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When SugarHill DDot sits down in WonWorld Studios, he eases into the chair and pulls out a brush. From there, he begins to brush his emerging mustache, which is mostly fuzz on his upper lip. At 16 years old, DDot was born the same year Barack Obama was elected president. He has grown into a prominent drill rapper and hails from Harlem. He’s got numerous hits, and almost a million followers on Instagram and has algorithms in a chokehold.

He shares his dynamic music videos with fans, but also gives intimate looks into his personal life on Instagram. In an interview with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and DJ Thoro, Harlem’s viral sensation discusses his new album, Two Sides of the Story, his journey in the music industry, and his plans.

Dot has lost a lot in his life, namely his close friends in rap. Nowadays, he desires to reduce violence and admits there’s difficulty conveying this message in his music. He has big ideas, big-time friends like Lil Durk, and a bright future if he can stay focused. Watch the plight of a young rapper, figuring out life as he goes along.

Check out this heavily edited Q&A with the full video interview below.

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Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: So you didn’t take rap that seriously when you started?

SugarHill DDot: Not at first. I was just dropping mad music, just mad anything and whatever will go up will go up. And then I wasn’t doing marketing. I ain’t know what marketing was at that time, but it was other people doing it, feel me. And oh, who the f### is this kid? 13-year-old rapping? He’s talking about killing ni##as, all the extra sh#t. So I was just marketing. So that helped me a little bit. So when I was nobody, I had 20K, 10K followers. I was still known, you understand, in my city. But then once I started dropping more music, I expanded labels, then I got signed to my label (Priority Records). Then it just went from there.

DJ Thoro: Where did your inspiration come from to even start rapping being that you’re so young?

SugarHill DDot: Nah, like I said before, it was just a guidance thing from my son (his friend). Everybody was rapping, so I saw everybody doing that. I felt like I could do it too…but I ain’t never seen myself here.

DJ Thoro: So it was nobody that was say popular that was big that you looked up to. Just somebody from your block.

SugarHill DDot: Of course, there’s other rappers like Drake, but they not from [Harlem]. So I was just listening to their music, but who really gave me guidance was like my son Dot a couple more rappers because I would see them shoot [videos], and I would be in every music video. If you was to see me back then, I wasn’t doing music. I was just in every music video when I was like 12, 13.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: Is Drill going out. You think?

SugarHill DDot: I don’t want to say that. Nah, because that’s where I come from. So I will never leave that behind. But I feel like I could just do different type of music and that’s what my album is going to show my supporters – that I’m more than a drill artist. I would never leave it behind. I call myself an artist now.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: Talk about your friend, who passed away.

SugarHill DDot: Yeah. Yeah. My son E passed away last year…and a half not that long ago for me. [Creekmur: So what happened?] Nah, it was just some s### after the show. I thought we was all good. That’s why for me, I don’t like to talk about it a lot, but it was just at a show. We was at a show and we heard about the news after. I don’t know if he would’ve been at that show though. That would’ve never happened. But he wasn’t at the show so it was just like mad s###.

But yeah, my son really gave me guidance, told me, I used to be on the phone with him all the time and I used to tell him, we used to just talk about our feelings and s### and music and all that and then we did our show. It was just mad s###, feel me? So that was one of the persons people that guided me to do this music s###. And that’s another reason why I can’t stop the music s###. I lost n##### behind this s###. So they wouldn’t want me to crash out or fall out just because of the way I’m feeling. And I got a family too. I’m becoming more of a man now. Feel me?

DJ Thoro: How do your parents feel about your success?

SugarHill DDot: I was more grown. My grandparents, my parents was good parents, but they wasn’t in the picture all the time. But it was good parents, I would never take that away from them. For me, they’ll always do their own thing. But I was really raised with my grandma. I was always living in my grandma’s houses. When I lived somewhere, the property was owned by my grandma. So I was always raised by my grandma and I would eat with my grandma and if I ever was to live with my parents, they would’ve never last.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: So you’re technically still in school, right?

SugarHill DDot: Yeah, of course, homeschool. But it’s better now. I feel like that’s better. I used to hate waking up in the morning.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: So, the people started treating you different?

SugarHill DDot: I didn’t really like my school, my middle school, they used to treat me like I was s###. My teachers used to always…there’s always some of the teachers that accept the bad kids. You understand? For me, there’s one teacher called Mr. Mendoza. He always used to support me, but some teachers used to downgrade me and make me feel wack for me. My school used to be mad wack bro. I’m not going to lie.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: Do you plan to finish school?

SugarHill DDot: Of course. But I don’t really feel like college is for me. You understand? But I should finish high school. Everybody should.

Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur: So you got this new album coming out, but it is not pure drill. So you’re doing more singing?

SugarHill DDot: No, of course, it’s drill. In my album, I can never leave my real, real fans in the dust. So always got to give ’em what they want.

DJ Thoro: So what’s your relationship with Lil Durk? I see he brought you out on a show.

SugarHill DDot: Yeah, I got a good relationship with him. I went to the show, met him, had a good time with him, talked to him, [he] gave me a lot of guidance too. Then the second show I was in, he texted me, he was like, “Yo pop out to my show in Chicago.” So took a flight to Chicago that was with him and s###. That was the second show. I could say that’s one of good artists I have a good relationship with.