Song #87: Dolla - "Statistic"

Song #87: Dolla - "Statistic" (2010)

The Miseducation of Dolla

"Another black man locked up in prison, another mother gotta make another visit."

I may as well introduce the late rapper Roderick "Dolla" Burton II early on in this blog series because you will be hearing a lot about him throughout the next three months. In a broad sense, I consider Dolla my favorite rapper of all time (notice my word choice of "favorite" not "best" for I hate the use of that absolute); from the first song I heard from him ("Who the Fuck is That?" his biggest single which was never all that big) I knew I'd love him. His voice is such a unique combination of assertiveness, sensuality, and vulnerability that changes to fit the mood of each song, and the topics he chose for each song were incredibly diverse, leaving Dolla to be an identifiable singer-songwriter rather than a faceless musician drawn in broadstrokes.

"Statistic" is one of many songs by him that will appear on this list. The song deals with struggles in the black community, with its chorus consistently reminding us of statistics of black men in prison, black men killed in gang shootings, black men dropping out of high school, and teenage pregnancies. Each verse following the chorus deals with one of the four topics in a stunningly deep and upsetting way that makes one contemplate things they probably wouldn't otherwise bat an eye at. Put with biting, unforgettable lyrics and a smooth, jazzy beat that nicely carries the harsh lyricism at hand, this is a truly hard-hitting song, emotionally and structurally.

As vital as empiricism is in a society, statistics also unintentionally generalize and make us forget that actual people represent those numbers, figures, and spreadsheets and weren't just spawned out of thin error. Dolla makes us remember that with this song in a brutally honest manner (in an approach he referred to as "The School of Hard Knocks"). Nothing is generalized in this song, and we get the feeling that these stories are based on true events, dealing with the people Dolla knew in his own life.

Tragedy struck for Dolla, however, on May 18th, 2009 when he was shot and killed at age twenty-one in a crowded area in Beverly Hills, California when he was going to finish work on his forthcoming debut album off of R&B/rapper Akon's label Konvict Music. The man who shot Dolla - Aubrey Louis Berry - was arrested and taken to trial and acquitted on the murder charges, claiming self-defense. Dolla never had a big single (only three ones released with minimal promotion), no debut album, and five mixtapes, most of them released posthumously. I have to say that even though he died young at least we got a great deal of music from him and weren't left wondering what could've been in terms of lyricism.

Dozens of songs by Dolla exist on the internet, most in an incomplete state, but almost all of them worth listening to. Don't worry, as stated, this isn't the last time he'll get a mention on "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski" blog series. Yet that doesn't change things. Sadly, Dolla was just another statistic - rinse and repeat.

Give "Statistic" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY3cuSHfryY