How Atlanta’s Young Dro achieved one of rap’s great comebacks this year

There was a time when you could tell Atlanta rapper Young Dro that he was hit with a baseball bat the previous day, and he wouldn’t remember it.

“That how numb I was,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

For most of his career and his teen years, Young Dro, born D’Juan Hart, struggled with drug addiction. The Bankhead-bred artist got his big break in 2004, when he signed to Grand Hustle Records, the label of his longtime friend and collaborator T.I.

He swiftly established himself as an Atlanta rap legend, with the country club fashion and street anthems that helped shape Atlanta’s futuristic era subgenre of rap laced with pop beats and party rhymes that emerged in the late 2000s and early 2010s (see his verses on Yung L.A.’s “Ain’t I” or T.I.’s “Shoulder Lean”).

Now, in 2025, the 46-year-old is four years sober after entering rehab.

He only uses a flip phone for communication (“I have ADHD. The apps are too much of a distraction for me.”). In the morning, he goes on long walks in his South Fulton neighborhood. At night, he drinks cinnamon-flavored stress relief tea to help him sleep. During the day, he takes mood bites to ease his anxiety. He often paints to relax his mind.

The self-care routine is purposeful, giving him the peace and clarity he didn’t have during the height of his career. That precision has fueled one of the most exciting years of his career, with standout contributions on projects from Jermaine Dupri and Metro Boomin (he’s featured six times on the latter’s “A Futuristic Summa” mixtape). Outside of music, he has plans to write a book about his sobriety and open a restaurant in Greenbriar Mall.

Young Dro’s recent guest appearances have signaled his return to the forefront of rap conversations online this year, with fans savoring the nostalgic style and lyricism that made him a star.

“I needed to hear that,” he said about seeing the love on social media. “It just put me in a different space to go even harder.”

The AJC talked to Young Dro about his comeback year and his future plans.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity

Q: How did you get approached to be on “A Futuristic Summa”?

A: When they were thinking about doing a nod to Atlanta, everybody was like you gotta get Young Dro with that futuristic swag. That was the epitome of what this is. Everything that you hear on that tape, I did in one take. Probably in like 3 or 4 hours. I think I did eight songs that night. They used six.

Q: What was it like working in the studio with Metro Boomin for the first time?

A: It was almost like alignment. We have a lot of the same beliefs, as far as being a good person, believing in God. He’s just an overly good person. He’s an angel producer, like a producer that caters to you, even though he’s twice as (famous) as you, really three times as big. He caters to you like that’s not even the case. He made me feel like the bigger person every time.

Q: Listening to your contributions made me yearn for more Metro Boomin and Young Dro collaborations.

A: We’re working on that. He called me after the project and wanted to do a project on me. I said let’s call it “MeDro Boomin,” so yea, we’re working on that. Me and T.I. are working on an album too, which is something we should’ve been doing. We were on Jermaine Dupri’s album, too, so we’ve been kind of setting it up for a T.I. and Dro project.

Q: I liked how T.I. protected you during that viral “Breakfast Club” interview y’all did last year, when you were rudely mocked while talking about your addiction.

A: The brotherhood he and I share is impeccable...I think Tip is just overprotective like that when it comes to me anyway...if I’m missing something, he has it or if he misses something, I have it. When I’m rapping on the stage, it’s almost like he’s my hype man. The support is there, the brotherhood is there.

Q: What are your thoughts on the revival of the futuristic era — a sound you pioneered?

A: I always thought it was like a good time for music. What I like about it is it’s not violent. It’s fun. It’s all about the house party, the girl next door, the guy next door, the kickback. Getting back to that kind of made sense. To just talk about my clothes and my swag, and, you know, what girl I can go take out and just having fun, then you make it home alive to party like that again. It cuts out the violence.

Q: Do you feel like you were appreciated for the music you were making as you were creating it? Or are you feeling more of the love now?

A: Yea, (me and Yung L.A.) were well appreciated. We inspired a lot of people. Back then, we had the city going crazy. So to see them doing it again just shows that they respected and loved it back then.

Q: Your style also helped define the futuristic era. Were you always wearing polos?

A: I’ve been wearing polos since high school. I always thought that was the bridge between a rich person and a ghetto person..I always felt like Ralph Lauren set me apart from the average person. My shirt tucked in made me look like I’m in college or something like that. But the thing about it would be that I’m going back home to drugs and shootouts ... the clothes gave me the assurance that I wouldn’t be there forever.

Q: The futuristic sound is leading Atlanta rap now with female rappers Bunna B, Pluto, YK Niece and Bankroll Ni. You’re featured on the remix to Bankroll Ni’s “I’m So ATL.”

A: It’s their time. Back then, it was just us (guys). It wasn’t really no girls in futuristic era, so it’s their turn too. I’ve worked with YK a lot of times. I got two singles that’s on the way wit her. I got one called “Hey, Man, Say Man” and another one called “Motion.” I got another single with Bankroll Ni called “Eaters.”

Q: Does this year feel like a comeback?

A: It can be. I think it’s more like a shift because I’ve always been here. I think I just dusted off all the things I’ve been through and aligned myself with the people that I need to align myself with and be in the places that I need to be and just following the blessings God gives me. I think that’s making it a great year.