Dru Down

Danyel Robinson, known by his stage name Dru Down, is a highly influential American rapper and actor from East Oakland, California. Born on September 14, 1971, Dru Down is currently a member of The Regime, a collective of rappers that includes Yukmouth, Tech N9ne, Messy Marv, BG Bulletwound, Dorasel, Grant Rice, and Tha Realest.

Raised by his grandmother and step-father after losing his mother at the age of three, Robinson discovered in his early teens that his biological father was bassist and singer Bootsy Collins. Dru Down developed an interest in rap music in the late 1980s, and released his debut album, Fools from the Streets, in 1993. The local success of his album led to him being signed to Relativity Records, a Sony Music imprint, to release his second album Explicit Game in 1994. The album spawned Dru Down’s most successful single to date, “Pimp of the Year,” which peaked at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dru Down’s third album, Can You Feel Me, was released in 1996 and featured his first collaboration with his father, Bootsy Collins. In addition to his music career, Dru Down began acting, appearing in the movie Original Gangstas as Kayo and on the 2Pac song “All About You” from 2Pac’s fourth studio album All Eyez on Me. Throughout the 2000s, Dru Down released several more albums and joined Yukmouth’s Smoke-A-Lot Records and the hip-hop collective The Regime, led by Yukmouth. The group released their debut album, Dragon Gang, in 2013.

Dru Down faced legal issues in 2013, when he was sentenced to three years in Santa Rita jail for driving under the influence and evading police, violating his probation for a prior driving offense. He was featured on an episode of Lockup on MSNBC.