Last updated: 7 hours ago
Dame Dilla started rapping when he was 11- years old. He and His older brother, Shawn Gotty, would listen to Gangster Rap (NWA, Spice One, etc.) and Dame would mimic what he heard. He became good at mimicking these artists and began to write his own music. Dilla grew up in the Cabrini Green Housing Projects, one of the most infamous housing projects in the city of Chicago, along with his Mother and Six Siblings. In 1993, Dame Dilla and his family relocated to the Uptown Neighborhood on Chicago’s North side. Though he was initially happy to be free from the crime-ridden streets of Cabrini, he soon learned the Uptown neighborhood was no different from the one he had known as a child. Like many other young black males in the community, Dame Dilla was enticed by the lures of the streets. Still an avid lyricist, his experiences in the streets influenced his music. According to Club Owner and former manager of Do or Die, The Godfather,” Dame Dilla is a very versatile artist in an industry where most artist stick to the latest trends…Pure Talent!” Dame Dilla himself quotes,” I want to give what I feel is the unheard voice of the streets of Chicago…No Disrespect to any other Chicago Artist, but I feel the real story of lif
e in our city, the love, the poverty, the history, the hate, the reality of life here should be shar
ed with hip hop and I am the perfect narrator.”
