The Dru B Shinin' Band

Irv Jones doesn’t stop to rest for any day of the year. On Thanksgiving, the producer, drummer, singer, and artist developer was recording at his home studio and plotting the next move for his label, Sphere Music Group. Jones, who also goes by the name EyeJay, moved to Fort Worth from Topeka, Kan., in September 2009. He and co-conspirator Dru B Shinin’ (for whom Jones also plays drums) released Dru’s Dirty Money Painting last week, but the record is just the beginning of what Jones and his rapidly expanding crew have in store for Fort Worth.

Although he works primarily with hip-hop artists, Jones doesn’t get caught up in labels. “A lot of artists I work with happen to be rappers also, but I feel like our artistry can go past rhythm and poetry,” he said. “I really don’t even like rap.”

A listen to Dirty Money Painting or the work that Jones has done with his Westside Wednesdays hip-hop crew –– a loose association that includes Dru, J. Quest, Alan Royal, Big Cliff, J. Kush, and BKnow –– reveals the producer’s affinity for epic, musical elements of song. Jones calls Brian Wilson “the god” and counts Coldplay and Stereolab among his favorite and most influential groups. Listening to many other types of music allows him (and the artists he works with) to go beyond the boom-click synthetic beats normally associated with rap music.

Just as he thinks outside of the box when it comes to the content of the CDs he helps make, Jones also moves and shakes when it comes to the business side of music. A few years ago he took his business degree from the University of Kansas out to Los Angeles, where he started making and selling hip-hop tracks as part of Flatland Music. There, he learned that popular artists usually buy songs from anonymous writers, and he felt the pulse of what was making the overall music industry go: hard work, hooks, and relentless self-promotion. He followed Dru to Fort Worth out of a strong belief in his childhood friend’s rapping career potential.

He is keeping up the student-for-life mind-set in Fort Worth by closely monitoring which bands are drawing crowds, reading countless articles, and listening to as much music as he can possibly digest. One of his biggest recent inspirations: Denton’s RTB2. In hits here and from around the world, Jones sees one common theme. “The big thing is familiarity,” he said. “Can I hum to it?”

In his work as a producer, Jones carefully builds in catchy returns, often sung in his own voice, to anchor a song. In “The Promise” from Dirty Money Painting, Dru (the stage name for Andrew McCullough) waxes, “I promise I’m-a get through the rain / Shine if I can, I’m-a live through the pain” while Jones tempers the song by singing “I promise you” in his soft, almost falsetto voice. The mix of the two turns a rap song into a soaring, infectious pop-like number.

When he invites a group of rappers to his house on Westside Wednesdays to invent and record a track in the span of the afternoon, Jones builds the musical muscle of the song while the lyricists write rhymes. In “Chasin’ Our Dreams,” one of those Wednesday products, Jones shows off his mastery of the process by utilizing keyboard pads and string sounds over creative drum patterns.

If Jones adds something unexpected to a song once, never expect to hear it in any of his other creations. “I don’t like replication,” he said. “I’m constantly moving on and progressing.”

When looking for local artists to collaborate with, Jones finds people with a penchant for portraying their true selves in writing, including RLC, XCell, and past Fort Worth Weekly hip-hop artist of the year Smoothvega. Jones then gives these artists an emotional, driving track over which they are free to rap until the sun sets. His musical elements, many of which Jones picked up while growing up in a black church in Kansas, are becoming the yin to the yang of local rap.

Another misconception that Jones battles is that “rap is easy to do,” he said. “We have a fairy tale in our head that once we get enough buzz, a guy in a suit with a big cigar in a limo will roll out a contract.” Jones knows that just doesn’t happen. “This is a hardworking sport.”

Instead, the game is about how much work artists and producers are willing to put forth. In the near future, Jones, McCullough, and Isaac Williams, who are partners in Sphere Music Group, plan to open a recording studio and artist development center somewhere in the Fort. “Artists need help,” Jones said, and he is willing to provide it.

