Billy Drease Williams

Billy Drease Williams
Billy Drease Williams performing in 2009 in Buffalo, New York
Background information
Birth name	Edreys Wajed
Origin	Buffalo, New York, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Emcee, Producer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	DTR45 Deep Thinka Records
Website	Official Website Official Blog Page

Billy Drease Williams (born Edreys Wajed) is an American hip hop emcee, singer and producer from Buffalo, New York; known for his uptempo production, clean lyrics, and motivational messages. Billy Drease Williams started as part of a short lived hip hop group called The Elements (formed with Soulive members Alan Evans and Neal Evans) and later was one half of a duo known as Raw Intel (with producer Trevor "TrevThorne" Drayton). Acclaimed Music critic Jeff Miers has described him as “the most promising, adventurous, nigh-on-visionary hip hop artist Buffalo has yet produced.”

Raw Intel found success early, placing five songs on the ESPN NFL 2K5 Video Game, and producing a little-known but highly acclaimed self-titled album in 2002/2003. Billy Drease also collaborated with Soulive again for their Turn It Out Remixed Album and released a project on Velour Records with drummer Alan Evans, entitled M.E.K.A. 54.

After the Raw Intel album failed to provide Billy with a viable major label deal, he focused his efforts on production and visual art: placing several tracks on films and television, including Lionsgate Films' "The Farce of the Penguins" and Lifetime Television's "Officer Down"; as well as opening an independent art gallery in Buffalo called Gallery 51. Additionally, he produced several tracks for Atlanta-based rapper, Stat Quo.

Soon thereafter, Billy Drease decided to embrace the industry's movement from mainstream to indie and signed a deal with Buffalo-based independent label Deep Thinka Records, which then proceeded to re-brand themselves as DTR45. Creatively invigorated by the deal, Billy's first single "I Like It" – a raw chopped up rendition of a Betty Wright tune – secured features in Billboard Magazine and on Myspace; and the accompanying music video was featured by YouTube and BET.