BACKSTORY: Fresh out of high school, the producer and rapper got his start producing for Surf Gang, NolanBeRollin, and more
FROM: Atlanta, Georgia
YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: His collaborative album with Polo Perks and AyoLii last year, A Dog’s Chance
NOW: Dorian is bringing his rapping acumen to the forefront, crafting a collection of vulnerable, intimate reflections on adulthood
On “Gotta Be,” the ninth track from FearDorian’s second solo album, Leaving Home, he outlines the desperation that has propelled him to the forefront of rap’s underground. The Atlanta-based rapper and producer, who’s worked with Polo Perks, AyooLii, Surf Gang, RiTchie, Quinn, and plenty of other emerging figures in hip-hop and beyond, makes clear how this channel of expression has allowed him to live freely, to breathe. Over warm synth beds and layered, disassociated harmonies, Dorian raps: “I ain’t tryna lose my life, have my mama cryin’ / ’fore I turned to a mic, I had problems every night / This shit get so real, I be fightin’ for my life.” The journey from aspiring musician to fresh-out-of-high-school hitmaker is encapsulated in those bars, which highlight the struggle, joy, trauma, and pain that’s led him to Leaving Home.
Part of Dorian’s growing comfort in musical expression came from his decision on Leaving Home to embrace rapping full-time. He’d rapped before, but was widely known as a producer, cooking up synth-heavy, imaginative beats that were at the forefront of internet rap’s post-genre embrace. “I came into it with a lot of uncertainty as to how it would be received, because no one’s really heard me rap for real,” he tells me over Zoom. “Of course, I had songs out prior to this record of me rapping, but a full-length was a super huge step from what I was doing before.” Though relatively green to centering his vocals, Dorian sounds confident, even when diving into the question at the heart of this record: What happens when we grow up, leave home, and try to leave a mark on this world?
“I came into it with a lot of uncertainty as to how it would be received, because no one’s really heard me rap for real.”
The concept for Leaving Home began to coalesce last May, when Dorian was gearing up to graduate high school and planned on approaching the summer as his last gasp of childhood. With a new world in front of him and a career path already lined up, the artist planned on relaxing, spending time with his mom and sister, and celebrating graduation with friends before once again diving into his music career.
Dorian got his start by streaming SoundCloud on a hand-me-down Kindle. He’d spend all day discovering new music, eventually working with the artists he obsessed over, like Polo. “He was one of the first people that when I was dancing and shit, I was dancing to his music. Us working together in such a close capacity now, I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’” Dorian recalls with a laugh. “From seeing him on the internet and shit and being a huge fan of his music to working with him every day and shit, it’s all been super insane to me.” Dorian wanted time to live in this world he created, to celebrate his success as a musician while still being a kid. He wanted a moment of peace—but as a child of the internet, he should’ve known how quickly things can move.
His prowess behind the boards and on the mic negated any semblance of normal teenage shenanigans for him. “This shit is just life now, so I wanted to soak it in,” he explains. He wanted to live a little after the release of A Dog’s Chance, which he dropped with Polo Perks and AyooLii last June. “So much shit was happening,” he explains. “I was getting so many new friends and just meeting people out while traveling. I was going to and from New York, meeting people in the Atlanta night life. I went to Montreal.” His summer of fun quickly gave him plenty of inspiration for Leaving Home, which morphed into a reflection on this weird purgatorial space between childhood and adulthood.
After these trips, and before moving into his own place, Dorian decided to record some ideas that would make their way onto the album. One of those, “Pray 4 the People,” was recorded in his mom’s car in the middle of July, forced to set up the automobile recording studio because he didn’t dare record in front of his sister, who he shared a room with. So, when he pressed record, he decided to give the song a diaristic edge: “It’s 90 degrees in the whip that I’m pushin’,” he raps over a beat that leans toward juke music teasing dance vocal chops and house chords.
“I’m trying to progress the sound as it goes and I’m trying to grow with my fans.”
It’s these slice-of-life moments that help give Leaving Home an immediacy and homespun edge. Dorian wrote and produced the entire project himself, and his penchant for blown-out beats and off-the-cuff, free-associative deliveries makes the album intense in its approachability, like you’re peeking into Dorian’s studio (or his mom’s car) as he presses record.
“As I began traveling so much, I started appreciating being home more because places like New York feel so chaotic to me,” he explains. “You come back to Atlanta, and it’s like we’re living in the forest. It’s peaceful.” FearDorian needed that respite, but he also knows how quickly the limelight can fade. Leaving Home was made with the intentionality to last—he wants it to mean something in the world. “I’m trying to progress the sound as it goes and I’m trying to grow with my fans,” he explains. Each verse, each beat, each song, each album is a step toward his legacy. “I don’t want to be left behind as a memory,” he adds. FL
