DJ Drama is a DJ from Philadelphia, now based in Atlanta. He is the producer for “Mixtape King” and the son of Ms. Dina Portnoy. Ms Portnoy was a public school teacher who now volunteers for the Philadelphia Writing Project at Carver HSES. She agreed to connect us with her son, DJ Drama, who grew close to Nipsey over the last ten years.

Drama pointed out that Nipsey's untimely death will breathe future life into Nipsey's songs. “It’s going to increase Nipsey’s listenship. I don’t know if everyone got his message. But now more people will check it out. I hope it affects the industry - I don’t think he got the love while he was here. You saw the amount of love at the funeral and the amount of people who came out. I would like to see people will praise people while they are here. Unfortunately we live in a world where six months from now everyone will be on to the next. I hope it was an isolated incident. It happened on a block that he owned.”

Drama also shared that another mark of Nipsey's death on the future is the work we must engage in with each other now, while we are still in each other's presence. This is the notion that we should give flowers to each other now, not later. What does it mean to "give flowers," I asked Drama? “We need to give more praise and be more vocal while people are alive. Each one teach one. It’s important everyday to think about it and be self aware of the people around you who you feel are important.”