Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul collaborations. Dra played me that record one time in the car and I had to wait like a month and a half to hear it again, fiening for it.

My absolute favorite song on the album is ‘Holding On’ and it comes on directly after ‘Paint’ which makes an extremely powerful one-two punch. I’ve had the song on my phone since the beginning of January and it’s one that I was listening to damn near every day since getting it. I’m so impressed by the beat that I’ve been looking for the man, the myth Mr. AGoodman ever since I heard it to thank you for creating that. I wanna know what he was gonna through when he was putting it together because I get the feeling that this beat was made moreso for him than for someone to rap on and whenever I’m feeling like giving up or I’m not feeling my mental situation I throw that song on repeat. It’s a beat that only few people could do justice and Dra got up there and made a feature film.

‘3:45 a.m.’ talk about an outro to an album. One of the things I appreciate about Dra is that he shows the most respect to the beats. That sample is telling it’s own story as well and it’s beautiful. Another thing I respect about Dra is he legit lives his songs out, I remember we were working on 4th & Goal and at some point we started having a conversation where he had asked us “would you rather have money or the things it could buy?” And here it is again on DraDay3. Now that I think about it I’ve heard and seen DraDay3 long before the finished product was released.

I didn’t wanna give too much away and spoil the peeling of the onion for y’all, as far as lyrics go. But I can promise y’all my brother is talking some shit that’ll make y’all rewind the footages (I hope y’all get the joke). I’ve never seen such dedication to the arts in person. We would literally get out of session around 10 o’clock and then we up till 4 a.m planning out our future moves and it took me a while to get used to that grind but I appreciate that level of work, and after meeting Bro’s mom I see where that work ethic comes from. DraDay3 is a culmination of Dra’s hardwork, love and commitment to growth and music. One thing he‘s been telling me since I met him is “there’s always a little more.” I live by that now and I’m always chasing that more.