- Fort Worth Weekly

Dru B Shinin’ just dropped the visual for his lead single off his Dirty Money Painting LP. “The Promise” is a chill hip hop track that highlights the talent of Dru B Shinin’. His Admission One EP was dope and I expect Dirty Money Painting to be as well. You can download this track for free on Bandcamp but if you want to show support head on over to iTunes to purchase this track. - RemixTheVideo.com

817 Hip-Hop Around the Clock
by Anthony Mariani
The Fort Worth Music Co-Op recently invited rapper Dru B Shinin to host a hip-hop night at The Cellar (2916 W. Berry St. by TCU, 817-923-6116). The first event happened last week, and, according to Weekly writer Caroline Collier and local rapper Alan Royal, it was a success. Dru and his crew aren’t the only hip-hoppers at work in town, however. Six2, the subject of a Weekly cover story several years ago, is back after a long hiatus, and there’s always Smooth Vega and his homies. Along with Royal South, Immortal Soldierz, Lil’ Casiron, King Corleone, and others, Vega recently put together “I’m a 81G,” subtitled “the official Fort Worth anthem.” In pretty much every local rap song/video, there’s a huge amount of hometown pride. No word yet on the next hip-hop night at The Cellar.

- Fort Worth Weekly

Real hip-hop is alive and well in Fort Worth, TX. Those of us who live or have spent time here are aware that Cow Town is country first, but if you are a fan of hip-hop, or you’re looking to hear some original, thoughtful, high quality music, you have been missing out if you have not taken notice of my boy, Dru B Shinin’. Sleep no more - I’m about to put you on some game.


Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t endorse wack music. I just can’t do it, because I love it too much. Dru B Shinin’, as a part of Sphere Music Group, has been in the game dropping unheralded gems since 2008, but he’s been a serious MC since the first time I met him back in 2003. A few of the homies used to get together on the yard from time to time and freestyle, and Dru always pretty much sh!t-canned any of us who thought we could rap. Ever since those days, I’ve watched my man grow and blossom as an artist, taking seriously his talent for rapping and love of hip-hop culture, continuing to improve his flow and craft incredible songs. I’ve watched him go from freestyle sessions with literally anybody who was willing to step up, to developing stage presence and learning how to rock a crowd. I say all of that to throw props to his latest offering, The Admission One EP.


This EP is the prequel to his new album, Dirty Money Painting that will be dropping in November, and these 8 songs have me hyped and ready for the coming sophomore LP. If you aren’t familiar with Dru B Shinin’, I think the quickest way to describe his style would be to use his own rhymes: “I’m like B.o.B. mixed with ODB/ alotta crazy sh!t, a little poetry.” That’s not doing him complete justice, because he definitely has more depth to his rhymes than many artists you will hear. On Admission One, Dru B Shinin’ rotates between stories about life’s small pleasures as well as frustrating hardships, hallucinations of wilding out on the world, and hardcore hip-hop laced with an easy-going spirit. The music behind his rhymes is solid; primary producer EyeJay handles the beats with co-production from Greg Shark and Andrew Skates of Telegraph Canyon. The EP mostly employs rock-tinged beat arrangements with lots of strings and melodious mid-tempos, making this musically an album that plays with different genres. This EP gives you a sample dose of great music from some underground artists who are serious about their craft and are talented enough to do it well.


But my words are merely meant to give you a quick picture and point you in the direction of… http://spheremusicgroup.bandcamp.com. Download Dru B Shinin’ The Admission One EP, and if you haven't been persuaded yet, listen to “The Final Lap” on my page, and then go download the EP. If you live in Funkytown, I’ll see ya at the next show… - Music and Me

As I was dapping everyone up getting ready to bounce from the Dirty Money Painting Art Gallery, my man Dru B Shinin' put a voice recorder in my face and said, "Quest, tell'em how you know me..."
With this surprised look on my face... I stumbled and mumbled through the question not giving a very clear answer. So this time... I will clear the air and give my recount of how I came across the hip-hop artist Dru B Shinin'.


Almost two years ago in April I remember dodging rain drops with a couple of my boys as we headed over the Aardvark (W. Berry St.) to see this hip-hop show. While this may not seem like much to many people; a hip hop show in West Fort Worth, the heart of the "Cow Town" country scene, was an opportunity I was not going to miss.


