Danyel Robinson (born September 14, 1971), better known by his stage name Dru Down, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and actor from

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

allmusic - Dru Down biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

/ref> He is currently a member of

The Regime ''The Regime: Evil Advances/Before They Were Left Behind'' is the second prequel novel in the ''Left Behind'' series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It was released on Tuesday, November 15, 2005. This book covers more events lea ...

, a collective of rappers that includes

Yukmouth Jerold Dwight Ellis III (born October 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Yukmouth, is an American rapper from East Oakland, Oakland, California. He is the founder of The Regime, Smoke-A-Lot Records and Godzilla Entertainment. He is a mem ...

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two m ...

Messy Marv Marvin Watson Jr. (born March 19, 1976), better known by his stage name Messy Marv, is an American rapper who began his career in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, California. Messy was also known as a collaborator in the rap group Kaalman ...

, BG Bulletwound, Dorasel, Grant Rice, and

Tha Realest Jevon Jones (born October 11, 1973) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, '' Witness Tha Realest'', was released on July 14, 2009, followi ...

Early life

Danyel Robinson grew up in

East Oakland, California East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest portio ...

, raised by his grandmother and step-father after having lost his mother at the age of three. In his early teens, Robinson discovered from his grandmother that his biological father was bassist and singer

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

, Collins having met his mother at a show.

Music career

Early career, ''Fools from the Streets'', ''Explicit Game'' and "Pimp of the Year"

Robinson began developing an interest in

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

in the late 1980s, and eventually began recording his own songs as Dru Down, releasing his debut album ''Fools from the Streets'' in 1993 to moderate success in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. The local success of his album led to him being signed to

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

, a

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

imprint to release his second album '' Explicit Game'' in 1994. The album spawned Dru Down's most successful single to date, "Pimp of the Year", which peaked at number 65 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. The single stayed on Billboard for 24 weeks.

1996–2001: ''Can You Feel Me'', acting and ''Pimpin' Phernelia''

Dru Down's third album, '' Can You Feel Me'', was released in 1996, and spawned a single of the same name that was a minor but commercial hit. It also featured Dru Down's first collaboration with his father,

, which was followed by a guest appearance on Collins' album

Fresh Outta 'P' University ''Fresh Outta 'P' University'' is a 1997 studio album by former P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins. The album was originally released by the Warner Music Group, WEA/Black Culture label in Europe and Japan and then by Private I records (distributed by ...

. One of the album's songs, ''Mista Busta'' addresses Dru Down's then-ongoing feud with fellow Bay Area rapper

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on ...

, and serves as a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

towards Too Short. The album peaked at #54 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

, and was critically praised, receiving a 4/5 star rating from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. That same year, Dru Down began his acting career, appearing in the movie ''

Original Gangstas ''Original Gangstas'' is a 1996 action-gangster film filmed and set in urban Gary, Indiana starring Blaxploitation film stars such as Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, and Richard Roundtree. It is the final film directed by Larry Cohen ...

'' as Kayo. He also appeared on the

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

song ''"All About You"'' from 2Pac's fourth studio album

All Eyez on Me ''All Eyez on Me'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac and the last to be released during his lifetime. Released on February 13, 1996, by Death Row and Interscope Records, the album features guest appearances from Dr. Dre, Snoo ...

, where he performs the intro. In 2001, he signed with

Ruthless Records Ruthless Records was an American record label founded by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Jerry Heller in Compton, California in 1986, where all of the Ruthless trademarks have been owned by Comptown Records, Inc. since 1997. Several artists on the la ...

, but did not release any albums, instead releasing his fourth and fifth studio albums through American Recordings and C-Note Records, respectively.

2001–present: ''Chronicles of a Pimp'' and The Regime

Currently, Dru Down is signed to rapper

Smoke-A-Lot Records Smoke-a-Lot Records, distributed by Rap-a-Lot Records, is a record label founded and owned by rapper Yukmouth and manager Kat Gaynor. The name comes from Yukmouth's Luniz nickname, "Smoke-a-Lot". The label itself is home to artists including Luni ...

and owns his own record label, Pimp On Records, where he released his 2010 album ''Chronicles of a Pimp''. He also serves as a member of the hip-hop collective

, a group led by

. The group released their debut album, ''

Dragon Gang The Regime (stylized as The ReGime) is an American hip hop collective created by Yukmouth in 1997, and originally included fellow rappers Tech N9ne, Phats Bossi, Madmax, Poppa LQ, Dizzle Don and Govnormatic. Not long after the original forma ...

'' in 2013.

Legal issues

In 2013, Dru Down was sentenced to three years in the Santa Rita jail for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

and evading police, a violation of his probation for a prior driving offence. He was featured on an episode of '' Lockup'' on MSNBC.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Fools From the Streets'' (1993) * '' Explicit Game'' (1994) * '' Can You Feel Me'' (1996) * ''

Pimpin' Phernelia ''Pimpin' Phernalia'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper Dru Down. It was released on August 28, 2001 via AMC American Music/Loon E Bin Productions/Pimp On Records. ''Pimpin' Phernelia'' charted significantly on two different Billboard c ...

'' (2001) * ''Gangsta Pimpin (2002) * ''Chronicles of a Pimp'' (2010) * ''GP No PC Lock Up'' (2018) * ''Welcome 2 Dru’s World'' (2019)

Collaboration albums

* ''Cash Me Out'' with Lee Majors (2006) * ''

'' with The Regime (2013)

Compilation albums

* ''Dru Down's Greatest Hits'' (2006) * ''Lost Tapes I'' (2008) * ''Lost Tapes II'' (2008) * ''Lost Tapes III'' (2008) * ''Lost Tapes IV'' (2008)

Mixtapes

* ''Crack Muzic Vol. 1'' with Rahmean & Lee Majors (2007) * ''Crack Muzic Vol. 2'' with Rahmean & Lee Majors (2007) * ''New Crack City'' with Rahmean & Lee Majors (2009)

Singles

*"Pimp of the Year" (1994) * "Ice Cream Man" (featuring Luniz) (1994) * "No One Loves You" (1995) * "Can You Feel Me" (1996) * "Baby Bubba" (featuring Bootsy Collins) (1997) * "Hello" (featuring The Jacka) (2010)

Guest appearances

Filmography

* 1996 ''

'' as 'Kayo'

References

External links

Archive Official website
fro
the original
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dru Down African-American male rappers Rappers from Oakland, California Living people 1973 births Gangsta rappers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people