Young Dolph

I'm not just an artist. I'm a CEO.

Whatever you want to do, just make solid decisions.

I didn't agree with everything she was trying to get me to do and teach me, but once I got old enough, I understood everything. I'm thinking she was being mean. I'm like, 'Damn, I just want to have fun. I just want to go outside, Grandma, play with the rest of the kids and kick it and ride bikes.' She prepared me for life with all of the rules.

At the end of the day, don't nobody go into business to lose money.

I was always real deep into music. From everything, all around the board - from East Coast, West Coast, down South, everywhere. I just been a fan of music and I know I always wanted to do it myself and I wanted to do it my way. So, I told myself if I ever start doing music, I'ma do it my way. That's what made me start my own label.

I don't wanna be like everybody else.

I ain't finna be beefing back and forth about no girl, bruh. I'm not doing that.

I've been enjoying life for a while.

I'm through buying cars. I'm through buying jewelry.

In the game, you've got some people who've got money, but their music is kind of off, their music is garbage. Then, you have people with good music, but they ain't got the biggest part: They ain't got the funds. But me, I'm just all the way around the board.

Ain't nothing like family.

I'm a person. I don't like having security.

I'd rather motivate somebody all day long.

Dolph writing movies. Dolph into fashion.

Hell yeah, I've influenced a whole lot.

When people think Down South they think: 'They're not up on game,' or 'They ain't hip.'

Not a lot of people make it out from where I'm from but I'm a living example showing you that it's possible. Word hard, play hard.

I don't want to play police games. When you start playing police games, I take myself out of the equation.

It's just like, we know how to push ourselves to the max.

Memphis wasn't hot before Dolph came out.

I really don't like showing my hand.

There's a lot of people in this game that wait for Paper Route, Dolph or Glock to drop just to get that new lingo and style and see what type of creativity we on.

I don't give a damn if it's a hustle that's already big or you go to work at Kroger every day, the grocery store. Or you work at Walmart. You work, so I respect you. You don't work, what can we do? We can't relate.

The first rap I recorded was on Jeezy's 'White Girl' beat. One of my partners invited me to his studio, so I go. I wasn't planning on recording, we were just messing around. And I started recording a song, just a freestyle. Back then, Jeezy was going so hard, that's what everyone was on. That's what me and my partners in the trap would listen to.

I'm not going to play with the police.

But that was our thing from day one: to make Paper Route Empire strong. That's why I never wanted to sign to no label.

Baller Alert' is based on my lifestyle. As I talk about in the song, I've done a lot of dirt and worked hard to get to where I am. This song, like a lot of my songs, is about celebrating life.

I got a lot of artists, and I been dropping all my artists' projects, and they going up.

Man, my little boy wanted to hear some new music. So it was like, I can't just play all my music around him, so I got to go ahead and make a whole project so I can get it clean, and have a clean version of all the songs just so he can listen to my music, you feel me?

You really got people that you got to talk to every day, you got teams that you gotta work with every day. You lose track of... not real life, but the people that really love you. It becomes a distanced thing because you give that job all of your time.

I know how to make myself hot. I can drop my own music. I can shoot my own videos.

When Young Dolph dead and gone, people still going to be talking about the Paper Route Empire.

We did so much music together, before he got locked up, it's just, Gucci, he don't hold on to music. He like, Man, let's put this out, let's put that out, let's put this out. That's what he do. He like to put out a lot of music.

I'm here to satisfy the people. I'm here to teach. I'm here to motivate. I'm here to give people the adrenaline, the push and support.

People, my age, people older, people younger, it's like they look up to me. They listen to my lyrics for wisdom. They listen to my lyrics for like game. They listen to my lyrics for real deal beneficial purposes.

I know what the streets want to hear, I know what the streets going through, the lingo, the fashion, everything. It ain't nothing; it's my real life.

I'm not like most artists or most CEOs - I'm a CEO first, then an artist.

I told myself, if I sacrifice Young Dolph and never sign to a major label and I get Young Dolph hot? I'm going to earn and get all of these relationships and do a lot of networking. I'm gonna know the business, all the way, ins and outs.

When you come to Memphis you get the family vibe. All of my partners, friends, they're from my neighborhood.

When you from Down South, it's, 'You're a trap rapper,' 'You're a street rapper.' They try to put you in a category.

Yeah, I was going to have no features on 'Bulletproof.' But I ended up putting Gucci Mane on it. That's just my partner. He's just one of my personal friends. It ain't no different for him from my homeboys in Memphis. I just have a real personal relationship. I met Gucci Mane through my partner Drumma Boy, the producer.

Once you been listening to the same CD for, like, two weeks, three weeks, it get old to you. You need something new.

You make good music, you're going to get good results.

If there's something negative about you, you've got to bring out the positive to the front.

I like seeing new artists with no buzz, because I can give them game, and they'll take that and run with it. It's not like someone who's been around that feels like they know it all.

It was a strategic plan, because prior to us doing 'Dum and Dummer,' me and Glock never had music together. So I planned it that way - because I always wanted Glock to take off and go big on his own, without a Dolph co-sign or Dolph feature.

This has always been my plan and my vision, to build a strong team and build artists like Glock. I always knew I could do it with artists, because I saw what I did for myself as an artist.

I'm not trying to regret nothing in my career.

I told my grandma a long time ago that I was going to take my mom and dad out the hood.

There were two hoods, Magnolia and Castalia; I went to Magnolia Elementary. Back then there was slick beefing - all the Castalia kids would go over to Magnolia.