A couple artist performed dropping some dope freestyles and some nice tracks. But I really showed up to the show to see this Asian cat spit, he had graduated from my school a couple years back and I was curious what he had. The then Topeka, Kansas based artist, Dru B Shinin', took the stage. If I told you I remembered the tracks he was performing I would be lying, but his stage presence immediately caught my eye, exuding this "vibe" that could be felt as he was delivering his verses. He completed his set and had the whole building rocking...


My boys and I left without introducing ourselves to him or his Sphere Music Group Family. Over the next two years I kept Dru on my radar peeping the mixtapes he dropped knowing that one day our paths would cross again. It wasn't until recently when one of my peoples bumped into him at Chili's and exchanged contact info with him that we began tweeting back and forth. Then he graciously offered HI-Society a slot on his show at this house party a month or so ago and since then we've been rocking.

Fast forward to this past Friday where I spent the day on the set of Dru's music video chopping it up with him and other local artists. All I can say is this dude is hella talented... but more importantly a genuine person. So when Dirty Money Painting drops this November please believe I’m going to have my copy and so should you, because Fort Worth, Texas is on the rise and right now Dru B Shinin’ and Sphere Music Group is leading the charge.
- J.Quest presents Lost In Animation

"A track with acoustic flavor, aimed at weathering the storm that is reality."
- Indiefeed.com

Yes he’s got a dream of making it on top

Yes he’s making it, its clear across the block.

People across the street

YES! YES! They’re watching him

Doing great things he feels they’re jealousy

Eyes staring down like 1, 2, 3 kaboom, explosion

When things get bad, you’re terrified, I’m here for you baby

Forget about the pills,

Forget about the drugs,

Put those aside instead here’s a shoulder you can lean on anytime.

Seriously though, I promise.

- Queen N Ivy

Incredible track!! Lyrical Intelligents is genius!! Beats and Hooks are soulful!
All of my life like most people I always loved listening to music. I loved how I felt when listening music. Then every once in a while there is that one track that just puts life back into perspective. - Mr. Froylin's Corner

The Promise (HD)
Dru B Shinin'
Dirty Money Painting
Directed By Chris Complete - SphereMusicGroup

Rapper Dru B Shinin’ used to take part in hip-hop battles but not anymore. While his insightful, intelligent lyrical flow might help him triumph over other rappers, Dru is not a competitive guy. Instead he is driven by a desire to interject reality and positivity into the world around him. A long-range thinker, he wants to bring the disparate elements of Fort Worth’s hip-hop community together because he loves the artform and this city. To promote his upcoming album, Dirty Money Painting, Dru wants to film a video about the high life in his Berry Street neighborhood. He’s proud of where he is and where he’s been, and he’s aiming to incorporate every little bit of his experience into his music.

If things had transpired differently, Dru (né Andrew McCollough) might never have set foot in Fort Worth nor rapped into a microphone. The 28-year-old was orphaned in Korea and adopted at the age of six months by a liberal Disciples of Christ minister and his wife in Topeka, Kan. “I’m the fakest Korean,” he said. “I don’t even know how to say hello.”

He identifies more with his grandparents, who are bluegrass musicians in rural Missouri. With high hopes, the couple gave him a violin when he was a child, but different musical forms were calling.

During his senior year in high school, hip-hop started “speaking” to him, he said. “I started trying to create something for myself.”

As a hip-hop songwriter, he wanted to talk about it all –– the good and the bad. “I would be smoking and fighting at a party,” he said. “The next day I would go to church. It was a good thing for me to have both of those experiences.”

Dru moved to Fort Worth thanks to a church-sponsored scholarship to TCU and kept rapping. He wrote furiously, incorporating the diverse ideas from his liberal arts education into his music. He maintained a high level of inspiration until he entered office life after graduation.

But after a few years of trading stocks, Dru said sayonara to his day job. “I was losing myself sitting in that cubicle,” he said. “I was not doing what I should be doing.”

In 2008, Dru moved back to Topeka to make music with his producer/drummer friend Eye-Jay, who was peddling hip-hop beats as Sphere Music Group. The two enjoyed an intense creative spurt, but they didn’t feel Topeka was any place for an aspiring rapper.

Topeka, Dru feels, is the exact opposite of Fort Worth. “It’s a small town that thinks it’s a big city,” he said. “There are no outlets for expression.”

