Staying submerged within a group is sure to leave a person to pick up particular things as it relates to his/her own solo business.
For rapper Drag-On, his years of working alongside Swizz Beatz, DMX and the Ruff Ryders has paid off as he has branched out to deliver his own slew of artists and launch his own record label.
Aptly titled Hood Environment, as Drag continues to push his own solo project My Life, My Legacy, My Melody, due out around April, the rapper is trying to clear a lane for new artists to have a platform to showcase their talents as he was provided an outlet when he was first coming up.
As the Ruff Ryders slowly pick up the pieces, Drag only looks forward with his own career.
During an interview with HipHopWired, Drag spoke on the background behind his label and how he has been grinding to push the name out into the open.
“It actually started like three years ago. I went and found two artists and we just been up in the studio just grinding. I started the Hood Environment, we started dropping mixtapes on the streets and the streets kept grasping to it and we just kept going from there.”
So far, the roster of artists is Terror the Dude and Oz D, both hailing from New York.
“I had actually met up with them through my old accountant that I used to deal with. A couple cats that understood my movement, they just linked us up.”
As the year closes, the rapper is far from taking a break as he looks at January 1 as the point where things must pick up with introducing the music world to Hood Environment and its artists, along with the Ruff Ryders movement.
“In 2010, I’m just trying to launch my record label and get it off the ground and at the same time, I’m trying to get the Ruff Ryders back to where they need to be all in the same process while I’m doing that. I’m definitely trying to break my artists, hoping to drop a Hood Environment Compilation.”
With so many questions and even more yellow tape surrounding the future of the rumored Ruff Ryders compilation, the rapper is clearly not keeping his eggs in one basket. The love for the movement will never leave Drag, but for now, he has tunnel vision with the finish line being the success of Hood Environment.
