Corey Dollaz is an influential disruptor. He’s an artist actively releasing quality content, an entrepreneur with a record label, and a philanthropist giving back to his community. In today’s music industry, it’s necessary to wear multiple hats on a high level to achieve success, but it isn’t necessary to be kind. I tend to judge others based upon what they do when no one is looking or things they do because they want to and not because someone asked them to. In an industry full of snakes, Corey Dollaz is simply a good guy. And for that reason, I’m rooting for him.
Dollaz experienced financial hardship as a youngster growing up in Michigan, so he decided to donate $5,000 so another student at his former high school in Saginaw would have to experience less of that brutal feeling. Focusing in school is a lot easier when money isn’t as much of a worry. If a student is worried about keeping the lights on, it’s almost impossible to care about y=mx+b. Algebra hits different (or not at all) when you’re hungry.
In an interview with MLive, Dollaz said it was critical that the donation transcended hardship and was even more about the scholarship: “It wasn’t necessarily ‘cool’ to go to school, we didn’t have the people that we looked up to or the people that were influential instructing us, ‘Hey, school can be a stepping stone to something greater,’” Dollaz said. “I kind of realized that and I said, ‘You know what, when I get a position, not only am I gonna give back to the school, I’ma make sure it’s an academic scholarship.’”
A resident of Vegas these days, Dollaz has been buzzing; largely propelled by the circulation of past tapes, and the hype surrounding his work with industry heavyweight Zaytoven at Atlanta’s Patchwerk Recording Studios.
The duo will be releasing a joint EP that I’m suspecting will punch the game in the mouth. He has a vast network in major cities throughout the country and seems to have a keen understanding of how to utilize and leverage that into bigger things.
His records are gritty narratives that really place the listener in his shoes. I can’t listen to music if I don’t feel it or if I’m thinking “I don’t believe you.” Unfortunately, I’m thinking that all too often these days, especially in Hip Hop music. There are more posers in the industry than ever. They create their image online when in reality, they have always watched from the sidelines and would probably be fans if not for smartphones and for people lowering their standards in terms of what they expect from their favorite rappers.
Fortunately, I can say with certainty that this isn’t the case with Corey Dollaz. With Dollaz, these are the stories of someone who has struggled and overcome. Someone who knows what it means to be on the ropes (in life and legally), and someone who knows what it’s like to be kind even if the world hasn’t always been kind to them. That being said, he hasn’t lost his edge on wax by any stretch of the imagination.
Simply put, we are the sum of our experiences, and Corey Dollaz clearly hasn’t forgotten his. I’m supremely confident that he is just getting started and am looking forward to saying that I was one of the people who “been told you.” NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN THE MOVEMENT!! I Cannot stress that enough.
This guy’s influence and positivity will shake up the industry and continue to extend into the community which is exactly what our youth needs. Someone who is uplifting but also someone who knows what it is to persevere and get through those low points with flying colors.
So, what’s up next for Dollaz? A heat-rock of a project called “Scams And Grams” is to be self-released at the end of the month on his Big Dollaz Records imprint. The entirety of the project was produced by Wayne616, one of Michigan’s most rapidly rising producers, and it’s loaded with the trademark street tales we’ve seen from Dollaz since breakout project “Flossin’ Season.”
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