Today we’d like to introduce you to DK RoLLa.
Hi DK, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I been a fan of Hip Hop and the culture ever since my Pops made me a mixtape with The Ghetto Boys “Mind Playin Tricks On Me”! From there it was My older Cousin Byron and me listening to music at every chance we got in his apartments off of Ferguson. My cousin had a plug on new tapes where he got all types of music either before or right when it dropped. Every time I went to his house, he had a new tape that dropped. He had a real nice stereo system that we would have to wear headphones to listen to all these explicit lyrics since his parents and my mother were very strict Christians. I was exposed to so much music in his room from Ice Cube, Scarface, Ghetto Boys, Twista, UGK, 8 Ball and MjG, Tech N9ne, Westside Connection, Snoop, Dr. Dre, Lunaz, E-40, and the Clicc, Spice 1, etc… I don’t know if people remember but, on these tapes, they would normally have a B side with maybe 1 or 2 instrumentals, and my cousin no matter if u could or could not would make whoever stayed with him rap. That’s how I got the bug, freestyling in his room late at night so my aunt and Uncle wouldn’t hear lmao. Good Times.
Fast Forward, I’m in High School playing sports and I’m still heavily into music but I believe Football is going to take me to the next level. My Senior year I get sick with Graves’ Disease, which is a Thyroid Condition. All that work I put into Football and Powerlifting pretty much is over within a blink of an eye. I spend my 18th birthday at Presbyterian Hospital and I’m happy to be alive but I’m also realizing my life will never be the same from this point. All the football scholarships and powerlifting scholarships go away quickly and now I’m forced to get into college the normal way by just applying. I was in AP courses and had good grades so it wasn’t totally terrible but I had to cope with my dream of playing college and eventually professional football was over. My cousin Byron who got me into Hip Hop was at UNT and he told me about the music program and the big studio they had there and told me “Hey man you’re a rapper anyway come up here with me and let’s work on some music!” I figured it was the right move I wasn’t too far from home since I was still dealing with my Thyroid issues yet far enough to be a bit free from home and pursue my music career.
UNT is where I made my bones and discovered what type of artist I wanted to be. Before I got there, I would say I was the best rapper in the DFW lol. I used to call myself the Dallas Nas (Nas being my favorite rapper) lol, Man I was soooooo wrong. I met some rappers up there that humbled me quickly. My first track I hopped on was with a West Dallas Rapper named WARIAMDALLAS and a White MC named Wreck-A-Mic. That one session let me know I had sooooo much work to do. I had no breath control, I really had no subject matter I was just making stuff up, and my rhymes were basic compared to them. Needless to say, War let me record my verse but I was taken off the track when the final mixtape was put out. Man, I was crushed. I had told everybody I was on that mixtape only to not make the final cut and be devastated thinking my rap career was over before it even started. I got some advice from my Patna Lb to rap about my life solely and to hone my skills better so I could match up to rappers that were currently in the game. So that’s what I did. It was like School, Work, and Rap for many years working on my craft trying to elevate and get better. I never wanted to feel that pain of getting taking off a track again or if they did it’s because I out wrecked them lol.
I know this is long but that’s the basis of what I’ve been doing. That has led to the countless amount of albums I’ve dropped all the way to my Merch/Label I dropped in 2021, True Story Curriculum, LLC.
I wanted something that represented me and my story. I wanted something that showed the progress and something I could control. For a long time, I was grinding with G-$quad and my homie Stone 1/2 of the group and they taught me so much. Once they branched off and went their separate ways, I knew it was time to really push my agenda and what I wanted. I had been a team player for a long time still droppin my own projects along the way but I knew it was time for me to spread my wings.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Hell No! If you want to rap just know there is no clear path for this stuff. I literally dropped my first mixtape “Back 2 The Basics” in 2004 lmao. The road is hard and you will deal with many low points and very few high ones. I can honestly say I’ve been through a lot of Dallas Hip Hop Eras. I basically started making waves during the DSR, Tum Tum, and Big Tuck Era. I still remember opening up with G-$quad with Dorrough as the headliner. He didn’t even have “Ice Cream Paint Job” at the time. His manager at the time DJ Merk was telling us behind stage how they were going to take off and how they had plans in motion. He had “Walk that Walk” and “Halle Berry” at the time so I felt like it was possible, but I never thought it would pop like it did. But needless to say, I was there for that. I did shows with Party Boyz right before they blew. We were in the Boogie Era, tried to make boogie songs to get on and it didn’t work. There is a documentary on my YouTube titled “Check Me Out” where we are behind the stage about to open up for Lil Wil at his height with “My Dougie”. During the ADd+ and Sore Losers faze I was there for that. Blue of Sore Losers was my old teammate from Cedar Hill so I got beats from him and tried to hop on that wave and got shunned pretty fast from that lol. All the way from T Cash “Spread Ya Legs” to the MO3, Yella Beezy, and Trap Boy Freddy age I’ve been droppin projects. I went to the same barbershop as MO3 and said what’s up to him frequently as well as met C. Struggs at a Say Cheese up and coming mixer hosted by Big D the Mogul of Mogul Media. We were both trying to get our music played and ended up just talking about football and powerlifting for an hour. He ended up getting in playing his music for Shawn Cotton and I didn’t. The rest is history. RIP to 3 and Struggs!- I’ve opened up for countless amount of people from Berner, Juicy J, Ty Dolla Sign, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Z Ro, Trae, Lil Flip, Devin the Dude, Paul Wall, etc.… to meeting a bunch of celebrities and nothing really popped.
