Song #63: Dolla - "Role Model"

Song #63: Dolla - "Role Model" (2010)

The Miseducation of Dolla

"Life ain't always 'bout the club, poppin' bottles, before you lead, gotta learn how to follow."

Every time I listen to a Dolla song, be it for leisure, for remembrance, or simply to satisfy the need to hear a brilliant rap song, I get quietly angry that I'll never be able to hear any new Dolla material, unless of course a new stash of songs or personal recordings of his are uncovered. For what we've gotten from him over the years, however, has been a real pleasure to listen to, when recognizing that many slain rappers don't see much of their material released, or didn't have that much material to release. Dolla had a plethora of songs and recordings, many of which are of exceptional lyrical/sound quality, even though many are likely deemed "unfinished" in the eyes of executives and the artist.

If you didn't read my entry on Dolla's "Statistic," which was number eighty-seven on "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski," Dolla was shot and killed in May 2009, forever ending the life of one of the youngest, most captivating rap artists I had ever heard. One of the many songs to prove his lyrical talent emotionally and in a thought-provoking manner is "Role Model," a cut off his posthumously released mixtapes The Miseducation of Dolla and The Greatest Hits of Dolla. The song is immensely personal and self-reflective, as Dolla, in a clearly self-contemplative mood, talks about how he could very well clean his life up if he put his mind too it, rather than smoking and drinking liquor "to destroy my mind." He also wonders if he would be this way had he not grown up underprivileged and if his father would've been, "a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a judge," which, in that case, would've probably never spawned such bold lyrical content.

Dolla zealously raps for four minutes, longer and more substantially than many rappers today, talking about how he could very well be somebody's role model and is not a bad person by any means. Something like this is a real treat to hear recorded and mixed professionally, rather than being a poorly-mixed demo or, worse, just disjointed writings on a piece of notebook paper. The song's effect on me made me think about how, if we extract the best qualities of ourselves, we could all be role models in some conceivable way. This is one of the most powerful rap songs I've ever heard in terms of message and content, and by doing this blog, I'm hoping I'll bring some sort of necessary life, or a resurgence, to the genius and "miseducation" of Dolla.

Give "Role Model" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSOfn1UhKhI