RFM caught up with Dorrough post west coast trip. He was fresh from The Bay Area where his lead singles, "Ice Cream Paint Job" & "Walk That Walk" off 'Dorrough Music,' initially attracted their biggest followings.
By August 12 'Dorrough Music' officially tops the Billboard Indie Chart & it ranks #3 on the Billboard Hip Hop Chart. On the eve of his album's retail release Dorrough opened up to RFM about what drives him to disregard old parameters in order to be successful & elevate his hometown, Dallas, TX.
Mike TV: What type of whip you pushing now that the singles are bubbling & the album is out?
Dorrough: We stay lacked up where I’m from – got a couple lacks; that’s the way we role right now.
Mike TV: What’s your favorite color ride?
Dorrough: My favorite color one is my all black one with black & chrome things.
Mike TV: Your record broke first in San Fran; have you been out there since it got popping? Is it like a world away from D Town?
Dorrough: It was crazy. I had never been out to the Bay or to California for it to be big out there, and they showing a lot of love to a southern artist; it’s hard to break in that west coast market.
Mike TV: Have you been out there since it started popping?
Dorrough: Yeah I was out there yesterday; we did a video shoot for another song I did with a artist out there. I go out there a couple times a month actually.
Mike TV: Who’s on it?
Dorrough: Young Lot.
Mike TV: Does San Fran feel like a world away from D Town where you’re from?
Dorrough: Yeah it’s different, but at the end of the day a lot of places be so different but so the same. It’s a whole different scene, but I like it out there.
Mike TV: Why’d you choose to sign a deal with E1? I’m sure some other labels were hollering.
Dorrough: They just came with the best situation for me at the end of the day.
Mike TV: Do you pay attn to the charts & crazy ringtone stats your doing?
Dorrough: My people around me keep me in tact with it a lil bit, but at the end of the day I stay too busy; I just don’t really have time to keep up with it. I just keep doing my thing and my people around me keep me informed and I just hope and wish for the best – tryna to continue to make stuff pop.
August 12, 2009
EMERGING STAR HAS GARNERED OVER 500,000 DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS TO DATE!
(New York, NY) – Leading independent E1 Entertainment announced today that Dallas hip hop artist Dorrough’s new debut album, “Dorrough Music,” has debuted at #1on the Billboard Independent Chart. The album sold over 12, 000 copies and also debuted at #3 on the Billboard Hip Hop Chart. This release is E1 Entertainment’s 195th album to debut at #1 on the Independent Chart through its music label, E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records).
Mike TV: Of course.
Dorrough: We anticipating a lot of singles coming off the album. We got a couple of em that’s already hitting radio right now – one of em, featuring Slim Thug called “Chain Swang,” and it’s doing real good – produced by DJ Monty; he produced a lot of big records. Then I got a song called “…To the Beat;” it’s pretty big; it’s produced by Too Much who produced “Ice Cream Paint Job.” We anticipate even more singles than that to come out. At the end of the day I feel like it’s gon be a classic album.
Mike TV: You feel like it will have a nice run for months through the winter.
Dorrough: Yeah. It’s one of them albums that’s timeless, so you could jam it – I feel like people gon be jamming it for at least a year after it drops.
Mike TV: Do you think that admitting you went to college is a symptom of the new rap game? Maybe 9 years ago it wouldn’t have been cool to say I’m a rapper who went to Prairie View.
Dorrough: At the end of the day you get it how you get it. If they ignorant enough to not know you can get it anywhere…to be honest I feel like had I not went down there I wouldn’t even be doing…I wouldn’t have even had success like I’ve been having because a lot of my success came from the college market. People don’t look at it like that; that’s like one of the number one ways to break records – one of the number one ways to cater to different people; you get so much exposure. I took advantage of that whole lil college market, so at the end of the day…it is a new generation; you see people coming up through the Internet and people coming up through all type of ways. Me, it’s kind of like I found it out; I was fortunate enough to go to school cause I was a baler; I played basketball. I took advantage of the whole lil music thing and I was in the street at the same time grinding, so I just did it all. Nowadays I feel like you kinda gotta be like everywhere.
Mike TV: I go to Howard in DC, so I totally know what you mean, 100%.
Dorrough: Yeah yeah yeah. Nowadays I don’t do no tripping about that – however I got it that’s how I got it.
Mike TV: How is the feeling of hip hop now different from the vibes you grew up on?
Dorrough: I grew up on all kinds of hip hop – from the west coast, east coast, Tupac, Biggie. But I was really influenced by the southern movement we had: UGK, Swishahouse, Lil Flip – all that; Master P, you know what I’m talking bout? Hip hop is hip hop only because it changes. If it don’t ever change that’s when hip hop…people talk about hip hop dying; that’s when it’s dead – when it don’t change or evolve in some type of way. So now you can’t blame people for coming up the way they coming up; people can’t help if they grew up in the era of the Internet; people can’t control that, so at the end of the day, how can you judge a man for grinding it out off the way he know. I feel like a lot of new artists such as myself should be getting way more respect than a lot of even the other rappers because most of the new artists staying in they lane. I feel like it’s all about staying in your lane and not tryna…you do get people that step out they lane and try to do other stuff and be on some other stuff, but most of the time most of the new artists staying in they lane. A lot of people stepping out tryna say they doing this and doing that and tryna do this and that – tryna create a image. And they really kinda hindering themselves.
Mike TV: What’s your outlook on the Dallas rap scene? It seems like people such as Jesse Is Heavyweight & Lil Will are making the city stand out.
Dorrough: Everybody out here tryna get it. I feel like the Dallas scene has been tremendously overlooked the last couple years. Even right now I feel like we still in the early stage, but we at a stage where we get recognized; people looking at us; we influencing the whole southern region right now. If we keep coming with it we might hit the muthafuckin world in a couple years. We more advanced than where we was a couple of years ago. We got our own style; we got our own swag; we got our own thing, so you can’t knock that either.
Mike TV: How do you see your lane in the game?
Dorrough: I do music. I’m an artist. And when you hear my album you gon see that this dude right here is creative. I don’t really try to stick with one style. I just vibe with music, so at the end of the day staying in my lane is doing what I do best – putting out good music. I got songs that’s lyrical then I got songs where I’m just kind of riding the track. You gotta know how to vibe with music to put out good music; people so one-sided… a lot of these artists so one-sided that they don’t understand that you can be the best rapper in the world – the best lyricist – but you still gotta have the ability to create a song; just cause somebody can spit, that don’t mean you can create a song. And I feel like that’s the biggest rappers. You can go on the street and find some of the best, most talented spitters or lyricists – they can’t put together a song. So at the end of the day it don’t make you [very] talented if you can’t put together a song. I feel like that’s one of my strongest points – I can put together a song. You might put together a concept then a hook; you might put the lyrics into it…it’s about everything connecting with each other. The best artists can really make songs that people can relate to and feel. I feel like that’s what I’m good at; that’s what I’m bringing to the industry right now. I see the bigger picture when it comes to music.
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