{"id":19552,"date":"2025-07-18T18:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19552\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T18:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T18:14:14","slug":"an-interview-with-mexikodro-the-atlanta-rapper-behind-one-of-his-citys-best-songs-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19552\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview With MexikoDro, the Atlanta Rapper Behind One of His City\u2019s Best Songs of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever we speak about plugg, Dro is visibly disinterested and slightly annoyed. \u201cI don\u2019t miss nothing about that time,\u201d he admits. \u201cFrom 16 to about 25, that was the worst years of my life. The music was successful enough, but I just kept getting locked up and getting in my own way. I remember I was trying to be a kid. Trying my damn hardest to be a kid. Life was real good \u2019til it hit me in my head.\u201d In that time, he started tinkering with a form of intimate motivation rap that shaped his hardships into optimism and pulled from the grounded Southern rap on which he grew up: Project Pat<\/a>, Ghetto Mafia, Bankroll Fresh<\/a>. Getting those influences out of him was a challenge, though, and when I first ask, he responds sarcastically: \u201cI\u2019m influenced by an artist named MexikoDro. I think he\u2019s real good. Ever heard of him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 29, Dro pretty much keeps to himself. He says on most days you\u2019ll find him hanging out with his dogs, making beats, and working on his cars. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m working on my kickdown linkage on my \u201985 Monte Carlo,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t be driving some shit that look good on the outside, but fucked-up on the inside.\u201d Infused into his mundane, bluesy trap music is a lone wolf spirit that comes from being an only child whose father was incarcerated for most of his childhood and whose mother worked into the night. \u201cI was in the dayroom, chillin\u2019, playin\u2019 cards\/Now I\u2019m outside, out the way, I\u2019m drivin\u2019 cars,\u201d he raps in his husky voice and strong Atlanta wobble on \u201cCars.\u201d On that same song, he strolls alone through Lenox Mall and treats himself to a solo dinner out.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s a wistful time in Atlanta rap right now. Back are the futuristic vibes<\/a>, the snap beats<\/a>, and instrumentals that sound like they could have been on Thug Motivation 101<\/a>, both in the city<\/a> and throughout the South<\/a>. Yeah, nostalgia is everywhere<\/a>, but this Atlanta run feels more sincere, an effect of a city that once had these thick regional lines become obscured by gentrification, the internet, and its own musical success. \u201cWe grew up here, but this ain\u2019t our land anymore,\u201d says an elegiac MexikoDro. Whatever is left of that feeling is being held onto in songs like \u201cNo Date,\u201d pure trap music with an emphasis on the small moments that mean a little more when you\u2019ve been through some shit.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m listening to:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whenever we speak about plugg, Dro is visibly disinterested and slightly annoyed. \u201cI don\u2019t miss nothing about that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,17978],"class_list":["post-19552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-off-the-dome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}