D'Juan Hart was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980.  Rap was and is part of the youth culture in Atlanta, and Hart started at a young age.  One of his closest friends at that time was Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith of the duo, Kriss Kross.  Smith was instrumental in encouraging Hart to pursue a career in rap and hip hop music.

Dr. Dro

t was hard getting back to just sitting in the studio with your phone blowing up and you got 10 dimes on your phone and you still walking around with $20k in your pocket, you still riding fly cars, rocking fly clothes, jeweled up, you want to go. The streets drag you out there, you done shined all day, the night come and the whole day just gone. Whatever little bit you managed to record, that’s all you got.

The Beginning

D'Juan Hart was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980.  Rap was and is part of the youth culture in Atlanta, and Hart started at a young age.  One of his closest friends at that time was Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith of the duo, Kriss Kross.  Smith was instrumental in encouraging Hart to pursue a career in rap and hip hop music. In 2000, he signed a recording contract with Tight IV Life Records, and took on the stage name, Dro.

In 2001, he released his first album, I Got That Dro.  The album was released in a limited distribution, and it is extremely rare to find a physical copy currently.  However, he has re-released some of the singles in the form of mixtapes over the years.

Building a Niche

His album and his single, Yes Sir, were enjoying heavy regional airplay, and he was rapping and collaborating with area rappers on mixtapes and singles.  The label he was under belonged to Raheem the Dream, and Dro was working with him.  In 2003, Dro became reacquainted with his old friend, Clifford Harris, Jr., who was now rapping under the stage name, T.I.  They performed together for a while, and Dro became his protege, of sorts.

In 2006, he changed his stage name to Young Dro, signed with Grand Hustle Records, T.I.'s recording company, and released his second album, Best Thang Smokin'.  The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/hip hop Albums chart and the Top Rap chart, and at #3 on the Billboard Top 200.  It sold 121,000 units in its first week of release. The single, Shoulder Lean, peaked at #10 on the Billboard Top 100, and has sold over 500,000 ringtone downloads to date.  

Here and Now

Young Dro has gone from regional Atlanta favorite to a national rap star.  In 2006, he was nominated for three BET Awards, and won the BET Mobile Hot Ring Award.  He also won the Ozone Award for Best Rapper, and was nominated for Best New Dirty from the New Dirty Awards.  He has several concert dates scheduled for the spring and summer of 2010, and his newest album, P.O.L.O. (Players Only Live Once) is due to be released later in 2010.

Did you know . . .

1. Young Dro is currently dating hip hop artist, Fantasia Barrino.

2. As a young boy, Young Dro lived in a number of different housing projects.  He reports that his mother was constantly being evicted and they would have to move repeatedly.

3. He has appeared on two different episodes of the television series, Access Granted.

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