Meet Dolla Black

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dolla Black a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dolla, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I believe my work ethic stems from not wanting to have obstacles that hinder me from reaching my goals. I can become quite obsessed when I’m locked in on a goal or objective, so running into speed bumps or things that could prevent me from reaching that goal normally pushes me closer to the goal. If it’s a skill or trait that I’m unfamiliar with or don’t have as a strength, instead of calling it quits, I normally take the time to learn about it. Apply a bit of energy towards figuring out if it’s something that I could absorb and use as another tool. I can’t say that I can pinpoint a reference as far as an example of that trait in anyone I saw growing up, but I know I’ve always had the desire to be relentless in my pursuit of making something of myself. Becoming purposeful and allowing that drive to create a way for me to create access or wins for other people I encounter along my path.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Nice to meet you all! I go by the name of Dolla Black, I’m an artist in the skill of rap, a songwriter, and a mix engineer. I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, and I am currently based out of Georgia. Music has been a part of my day-to-day journey for a while now, and I’m looking forward to sharing my story with you guys. I’ve just released my most recent body of work, titled RELEASE, which highlights my experience with Therapy to give my peers and anyone who comes in contact with that work insight into what the process of going through therapy looks like. Throughout the years I’ve always heard people speak negatively on the process and speaking to a stranger about your grief, trauma, and whatever else you may be experiencing, so I think it’s important that the ones of us who have gone through the process reassure those of us with no experience of just how helpful it could be.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I would say that being an asset, open-minded, and not being confined to my idea of success has gotten me very far.

Throughout any journey, you’ll encounter people who may be walking a path similar to yours. Maybe parallel or even on the exact path, doing the same thing. Those people may or may not have all of the information, skills, or resources that you have, and it’s always been beneficial for me to be an asset to other people’s journeys while walking mine. This has created relationships I can’t replace and monetary opportunities as well, just because my mentality isn’t always “pay me first”. Getting your hands dirty at the right time for the right people can open doors that you might not have been able to get into otherwise down the line.

Being open-minded has allowed me to gain knowledge and experience in areas that don’t revolve around me being an artist, which also allowed me to gain skills that can prolong my journey in music. Being able to see myself as more than an artist has allowed me to run sessions for legends as a recording engineer, help with contract negotiations, and work as a cameraman for production companies. It’s pretty dope and exciting when I think about it.

I think that also blends with not being confined to my idea of success. A lot of the “side quests,” I’ll call them, placed me in roles that put me far from being the artist of focus or the center of attention. Most required me to be solely a tool in the chest and make sure that things ran smoothly. Even with that being the case, I’ve gotten to experience and build with people that I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to build with or be a part of certain experiences without me being able to be open-minded at those times. I would have missed them if I chose to respond, “I’m an artist, I’m not doing that!”

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I definitely believe that if you can be well-rounded, you should take advantage of it. In my experience, I’ve always encountered people who believed they couldn’t do more than just what they focused on. It could’ve been a conflict of time, or conflict of interest, or they felt like doing anything other than what they were strong at took too much energy away from the main thing, but I truly believe in being able to do more than one thing. We oftentimes think that if we find our purpose or the thing that we’re passionate about, we think that it’s the only thing that we should do forever. And for some people, that’s exactly right, but for others, the thing that you’re passionate about may be leading you to your purpose down the line. You never know. I’ve just always been the person who would rather try and find out I don’t like or need the skill as opposed to ignoring the pull towards my weaker strengths and later find out that those things were what I needed to put me in position for my purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dolla-black.supertape.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealdollablack
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealDollaBlack
• Twitter: https://x.com/RealDollaBlack
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DollaBlackBDE

Image Credits

Photos By Rambo Rowe & Meredith Williams