Instagram/Twitter: @drewdrucker
Drew Drucker is one of today’s hottest hip hop audio engineers. He’s worked with the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, B-Real (Cypress Hill), Juicy J, Curren$y, Young Dolph, Future, and Migos to name a few.
Drew started out following what he loved most, music. In high school, he started behind the scenes with technology. He was an audio engineer, mixer, and recording artist. From there he went on to college at Los Angeles Recording School. After graduating in 2005 he realized something monumental that some never figure out, NOT ALL OPPORTUNITIES COME WITH A PAYCHECK. He started at the very bottom of the industry, an unpaid intern. This was his foot in the door at two different recording studios, Nightbird Studios off the Sunset Strip (formerly The Studio at The Sunset Marquis) & 4th Street Recording in Santa Monica near the Promenade. Internships, even unpaid can be competitive to get. He attributes his opportunity to intern to LARS. Just saying he graduated from their program helped him score his first internship. After growing weary of working for free, he moved up the ranks by becoming a runner for Paramount. Being a runner isn’t a glam job. Usually, you’re stocking the studios or grabbing lunch for people, primarily assisting. However, it does give one more access to the studio, and it was on one of those days Drew got his big break. His experience as an intern and runner taught him how to “be” in the studio, not being distracting or getting in the way of the task at hand. Scott Storch was in a session when one one of the senior engineers had a medical emergency and Drew had to step up to the plate. Scott liked what he was doing and asked him to mix a song. A week later the label called and asked him to do a mixed tape.
The hip hop community and cannabis go hand and hand, and Drews studio sessions are no different. Drew embraces the cannabis culture and has become a cannabis connoisseur himself. There are so many different strains out now, and each recording artist has their favorite. Smoking with the artist and teammates is just part of the creative process. It seems Drew has a slew of stories about artists and their cannabis of choice. From Wiz Khalifa and his personal strain Khalifa Kush to Young Dolph naming a project after the Gelato strain, to Juicy J only smoking Blue Dream joints. Drew, being the professional he is, says cannabis is the only substance he uses while working.
