Meet Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman, co-founder and CEO of independent powerhouse imprint Duck Down, home of the Hip-Hop collective Boot Camp Clik...

Tell me how you and Black Moon's Buckshot first came together to form Duck Down Records?

Well, I met Buckshot as an intern at Nervous Records, so that was in like '93. You know, we just hit it off from early on, just spending a lot of time on the road and doing promotions and things like that over at Nervous, because there wasn't a big staff. So, as the Black Moon album just took off, we kinda snowballed through the game — things kept happening, and me and Buck eventually formed a management company to manage Black Moon. Which then brought us Smif-N-Wessun, and we managed Black Moon and Smif-N-Wessun, and we did those first two records on Nervous Records. And, right around that time, Buck and I, you know, started realizing that we wanted our own label.

Thirteen plus years is an especially long time in any business, so despite all the highs and lows, how have you all found the strength to continue on with Duck Down?

Perseverance! And, that's really the best word I can say is perseverance, because we've been through highs and lows. You know, we've definitely had good times when we were selling a lot of records, and we went through a phase when Priority folded into Capitol we were left without distribution, without really a home, and, you know, we just managed to stick together. And, Buck and I, I think we developed a real strong friendship on top of the business, and that's kind of outlasted even...That's kind of been the strength of the business.

Aside from maybe O.G.C., Duck Down has had a longstanding working relationship with the majority of your roster. How have you all been able to pull that off?

Well, I'm glad you said that ‘cause that's like one of the things I'm most proud of. And, I bring that up when we do deals with new artists. On a small indie label, if you don't want to be there and you're really unhappy, I don't care what type of contract you have, you're probably gonna find a way to get out of the deal! Our stable of artists has been with (us) for a long amount of time. It does speak volumes about the type of business we run, and the way we treat people.

What are your day to day duties as CEO of Duck Down Records?

Everyday is definitely different. Sometimes I'll be in the studio, sometimes I'm picking beats, sometimes we're going over the next video shoot, writing a treatment for a video. Some days it could be just literally down to haggling over manufacturing prices, and dealing with the distributor. And, we go through Koch Distribution, so I play a big role in dealing with the Koch sales staff and making sure that they have all the information on the project. And, as a small company, we deal with a lot of independent people that work for us, so it's also managing those people and delegating responsibilities.

Whatever became of that One Nation album Duck Down recorded with the late, great Tupac Shakur?

Well, the album never came out because obviously the events that took place and some of the songs that we did you've heard on different 2Pac releases. And, the family owns the rights to the recordings. You know, we're still close with his sister and the family. We still talk to them like once a year, and whenever they're working on projects they use us. We did his poetry album, his duets album. Who knows? We and the Outlawz might get together one day and have to rework that whole project.

That'd be so dope! Throughout all of the years, have you had many regrets in this business?

I have a ton of regrets! Obviously looking back, for those that know a little history, is that we had meetings with Eminem and had an opportunity there to get involved with him — Some might look at that as a regret. But even knowing how the situation went down there probably was not too much under my control to change the circumstances. If my brother, Noah, (would've) liked the song! *Laughter Ensues* Nah, just kidding, he's sitting here right now. I can't put the blame on him. But if I could go back in time, obviously I would have loved to try to find a way to follow that groove more. But, I also say he wouldn't have become the artist that, you know, he is today on Duck Down.

www.duckdown.com