After a year of studio time in Kansas, Dru convinced Eye-Jay to relocate to the friendly streets of the 817. Here they assembled a backing band that includes Greg Shark, who replicates computer-generated beats with a guitar and keyboard.

With band in tow, Dru joined the burgeoning Fort Worth Music Co-Op, which encouraged him to offer toned-down versions of his expletive-laced verses. He wrote songs that he could perform in front of anyone, including his parents. The trio captured the new material on last summer’s Admission One, which, Dru said, is really an appetizer for Dirty Money Painting. A CD release party will be held at Shogun, a clothing retailer on South University Drive, sometime in November.

Although Dru calls Admission One “colorful and happy,” it has those characteristically rough hip-hop edges, which are tempered by Eye-Jay’s melodic backing vocals. In “Out of My Mind,” Dru emulates a mind-set of violent insanity. On the album’s opener, “Lace My Strings,” he makes many references to illegal hustling activity. He’s not ashamed to rap openly about the normally hush-hush parts of his experience. Making it from day to day is not always an ideal picture.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to get across,” he said. “Dirty Money Painting is beautiful and intellectual, but it’s also a picture of dirty money. … I’ve made a lot of that, and I want my music to be relatable. It would be a lie to walk around like I’m talking about heaven all the time, but it would also be a lie if I said my whole experience was hanging out with friends.”

If Admission One is any indication, Dirty Money Painting will be a wild ride, full of thugging and loving and everything in between. In the meantime, the Co-Op (which probably appreciates Dru’s flexibility about being a nice, positive rapper at times) has tapped him to host a hip-hop night at The Cellar on West Berry Street near TCU. He’s inviting many lyrical artists in the hopes of building bridges to all sides of town. He sees this as step one for making hip-hop a big part of the indie-rock-heavy local scene.

For Dru, it’s all about blending cultures, genres, life experiences, and geographical layouts. He just might know a thing or two on the subject. l
- Fort Worth Weekly

How did you get started with all this??
I started rapping a little late comparitively. Started my senior year in high school as a way to simply express myself. The music I was listening to at the time was really speaking to me 2pac, outkast, bone thugs. I related to the lyrics so much at times it felt like I wrote them....so I began writing.

What's the message to transmit with your music??
I just want to join the conversation. For those real hiphop heads and plain music lovers there is an ongoing conversation where your favorite artists basically speak to you in their own style and technique. This is the way so and so feels about the world and this is his own particular way of rhyming words and placing them on beat. Everybody has their own way of doing this (unless their a biter) and I just want people to hear my way of doing it. I also belief I have my own very good and unique way of how I feel about the world and my own particular way of rhyming words and placing them on beat so I just wanna join the conversation with all the good emcees already talking.

What's your method at the time of writing a song??
I listen to the beat and try to out think what the normal way of writing to it would be. At the same time I do try to also give content and style wise what the beat wants. So its like if the beat makes you think about writing about love or a girl I will stay with that emotion but try not to actually write about the girl or love but convey the same emotion that the beat is asking for. Or sometimes I will come up with the song idea first and then ask EyeJay my producer for a beat to match since he is talented enough to taylor make beats towards an emotion your going for. EyeJay is dope.

Which are your music influences??
Rappers. Plain and simple. I like other music and artists but really my whole life its been just rappers. Talking to me everyday in my headphone and car. I have conversations with them everyday of my life. My favorites are Bone Thugs, Outkast, 2pac and the outlawz, nas, talib kweli, black thought, phonte, eminem, etc etc etc

What plans do you have for the future??
We are currently looking for professional backing. We have over the last couple years proved that we can put out great products be it albums, eps, mixtapes, videos, shows, marketing schemes, etc. We just need a push right now....some help. Our Future is a project we are releasing in Nov. called the "Dirty Money Painting"

Which has been the funniest prank you have been or took part while on tour or after a show??
We have a great time laughing at and with our good friend and videographer sean martin we call him Ghost Weed! He needs his own reality show called Drunk after a Dru B Shinin' Show!!

