Who Is OG Dre?

OG Dre is a rap and hip-hop artist currently based out of the small town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. Having always had music as a big part of his life, he grew up with a love for the art form. From having music in church to his grandparents playing music during his childhood, it has always been something that he has loved, and it was this passion that first led him to begin practicing and creating his own work with the instinctual knowledge that all of the hard spent time and effort would pay off. He has been influenced heavily by his family and also artists such as Boosie; people who have shown him that despite any circumstance, with hard work and perseverance, you can become anything you want to be and do anything that you want to do, and for OG Dre, that means a dedication to his music.

Beginning his career, his first EP was a project entitled One, which included collaborations with the artists Yung Bleu, a track entitled “My Side,” and Boosie which is titled “Be Without You,” and which was met with a great organic response from listeners. Along with this EP he released several accompanying videos that were met with an equally strong response without any promotion. This proved to OG Dre that he has what it takes to make it within this industry; he was already being met with success despite his small town roots. His personal success has become his biggest achievement, and he is now able to look back at the past several years and compare his growth as a musician and performer to where he was upon starting out with a clear understanding that everything is currently coming together.

With very few musicians coming out of Mississippi, it is not lost on him how much of an influence his work could have, and he hopes to promote messages of positivity rather than struggle and to bring something new along with his music. He hopes to bring enjoyment with his work rather than more stories of struggle which have become pervasive within his genre. He hopes to use his voice to inspire rising generations to be themselves and to be comfortable with whom they become, and for him, his work is a great outlet with which to do this. Above all, he is having fun with his work and knows that the joy of it is what it is all truly about, even with rising success.

Currently working on a new EP, with the title yet to be determined. This coming music will showcase whom OG Dre is. Despite connotations of the term “O.G.” standing for ‘Original Gangster,” OG Dre is embracing it and giving it a new meaning—one that truly reflects his work: Original Genius. To follow along with his journey and all of his upcoming releases, you can follow OG Dre across social media, including Instagram, twitter and facebook at the handle @oneogdre and his work can also be found on most major streaming platforms.

The Hype Magazine got OG Dre to weigh in on a few things:

So the first question is, as you see yourself, who is OG Dre. Tell me a little bit about yourself as much as possible.

OG Dre: I came from a small town, Clarksdale, Mississippi. That’s it. I just represent the struggle and trying to bring the music to make people have fun, to show people there’s more to just talking about the hood, talking about struggling. It’s people who want to hear more sh*t than just struggling and sh*t like that. It plays a big part in hip-hop, but they also want to hear people have fun and sh*t like that. People don’t always want to be down.

What brought you into the music industry, what made you learn the music?

OG Dre: Just me coming up as a kid, being around music, musically influenced. Even when it comes to being in church when it comes to me being with my old grandparents and they played all the music. I just always loved music since I was a kid, since I was a baby, since I was young, that always moved me. So it turned into a hobby. If anything I just started practicing, when I was little and I started getting the love for it and I felt like it was going to pay off. I feel like it will pay off.

With that being said, who do you feel like influenced you the most? It could be family or another artist.

OG Dre: For sure my family, but definitely Boosie is one of the people that’s influenced me most, because he showed me that everything is real, he showed me that you can really come from nothing. It’s right on my face… He’s a living testimony to that he really came from nothing and it’s possible. And a lot of people look at other role models or figures that are already on and that’s already up, and feet like they can’t do it. And he’s the type of man to tell you that, “Oh, this is possible.”

Yep, definitely. So what’s happening to your career right now that makes you feel like the industry is for you?

OG Dre: I just know I can maintain because I’m not too old like you said, I’m not too young, and I know I understand music. And it’s all about just grabbing everybody. I know what I like to hear so I think I know what everybody else wants to hear. I listen to music just like other people listen to music. I’m no hater. I listen to every artist who’s dropping right now, that’s coming up. I like it, I like the new generation, I like the old generation. I know I said old generation, but I like hip-hop in general.

What do you want the fans, the people to really get from your music?

OG Dre: There ain’t really too much of a message, it’s just I want people to feel my music if anything…I want to be able to tell people my music is the same thing that Boo did, everywhere. I want people to feel that especially in Mississippi when they see that not too many artists come from Mississippi that’s big, so when they see me or I can be an influencer to them that’s good.

What do you feel like is your greatest achievement thus far?

OG Dre: I’d say about two or three years ago I wouldn’t ever even able to reach a million views and sh*t like that, be able to get on WorldStar. So all of this is an achievement to me, it’s all about making the next step, I get better every year. And it always it shows, the number show, my music shows, all that sh*t. It’s just all coming together, so I say all that, that’s the achievement to me.

So what’s going on with your current project?

OG Dre: I’m about to drop an EP, I don’t have a name for. I got like three, four names in my head that I want to use, but it’s all going to pertain to my name, OG, which really stands for original genius. Just to throw that to everybody out there, okay, didn’t mean original gangster. But it can go both ways, it’s just me at the end of the day.

Right, and what about the project before this project?

OG Dre: My first project was called One, my first project I dropped. It was an EP, so I don’t have any projects really after that.

How did “One” do, like what videos did you drop?

OG Dre: I have probably dropped like two or three videos, but it went whammy right now. So it did what it was supposed to do. It got a couple hundred thousand views, but there wasn’t a full promotion, full marketing push behind me. It was just something I put out and people listened to.

So up until now, what’s your biggest record?

OG Dre: I have to look, I have to really look and to really look at the views and the stuff. But like the two records that everybody like is a record with me and Yung Bleu, My Side. And a record with me and Boosie called Be Without You. And I got two videos for that right now.

Okay, cool. And what’s your social media, what’s your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook?

OG Dre: It’s oneogdre. ONEOGDRE.

Okay, anything else that you think that we should know?

OG Dre: I’m just really just having fun with it, you know? Just having fun with music and making it as much fun, because all this that can make you stressed out, they make you tired, it’s a lot of stuff that comes with it, that comes behind the music. So I’m just really just trying to have much fun. Because when I have fun that’s when good records come out when I have good and positive energy, positive people around me, good music comes out, good vibes come out. That’s how a hit ends up being made.

That’s right.

OG Dre: So that’s how I’m trying to stay around, that’s how I’m trying to do. Stay focused. I’m hungry, I’m humble, that’s really really it.

Interviewed By: Jameelah ‘Just Jay’ Wilkerson

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Tags: entertainment, OG Dre