Instrumental = Enstrumental

Dwamina K. Drew or D.K. Drew has been influenced and guided by his parents who have instilled the likes of Malauna Karenga, Louis Farrakhan and Denmark Vessey in his veins. The result was that this 9-5 real estate accountant decided that along with dealing with housing issues it was also his responsibility to be a part of movement that helps people realize that whatever they do in life to make it instrumental in other individuals everyday lives. A former DJ who had a massive collection of instrumental viynls transfered that category of music into a clothing line. Already receiving international as well as national support and has produced tees with public figures like Lupe Fiasco and Barack Obama. Enstrumental is sure to be just that instrumental in th fashion industry and make people think about the next image or phrase thats placed on a tee. Note to other fashion lines: Enstrumental was the first tee to create the Barack Obama tee.
Scheme: Where are you originally from and what made you decide to get involved with the fashion industry?

D.K. Drew: I’m originally from the Southside of Chicago born and raised and from there went to school at Florida A&M. I’ve been interested in things that are different and make an impact, whether it’s a cultural or societal setting. From a fashion aspect I really didn’t get interested in my own line until maybe three years ago and at the time I didn’t have the capitol but I just got tired of buying other peoples stuff, not to say other lines aren’t dope but why can’t I create something and rock something I made myself and then have other people express themselves as I would want to express myself. Once I got the capitol I pushed forth and I said if one person rocks my tee ever I was going to be satisfied. I’ve always been involved with creativity and thinking outside of the box whether it’s writing a term paper, down to the type of sneaker that I wear.

Scheme: What part of Chicago did you grow up in and how did that experience guide you towards the type of line that you have created.

D.K. Drew: This is going to sound like a normal answer but my father was born in Compton, CA and my mother was born in Chicago, they met in Chicago and while they were here they were down with the struggle from Malauna Karenga to Louis Farrakhan. Hearing about other freedom fighters like Fred Hampton and Stokely Carmichael people who stepped outside the box of traditional thinking and being exposed to those different things had a major impact on my creativity. So being exposed to a lot of different things from a culture standpoint really got my creative juices flowing and opened my eyes to dare to be different.

Scheme: How did you come up with the name Enstrumental?

D.K. Drew: I used to DJ down at Florida A&M and I had a lot of instrumentals. Really it’s about one being instrumental in life and Enstrumental was a real progressive word to me and something you constantly strive for, being instrumental on a daily basis. So I figured let me be Enstrumental on the clothes I create and let the consumer feel the same way as well, just reminding them to be Enstrumental in whatever they do.

Scheme: You mentioned you had the idea about three years ago to start a line but didn’t have the capitol. How did you develop and that capitol to where you can now manufacture and distribute your line?

D.K. Drew: Real estate, I’m actually an accountant from 9-5. I got involved in real estate on the west side of Chicago. So I decided to do something with the money from a positive and cultural aspect and something I have a passion in doing. It’s not like I made a ton of money because you don’t need a lot to start a t-shirt line, I funded everything by myself without outside investors.

Scheme: Well you’ve just started the company in July, what is your goal when you get to Magic? What are you trying to accomplish when the day comes?

D.K. Drew: The number one thing is to sell as many shirts as possible (laughs). We also want people to feel the concept, even if a store owner or buyer doesn’t put in an order I would appreciate if people would like the concept and appreciate what we’re doing because you don’t want to have too many stores in one particular market. Network as much as possible and really get the brand enstrumental out there. There’s a lot of clothing lines out here but there are a lot of chicken shacks and McDonald’s out here but we definitely feel we have some products that differentiate from the norm that we think people will feel. Our business cards says, “Establish your own trends and provide the definition to your own character we desire to create a product that reaches beyond the expectations of the masses you can flirt with the hype but make sure you date development.” One of our slogans is lust for creativity and not the brand and we want people to rock something because it’s dope and even if we get to the point of a Crooks & Castles or a 10 Deep we want people to buy it because it’s dope.

Scheme: So lets talk about our line a little bit and the first one we actually posted was the collaboration you did with Lupe (Fiasco). Besides the fact that his album was called Food & Liquor how did that concept come about?

D.K. Drew: I’ve known Lupe for a minute before he blew the “f” up sort-to-speak actually when he was coming out with the album it was something we discussed but I was trying to get some other things together, but actually wanted to release it with the album but we decided to do something in conjunction with the Grammy’s, so we produced 102 Lupe tees but the concept came from me working with one of my people in Cali. We said what about a food & liquor store and I told him to shoot me an image of that kind of store and I’ll change the gum, beer and candy to sneakers, decks and rhymes. We’re actually working on something for his next album called the Cool.

Scheme: You also have the Obama tee and you came up with a dope slogan called the “Audacity is the ladder, climb with the steps of hope”, how did that come about?

D.K. Drew: That’s actually an original quote that I created. The first book he came out with the Audacity of Hope I said let me take that and freak something a little different and so that’s how I came up with the phrase.

Scheme: You also came out with a tee that pays homage to the deceased. Why did you decide to create this tee?

D.K. Drew: The name of the tee is Always Remembering and on the back it says do not forget. That was actually inspired by a 1997 freestyle from Common and KRS-ONE and actually Always Remembering was my first t-shirt. The new school artists are on the front and the old school artists like Diamond D and your Whiz Kid are on the back. We’re actually re-releasing that with the clothing line.

Scheme: If you could sit back and breathe a sigh of accomplishment how would enstrumental look?

D.K. Drew: It feels good now even though we’ve been out for a year and we see somebody in our tee it feels good. I never take a compliment for granted but we want to be worldwide. I definitely see us in the national and international market and when people accept the brand with our mission statement and people feel it from that standpoint that’s when I can kick my feet up. If we’re in 59 stores but we haven’t stayed true our concept I’m not going to feel good about. So I definitely don’t want to “Sell myself to fall in love sort of speak.”