If you were stranded in the middle of nowhere after a show or while on tour. The help is 65 miles away from where you and your band (If any) are, ¿Who would you send to look for help? And if while the rest wait, there's no food and the only way to feed yourself is by eating each other, ¿Who would you eat first?
I would send EyeJay for help my producer and drummer.....he holds it down. I would be forced to eat Issac our manager I think he is cleaner than Ghost and Greg.

Which country you would love to play?
Korea I was born there but was adopted when I was 6 months never been back.....I wanna see people that look like me!!!

With which bands you would love to share stage??
The roots.....wow....lupe fiasco....any hiphop act that has live music.

Are you OK, with the direction the band is going actually?
Yes! Dirty Money Painting is perfect! Our whole artistic direction is focused with this project. The Dirty Money Painting is the us.....exactly how we live. We live in the real world everyday ie Dirty Money and we think on a artistic what if level to.....the painting....no separation just one way of living....we be Dirty Money Painting everyday.
- Vents Magazine

Real hip-hop is alive and well in Fort Worth, TX. Those of us who live or have spent time here are aware that Cow Town is country first, but if you are a fan of hip-hop, or you’re looking to hear some original, thoughtful, high quality music, you have been missing out if you have not taken notice of my boy, Dru B Shinin’. Sleep no more - I’m about to put you on some game.


Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t endorse wack music. I just can’t do it, because I love it too much. Dru B Shinin’, as a part of Sphere Music Group, has been in the game dropping unheralded gems since 2008, but he’s been a serious MC since the first time I met him back in 2003. A few of the homies used to get together on the yard from time to time and freestyle, and Dru always pretty much sh!t-canned any of us who thought we could rap. Ever since those days, I’ve watched my man grow and blossom as an artist, taking seriously his talent for rapping and love of hip-hop culture, continuing to improve his flow and craft incredible songs. I’ve watched him go from freestyle sessions with literally anybody who was willing to step up, to developing stage presence and learning how to rock a crowd. I say all of that to throw props to his latest offering, The Admission One EP.


This EP is the prequel to his new album, Dirty Money Painting that will be dropping in November, and these 8 songs have me hyped and ready for the coming sophomore LP. If you aren’t familiar with Dru B Shinin’, I think the quickest way to describe his style would be to use his own rhymes: “I’m like B.o.B. mixed with ODB/ alotta crazy sh!t, a little poetry.” That’s not doing him complete justice, because he definitely has more depth to his rhymes than many artists you will hear. On Admission One, Dru B Shinin’ rotates between stories about life’s small pleasures as well as frustrating hardships, hallucinations of wilding out on the world, and hardcore hip-hop laced with an easy-going spirit. The music behind his rhymes is solid; primary producer EyeJay handles the beats with co-production from Greg Shark and Andrew Skates of Telegraph Canyon. The EP mostly employs rock-tinged beat arrangements with lots of strings and melodious mid-tempos, making this musically an album that plays with different genres. This EP gives you a sample dose of great music from some underground artists who are serious about their craft and are talented enough to do it well.


But my words are merely meant to give you a quick picture and point you in the direction of… http://spheremusicgroup.bandcamp.com. Download Dru B Shinin’ The Admission One EP, and if you haven't been persuaded yet, listen to “The Final Lap” on my page, and then go download the EP. If you live in Funkytown, I’ll see ya at the next show… - The Music and Me Blog

"...Coming up on the local scene is Dru B Shinin’, another talented hip-hop artist backed by a live band. Dru (né Andrew McCullough) is from Topeka but arrived in Fort Worth in 2000 to attend TCU. He graduated in 2005 and tried his hand at the local scene but couldn’t break in. He went back to Topeka (also the home of the record label to which he still belongs, Sphere Music Group) only to return here recently and try again." - Fort Worth Weekly

"...a 2005 graduate, said this phrase sticks out in his memories of the university." Dru B Shinin' "said he found inspiration for some of his lyrics during class lectures, such as the history of western civilization. He said this eventually lead him to a career in music." - TCU Daily Skiff

"He's Korean, adopted, been to college, made money, been broke AND now he's rappin' like his life depends on it. So there you go." - Pegasus News

"Dru B Shinin is an emcee from Topeka, Kansas and Fort Worth, Texas trying to get his music out to the world." - Remix The Video

Bud Light presents Music Awards 2010 Ballot - Fort Worth Weekly