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YouTubeFeature Artist: DOLO
Rollin Dolo
They say there is strength in numbers but this Southside Chicago Ex-D-Boy turned Rapper/Young Entrepreneur kept his circle as small as they get. One.
Doran “Dolo” Wallace came from single parent home, raised by his mother and grew up with his five brothers. As a child he would learn to live by his mother’s quote, “Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream.” This is where he got his “hustle by any means” attitude in life. At a young age Dolo who was then known by his peers as “Scrap” joined the gang life and began hustling in the streets.
Besides hustling, there was another thing Dolo had a knack for. At the age of five, Dolo discovered his talent of rapping. Fast forward to 2009, after all the street tales, after all friends and family lost in the struggle, after nearly losing his own life, after all the shootouts, and many more street tales, Dolo shares his passion, and experiences with us through something positive. Music.
Check out this exclusive interview with Certified Fire’s FIRST coming up artist. DOLO
Certified Fire: First things first, where did the name dolo come from?
Dolo: Originally my street name was Scrap but i changed it because i wanted something that described me at the present time and the name Dolo (solo) was the way i was
rolling.
CF: I see, so you generally keep a small circle huh?
Dolo: Yeah, well I come from a large family, and I knew a lot of people in the streets, bein part of a gang and hustlin, so i was pretty well known, but there are pretty few people that i keep around me and close to me. I’m a pretty independent guy.
Dolo – Play Wit Fire
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CF: So how did you get into rapping?
Dolo: I got into rap when i was like five years old, I remember my big brother Drew who was heavy into music, he would bang beats outside on the generators with his hands, and i would come around as a kid and kick my flow.
CF: five huh? what were you rapping about at the age of five?
Dolo: Yeah, you know “Cat in the Hat” type rhymes, kid stuff *laughs* guess I was destined to do it.
CF: Who were some of your influences growing up?
Dolo: Man, lets see, I used to listen to RUN DMC, Kool Mo D, LL Cool J, Kool G Rap, Public Enemy, NWA, Ghetto Boys, Tupac, Notorious BIG, Jay Z… the list goes on…
CF: You come from the inner city of South Side Chicago right?
Dolo: Yessir, State to the Lake…
CF: Tell us a lil bit about how your experiences coming from that environment turned you into the person you are today.
Dolo: Being in that environment definitely exposes you to a lot of negative things and if you not careful you can associate with the wrong people. It really puts your life in perspective. I almost lost my life many times. Its a blessing I’m still here today to tell stories about it and I’m even surprised I still have my sanity. Comin up, I had a lot of negative influences around me, that put me in a lot of BAD situations
CF: Any specific experiences you want to share?
Dolo: I remember this one time… one of the people I kept around me almost got me killed…
CF: An example of why your name is Dolo now huh
Dolo: Yeah, so anyway, me and my friend at the time (won’t name names) were involved in this “transaction.” Me and my dude had put together our money but we were 50 dollars short, so our connect wouldn’t give us the product. So we left the spot and my friend said he had some business to handle so we split up. Well I decided I would go back to the spot to purchase at least SOMETHING with the little money I did have. Little did I know my “friend” had gone back to the spot before me and had robbed the place. I guess he felt he wasn’t gonna let the connect be stingy and he was gonna get what he wanted anyway. So when I get to the spot I get surrounded by a bunch of niggas with pistols pointed at my head. The connect is goin off like “you muthafucka, you broke into my crib!” So here I was with guns to my head, bein accused of doin something I didn’t do, and about to get killed for somethin my mans did. I was like “Hold up dude, think about it… Why would I break into your crib and be sitting
here waiting on you in this dark ass alley way… Why would i ROB ya’ll and then come BACK to the spot?” To make a long story short, I never got touched, but to make sure me and the dude could still do business, I made up for the loss… but that was one of those moments that made me realize I would rather slang raps than slang drugs.
CF: Thats some crazy stuff
Dolo: yeah there’s more stories where that came from too.
Dolo – Slow Motion
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CF: so people will get to hear these stories in your music?
Dolo: definitely, I do some story telling, as well as stuff for the clubs, stuff for the ladies, battle rappin, I cover it all
CF: Speaking of Battling, you were recently crowned King of the Midwest in MTV’s Fight Klub battle held in Iowa. What is your take of battling and are you gonna continue to
compete in the battle scene?
Dolo: I never was a battle rapper before, I started off learning how to make songs. Cassidy was the first person I heard battle rap when he went up against Freeway, and then Murda Mook and etc on them Smack DVD’s. I was impressed with by these dudes lyrical skills and ability to come off the dome and just roast their opponents so I decided to become a part of that underground culture. I started battlin cats locally. Freestylin was never a challenge to me cuz thats pretty much how i make my songs anyway. I freestyle and then take the portions of my freestyle that I like and put it in my songs. But yeah I came up *laughs*
CF: But with rappers like Jin and Serius Jones, Murda Mook, Math Hoffa, and etc that have developed huge reputations as battle rappers but have not been able to break into the mainstream, what makes you different?
Dolo: Like i said, my thing is not battling, my thing is to make songs. I did the battling thing more or less for the excitement. I was already starting to create a buzz for myself before I was eatin dudes in the battling scene. But yeah i’m not trying to break into the game as a battle rapper. I want to be recognized for my musical talent. I’m tryna make classics so i can have longevity in this game.
Dolo – New Beginning
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CF: What made you decide to come to Iowa?
Dolo: Its funny cuz I had never even heard of Iowa until my cousin told me about this place he went to school and he thought at the time I needed a change of scenary.
so I was reluctant to go but i eventually did and soon as I arrived I was like “fuck that take me back to the Chi asap” (laughs). Anyways he convinced me to stay, I had
the home sick thing for a minute; Then I locked myself in the crib and started back writing.
CF: What do you think about the music
scene in Iowa?
Dolo: I can appreciate the Hip Hop scene Iowa has to offer. I wouldnt say its the best but for the most part we do have fairly good venues and battles and there’s lots of potential here. A lot of young cats out here that can spit they just need the motivation and an outlet.
CF: i can agree with that, don’t sleep on Iowa people! So what can we expect to see from Dolo in the near future?
Dolo: Making power moves… albums after albums and am trying to create options for other cats trying to pursue their career.
CF: Takin some people under your wing?
Dolo: Yeah a few young talents you’ll probably see here and there on some of my projects.
Dolo – Money Talk For Me (feat Vino)
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CF: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now in the game?
Dolo: Paid …..
CF: haha, respectable answer. Any other plans for the future?
Dolo: Hopefully I can share my experiences and be a mentor to the next upcoming MC with the mic in his hand.
CF: and lastly any shout outs?.
Dolo: shout out to boi Joshua Booth for the production and recording studio, Dj Paimon for keeping the clubs poppin with the hot shit and keeping the blogs on point at
certified-fire.com, Studio 75 Franchise in Chicago da boi MG da Kushman, Ms Peaches, Serre Konne, Slick Force Studio for making DNA look good on their photos and most definitely to my fans, I love all yall straight up!
Look out for Dolo’s mixtape exclusively on Certified-Fire.com!
Also stay tuned for more of Dolo’s music as we post up music from our Comin Up Feature Artists…
Good music dolo, keep up the good work!
[...] out CERTIFIED FIRE’s very own COMIN UP artist DOLO and his new mixtape MIDWEST GO GETTA’s Vol [...]