ABM: We're over here at Street Symphony Studios hanging out with Dorrough Music recording "All of the Above" with E40.
DORROUGH: Dorrough Music! Shout out to E40, who's in the booth recording!!
ABM: You know what I'm saying? Dallas' finest. So tell us what got you started in this rap game, Dorrough?
DORROUGH: So I started doing the high school thing, just doing mixtures and putting them out. You know? Getting my name out there that way, and just doing them in my home town of Dallas. By the time I graduated from high school, I went to ASBCU, got in Prairie View-PV. You know? A lot of people came out in the music scene. You know I touched down and did the thing. You got Kirko Bangz down there, you got Bone, Alley Boy, DJ Merk, you know? A lot of them were down there. We were all doing our thing. And then when I went down there, ASBCU, black school. I went down there to ball, but I ended up just taking up full-fledged music. I had a record popping down there. It was a big record called, "Walk That Walk." It was crazy. All the fraternities and sororities were all over it. It was one of my first singles that I actually put out. And I made it pop. And at the same time I had another record with Prime Time Click, we had a record called "Halle Berry". That shit swept the whole fucking state in a matter of months. We were pushing it and it blew. That was actually the first radio record that I got to land in Dallas. You know? It was me and him on the record before the record ended up taking turns and they ended up sending it to Hurricane Chris. It was a big situation before that, but right after that, my work record took off. I was still doing mixtures. By this time, I had already had probably done 4 or 5 mixtures. So my name was just buzzing through mixtapes and it helped the single. I kinda just got it started there.
ABM: So what are you currently working on?
DORROUGH: Now I'm on my 3rd album, 5th industry mixtape-the Highlights Mixtape, which will be a very big project, man. It's a very big project. I'm blessed to have some of the best ones working with me in the studio right now, E40. I call him 40 Water. You know what I'm saying? He's got all types of names but he's really an ambassador. I want to be where he's at. What I admire about him the most is that he's been consistent and he knows how to keep it going. What I mean by keeping it going is that it's not an easy thing to do in this industry. You come out here to the Bay or anywhere in the West Coast or anywhere in the country, really, and say his name-everybody can put everything with it. You know what I'm saying? He's got a movement that's like no other that I really respect. So I came out here to the Bay to work with him. He hopped on the "Ice Cream Paint Job Remix" and killed it. That was really big to me. He doesn't even know it but it's big to me. It really helped out the record and now we're here for the kill of this other record. He's on the Highlights Mixtape, you know. We've got Bun B., Nipsey Hussle, Kid Ink, Ace Hood, Yo Gotti, 2 Chainz and Bobby Valentino on the mixtape. Those are just names at the top of my head. It's a really big project and I'm blessed to be in a position where I'm at to be able to keep it going and I'm just trying to learn and get it in, you know? Highlights is out now hosted by DJ ill Will. Y'all have to make sure you go and download it! AYE!
ABM: Let's talk about DJ Amen. You said he has played a critical moment, how so?
DORROUGH: One day, Amen hit me up on Myspace talking about how he likes "Walk That Walk". We got to chop it up. He told me he was from the Bay Area. I didn't even know what the Bay was at the time. He told me it was in Cali, and he told me to send a record. I sent a record and did a drop for him. He was trying to work that record in the Bay and 4 or 5 months later he got back to me and said, "Well, man, they fuck with the record but it's just not their type of record. It's not their groove, it's not up tempo, it's not the vibe of what's going on in the Bay." And I was like, "Cool. Cool." But he was like, "You've got to get me more records." And one day, I was working on a mixtape and every time I work on new music I just put it up on my Myspace page. One day I had this record up there. It was, "Ice Cream Paint Job". I was on my Myspace page and he sent me a message. He was like, "Yo! What's this record on your page? Ice Cream Paint Job? Is this an original record?" I was like, "Yeah. I'm just working on my mixtape and it's part of it." You know what I'm saying? He said he thinks my shit is dope. I left it at that. A week later he was back and was like, "Man, I'm going to start playing this record. I'm a DJ on a radio station and I do mix shows." I was like, "Cool!" I didn't really understand where it was going 'cause we weren't pushing that record in the South. I had no idea that it was a hit record. Next thing you know, long story short, it ended up becoming the biggest record in a couple of months because Amen was playing the record and he blew it up. Long story short, I ended up getting signed with E1 Music (formerly Koch Records) in New York because of "Walk That Walk" and at the same time, "Ice Cream Paint Job" was taking off in Cali. It blew up in the Bay and swept the nation. You know? It was all through Myspace network and DJ Amen finding me and believing in the record cause he really went out on a limb and pushed that record and did what he did.
