Drumma Boy says Memphis was hip-hop's mecca before Atlanta

Atlanta can’t seem to catch a break as more artists declare the city has lost its grip on hip-hop. 

“We been the hip-hop mecca. The only difference is we don’t have unification,” Drumma Boy told TMZ of his hometown of Memphis in an interview on Sunday (Oct. 23). The hit-making producer is promoting his latest mixtape, Welcome to My City Vol. 4, which features artists like GloRilla, Project Pat, and Jay-Z, among others. The project is due out Friday (Oct. 28), the same day Drake and 21 Savage are set to release their joint album Her Loss.  

There is no denying Memphis’ musical influence on hip-hop. Popular emcees such as Young Dolph, Yo Gotti, Juicy J, Moneybagg Yo, and NLE Choppa all hail from the city and have experienced widespread notoriety.  

In fact, the “Rich Slave” producer believes the airwaves are dominated by Bluff City’s swag and chart-topping artists. “Now all you hear is ‘Memphis on fire,’” Drumma said. “Man, the whole culture, everybody sampling Memphis. … Since the beginning, people been pulling from Memphis culture.”

The Grammy-winning producer doubled down on his stance when he stated that Atlanta caught its decadeslong wave of dominating hip-hop after the city he proudly reps became riddled with turf wars. “Memphis was what Atlanta was on a music level,” he said. “You know what I’m saying? And then when it got into the hip-hop, it was just too much hate amongst different sides of the city.”

Earlier this month, Akon shared his take on Atlanta being dethroned as the city in charge of hip-hop. “Atlanta’s been a driving force to hip-hop for sure, but the dominators in hip-hop is Canada. They dominating the music business,” he said during an Oct. 6 appearance on the “Big Homies Podcast.” Elsewhere in the interview, he clarified that Atlanta still dominates the industry in terms of cultural influence. However, Drumma would likely say his hometown is currently at the helm.

Watch Drumma Boy’s full interview below.