Since he was a youngster, Grammy Award-nominated producer and Memphis native Drumma Boy has possessed a keen sense for fashion. And with the launch of his new clothing line, Fresh Phamily, he’s using his unique taste in apparel to help upgrade the closets of his fans across the globe.
Fresh Phamily was launched this past Labor Day weekend and is already being sported by numerous individuals throughout the states. Advertised as “affordable, trendy and fashionable,” the clothing line provides consumers with a variety of t-shirts, tank tops, and sweatshirts to choose from. And there’s more on the way.
Also known by his alias D-Boy Fresh, it appears that fresh threads and fly kicks may potentially be Drumma Boy’s biggest love aside from music. One peek at his Instagram, website, or a Google search of his name supports the aforementioned claim.
Drumma Boy, who recently made placements on Lil’ Wayne’s Dedication 5 mixtape and 2 Chainz’s B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time album, talked about his love for fashion, what inspired him to create a clothing line, the meaning behind Fresh Phamily, and what artists he’s currently providing dope beats to.
Follow Drumma Boy on Twitter: @DrummaBoyFRESH
Follow Fresh Phamily on Twitter: @FreshPhamily
Visit the Fresh Phamily website: freshphamily.com
How did you develop an interest in fashion?
Growing up watching “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” I just related to that lifestyle. I related to that story a lot, because I was getting in trouble in the ‘hood. Born in South Memphis, came up in Whitehaven, and just started getting in a lot of trouble in my neighborhood. I moved from South Memphis to Cordova. I moved to the suburbs where it’s predominantly white, and everybody was just so in-tune with my fashion. If I wore Jordans, I had Jordan socks, Jordan wristbands. I had a Jordan hat. I’d just be Jordan’d out. If I wore Nike, I’d be Nike’d up. If I wore Adidas, I’d be Adidas’d up. Converse, the same, so on and so forth. People started calling me best dressed and this and that.
I began doing a lot of repping for different clothing lines. Some of the first clothing lines I repped for was Enyce [and] Fubu. I did rep for Parish, when that came out and was hot for a minute. After those lines, I started doing rep for LRG. I started doing clothing rep for Diamond Company, which is another one of my favorites. Crooks-n-Castle. DGK.
So what made you decide to transition from being a clothing rep for other lines to creating your own brand?
I was just helping so many other lines for the past 10 years as far as street presence and urban presence. I said, ‘man, I need to start printing my own shirts.’ And I’ve been printing shirts now for like 10 years. My first shirts were “Got Beats?” When the “Got Milk?” campaign was going strong, I had a shirt that said, “Got Beats?” And one of the first fliers I printed, I had those shirts on. Then I printed shirts of my squad, Drum Squad. So I’ve always been into printing our own gear and making our own gear. I was like, ‘man, I’ma start doing stuff for just Drum Squad gear.’ I just elevated into my fresh side.
Seeing the success of Russell [Simmons], [him] starting with the music and dabbing into the clothing line and then dabbing into other ventures. Seeing Puffy doing the music and then dabbing into clothing and other ventures. Seeing Jay-Z do the same thing. It’s like, you have to follow the greatest, but in a different form and fashion that’s applicable to [you].
What made you name the clothing line Fresh Phamily?
I was like ‘man, Drumma Boy Fresh,’ I gotta make clothes for my fresh family—anybody who considers themselves fresh, lively and positive and always having fun, accomplishing missions, and getting the job done. The line is for people who live that lifestyle and can relate. It’s been extremely contagious and has been spreading like wildfire throughout the states.
You had a launch party for the clothing line at Drai’s in Hollywood, California. A lot of celebrities came through to show support, such as Cee Lo Green, VH1’s Basketball Wives L.A. star Brooke Bailey, and others. How was that experience?
It was a blessing, bro. I’m one of the first black clothing owners to even get approved to do a pool party there, and by us having the biggest pool party of the summer, it caught a lot of people’s attention. We had capacity at 4:30 p.m. and the pool doesn’t close to 6:30 p.m. It was an extremely positive event.
Do you aspire for your clothing line to reach the plateau of brands like Louis Vuitton or Polo?
Absolutely. I’m starting off as a t-shirt line, but a lot of things are escalating from this. We’re getting into signature women’s fashion and probably will be in a boutique by summer 2014. Definitely stay tuned on the growth of Fresh Phamily.
You’ve been a clothing rep for a lot of different brands and you have your own clothing line, but what are some of your favorite brands to rock?
I’ve always been a huge Polo fan. Polo has been the traditional go-to for just everyday wear for me. I’m a huge Levi fan, just as far as my jeans. Outside of that, it’s a few designer [brands] like Louis [Vuitton], Fendi; those are two of my favorites just because of their browns. I’m a huge earth tone fan. I love different [shades] of browns and oranges and beiges and whatnot. And when I’m dressing up, I like Sean John suits. I also am a big fan of Brooks Brothers.
I’m real simple with my fashion. I tend to pick up pieces that are fly to me regardless of the brand, so you might see me with this mixed with that mixed with this, especially during the colder seasons. I’m more layered up: maybe an undershirt by this designer, jacket by this designer mixed with a scarf by this designer, belt by this designer. It’s more of a collage of different brands.
What about shoes?
I’m a huge fan of Jordans. Jordan is probably the shoe that I have the most of. And followed by Jordan would be Nike. I’m a big fan of the Air Maxes. I’m a sneaker fanatic. I finally got my first pair of Michael Jordans autographed. I’ve got me an autographed pair of Penny Hardaways. Those are two of my favorite ballplayers. And I’m a fan of Puma. I’m a fan of Supra. A lot of times in the winter, I’m Polo. I’m Polo’d down. I got on my Polo boots or my Timberland boots. And then most recently, I’ve been rocking Gourmets.
On the website, it states that there’s a line catering to boys and girls coming soon.
Yeah, we have the boys and girls tees coming soon. I think that’s most important. Kids don’t really have any options for t-shirts, and I really want to step the game up for the fashion world for kid tees or whatnot. We have a couple characters that we’re introducing through the Fresh Phamily line. The lil’ boy blowing a bubble is our main character, but we have a lil’ girl. We have a lil’ bulldog coming, so it’s almost gonna be like a cartoon series but through shirts. It’s just something different that we’re doing it. It’s cool, creative and we’re being real artsy.
Are you personally helping design the items for the clothing line? Or are you providing input and things of that nature?
I’m doing a lot of input and I’m coming up with all of the ideas and concepts of the drawings, and then they just make it happen. And then I approve it. If it doesn’t look a certain way or give me a certain feel, I just keep editing it or changing it. I definitely choose all of the colors or whatnot. And I’m just keeping it real simple right now. It’s only so much I can do at a certain level, and we’re just growing and taking that escalation day by day.
Will Fresh Phamily be available in any Memphis stores?
We’re talking back and forth with City Gear now. We’re trying to get it in all of the City Gears in Memphis. We’ll do a launch. I think we have a launch coming to Memphis some time in December.
Outside of fashion, what do you have going on music wise right now?
We just did a track on 2 Chainz’s new album. Go and cop that. I produced a record called “U Da Realist” on there. We’re working on Chris Brown’s [new album]. I think he’s dropping in November. We’ve got R. Kelly dropping in November, so we’re just working.
Are you still planning to drop the Clash of Da Titans mixtape with DJ Paul?
Yeah, me and DJ Paul, we’ve got Clash of Da Titans coming on the 15th of this month.
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