I was pretty much about to quit until I met this guy from Forney at work named Ed. Ed went by Sonny Listen and I gave him my last project I felt I was going to make “ODSG Vol. 2” and he really thought I could spit. He told me he made beats, and he sang and rapped as well. I thought, mannn I hear this a lot let me see what this guy is working with. I was kinda playing him to the side till one day we went to his car in the parking lot and he played me some beats. Some of the best stuff I’ve ever heard. I was blown away. I told him I need those beats ASAP! He told me he wanted to record too and since at the time I was a bit broke and really couldn’t afford beats I told him how about we record at my house since I had a home studio and we use his beats. We ended up making a collaborative album called “The Day” and that changed my who trajectory. The bond me and Sonny Listen forged changed my music career. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am now. He has been my go-to producer since we made the album and somebody I always confer with before I start a project.
All this to say look how long it took lol. From 2004 to 2020 where I finally got a buzz off my single “Lawd Lawd” from the “FaithWithoutWorks” album. It took a Pandemic to really get people to listen to my music lol. I guess that was God’s Plan.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started “True Story Curriculum” in 2021 after my success with the “FaithWithoutWorks” album. I really wanted to get my merch off the ground and a label for myself to start making my brand a bit more official. I had been working on all this stuff myself it only felt right to make it legit. With some encouragement from Stone CEO of “Fly Season,” I decided to create a logo and start making merch for my brand. At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, it really hammered in my head that I needed to push a brand. Me as a Rapper has a shelf life but a Brand can last forever. I already had True Story Records but so many people used that and I knew I couldn’t run with that officially so I started brainstorming. I just wanted to build on what I already had. Curriculum came out of nowhere honestly. My mother was a teacher, my raps are lyrical and people seem to put me in that conscious realm so it seemed to fit. Lmao nobody was using it.
The goal now is to push the music, the merch, and writing for other artists. I’m trying to build up the brand.
With Sonny Listen’s production and with both our writing talents I feel we can create a song or starting point for any artist. I plan to still drop music under the label, and eventually, I want to expand it to other avenues. I graduated from UNT in Radio, Television & Film (RTVF) so I want to expand the business to Film, music production for film and television as well as developing shows. Also, I have been dabbling with the cannabis boom and would like to dip my toe in that. The possibilities are endless but my main focus now is to push the brand.
My proudest achievement right now is the website dkrolla67.com. Anything you need to know about me, the merch, the music, or the label is there. This is not my first website but this one is the most successful. During the early part of 2021, I put a lot of work into it and paid a nice amount of money to get things up and running.
What really sets me apart is the music. I guarantee this is not your typical sound you hear from a DFW artist. I’m giving you honest music man. I credit it to Stalley as Blue-Collar Rap. I also tie in the merch to each project so you get a piece of the artistry. Lb (my patna) so many moons ago told me to rap about my life solely and that’s what I’ve tried to do, give you the perspective of a kid coming from the suburbs who got into a Lil trouble, yet graduated college, has a job, has a child, deals with illness, dealt with depression, loves God, got friends who dabbled in the streets, has friends who are SVPs and EVPs of publicly traded companies as well as have friends that’s are teachers and blue-collar workers. I also love cannabis lmao.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I still plan to drop music, but that is more of a marketing tool at this point. dkrolla67.com and “True Story Curriculum” are the main focus, pushing the brand. and expanding the merchandise into full-fledged clothing business. I’ve been researching marketers and manufacturers that can give me more of a mass operation and better expansion of the designs I want to push. What I have currently has been working and doing well, I just kept designs simple and made sure the quality was on point.
With the Label, I plan to really focus on pitching songs to artists and trying to eventually sign talent. I’m just taking baby steps at this time. I see Dallas and DFW as a whole are ready to pop and people are rushing to fill in that void since MO3 died. I just want to make sure I’m handling my business correctly. Also, people really sleep on production for film and TV shows that’s something I want to tap into. When I was at UNT in my major I realized that field is big business. A lot of artists that are not household names have made millions producing music for viewing content.
Pricing:
- Shirts: $26-30.00
- Crewnecks: $32-38.00
- Hoodies: $38-42.00
- Hats: $23-32.00
- Long Sleeves: $28-36.00
Contact Info:
- Email: dkodsg@yahoo.com
- Website: dkrolla67.com
- Instagram: @dkrolla67
- Twitter: dkrolla67
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/dkmims1
- SoundCloud: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dkrolla/inner-thoughts
- Other: @dkrolla67_com
