DON CANNON

YOUNG JEEZY “GO CRAZY”

photography Zach Wolfe

DON CANNON’S PHONE rings and the anonymous caller assures him that in their first official concert appearance together, Def Jam President Jay-Z and his brand new heavy Young Jeezy performed “Go Crazy” to the delight of a sellout crowd. “They killed it,” he says with a contented smile. “I heard they was tryna shoot some type of live video for it, too.” He withholds obvious excitement, offering, “Now all I gotta do is make 1,700 more of those.”

Fiddling with production since the age of five, Cannon’s arrival is destiny, as much as it is chance and hard work. “I wasn’t even supposed to come down here,” he says of his move from Philadelphia to attend Clark Atlanta University. “My moms forced me.” It goes without saying that DC’s mother knew best, but she couldn’t have predicted this outcome.

While the 6'6" former hoop star struggled to make ends meet with a stunted stipend from the athletic department, he simultaneously built his rep as a DJ, oft times when he should have been calculating an algebraic equation. “It wasn’t really doing nothin’ for my college tuition,” he reasons, “so it kinda just [leveled out] and I just continued to do my music, ’cause that’s something that I always did.”

Cannon’s tenacity served him well, as he eventually met DJ Drama on campus, and joined The World Famous Superfriends. They, along with DJ Sense, in turn formed the Aphilliates (Jaycee, Ox Banga, and Jamad). To date, Cannon has produced tracks for Philly’s Most Wanted, Jermaine Dupri, and a handful of overseas and local projects, but allows that “Go Crazy,” is the one to write home about. By no means though did it “certify” him.

Voted Seagram’s DJ of the Year in 2003, he’s done BET, Ricki Lake, the Super Bowl, and is currently the official tour DJ for BME’s Lil Scrappy. Moreover, in the wake of Drama’s ever popular Gangsta Grillz series, Cannon’s own The King series has fast established him as a force. “Cannon is the truth,” DJ Drama declares. “He comes from the true school of hip-hop production. He has that sound that everyone can appreciate ’cause it’s just great neckbreaker music.” N. ALI EARLY

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