ABM: Sounds like a pivotal moment in your career!
DORROUGH: It was one of the greatest things that happened to me. It gave me a chance. It was really just hard work paying off. I was grinding all that time and I still am. I was doing a whole bunch of stuff and it was something that would shake for you, bro. You know? I just went through the "Halle Berry" situation and I feel like it was God saying, "You're going to get introduced to this industry and you take it from there once it's happened for you." To this day, I hit up Amen all the time. He's family, he's in the count. He was a blessing to me.
ABM: That's big. So what else are you currently working on?
DORROUGH: Highlights, the mixtape, man. It's a big project that I've been shooting a lot of videos for. I'm in the studio recording right now and I'm featuring E40, and I will probably put the homie YG on it. It's called, "All The Above". I'm working big features on it: Bun B, Yo Gotti, Ace Hood, Bobby Valentino, Yung Nation, it's got many different names on it. I've got a lot going on. I've been assigned my little bros who are also artists called Yung Nation out of Dallas, man. They're blowing up. I'm proud of them. These two lil niggas remind me of myself in high school when I was 18. They've got the energy. They've got a lot going on and they just contribute to my brand, Prime Time Click Ang. Shout out to DJ Merk. Shout out to Q. on Worldstar. You feel me? So I've got a lot going on, man-the whole music thing, branching out, doing different shit, just having fun with a lot of it.
ABM: Tell everyone all the groundwork you've been putting to the pavement, we know you work real hard.
DORROUGH: The ground work is always important. I like coming up. You know what I'm saying? That's exactly what I've been doing. I went back in grimy ways and really just did a lot of mixtapes. Since my first album, I've dropped 3 Gangsta Grillz mixtapes with DJ Drama. "Number 23", "Code Red", and we just dropped "Silent Assassin". I've got the Highlights dropping with ill Will. You feel me? These are industry mixtapes, big dog mixtapes with all original music, which really make them more like albums. You know what I'm saying? So you can say that there are 3 albums on top of the "Dorrough Music" self-titled album and the "Get Big" album. So I'm on my 3rd studio LP album with the label E1 this summer. I've really been working. You feel me? I'm ready to get my video game up, man. You can go from Worldstar Hip Hop to MTV Jams to 106 & Park to YouTube and you can see that the work is there. You feel me? I've really just been doing everything, like I said, coming down and rooting everything together, doing what I'm supposed to do as an artist to keep it going and have longevity. It's really not just about the shine. And the shows are forever-everywhere across the nation every weekend. At the same time, Mondays through Wednesdays, I'm at the studio in my crib. So you know, we're just making it happen.
ABM: The industry saw huge success from you remixing Genasis popular song "Jackie Chan", how did that go about?
DORROUGH: G-Unit, yeah. That's 50 Cent, man…G-Unit Records. That's another thing.. DJ Amen. He found that record and I remember him telling me that there's a Genasis' record called, "Jackie Chan" and that it's dope. He said, "When I first heard it, it reminded me of you and the situation. You should get on that record." I told him that I actually like the record. It just came together. I went out to the Bay to have a meet and greet with DJs and Genasis was there. We chopped it up and next thing you know, I was on the record. It was big record, especially in the West Coast. In LA and even in the Bay. Just shit like that. You know? That was just networking, moving around and being at the right spot at the right time. You've got to move around and get to know the spots at the right time. It's a lot, bro, and when things like that happen, whether on a small or big level, that's the industry.
ABM: Obviously we know you work with E-40, tell us your best memory with E40 out of all the experiences you've had.
DORROUGH: I went to the San Francisco game when they played the Giants in the playoffs with E40. You know what I'm saying? That was probably one of the greets experiences that I've ever had since I've been in the music industry because, for one, this nigga is an ambassador in the industry. Also, he's one of the kings of the West Coast. Definitely one of the kings of the Bay Area, a real OG in the game. So, for me coming from Dallas, Texas, knowing where I'm coming from, to be in the atmosphere of this ambassador, to really just be fucking with him like that , we going to the game, hanging around with him-he put me on game. He was just talking and everything he's saying, I realized, was just some real shit because I was just thinking about that. Like some of the things he just freely talked about, I was just thinking about at the hotel an hour ago. I pay attention to things like that. He's definitely a pioneer of the game.