David Sherry (aka The Nilotic) Interviews B. Dolan of Strange Famous Records
Nilotic: How long have you been writing poetry? And have you always been interested in doing rap/music or did you also consider strictly spoken word performance as a means of getting your work out to the public?
B. Dolan: I've been writing poetry, raps, and stories since I was about 12 years old. My interest in writing sort of took hold around the same time as my interest in hip hop, though when I started writing it wasn't strictly hip hop at first. I discovered spoken word sort of by accident, in the midst of all that. I found myself at a poetry reading at a friend's college in Poughkeepsie, NY, and read something. Afterwards, someone told me I should checkout the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Brooklyn, and that's where I sort of discovered the performance poetry scene and developed an interest in it. That's also where I started performing, and was pretty much met with immediate success... so I guess I got pulled into that world for a couple years pursuing different avenues within that. Though I eventually ended up rejecting almost everything that community produces and stands for. Heh.
N: How come you ended up rejecting that community?
B: There's a few poets out there who I'm willing to co-sign, and I consider to be great, important writers. For every one of them there seems to be a hundred really gross, pandering hacks. In some ways I think the game of performing poems for points encourages that... In other ways I think it's been a conscious movement of a certain group of artists, who've written themselves right out of any kind of relevance they might have had. I don't want to get into it too far or get too negative, but suffice it to say that you won't see me participating in or advocating that stuff anymore.
N: How has your experience been working with Sage, the other artists on Strange Famous, and your experience just being on the SFR label in general?
B: Well, of all the friends I've ever had or people I've ever worked with, none has ever come close to putting me on or having my back as Sage has. To be honest I don't even know how that came to be, or how I came to deserve that kind of support in his eyes. I've honestly learned the meaning of being 'humbled' by working with SFR. In the sense that you're being supported so powerfully it can make you stop and think 'hold up. am I good enough to warrant this?' hah. So, it's been good working with Sage, is the answer to that question. There's no way to quantify the things I've learned from being in that dude's presence over the years.
And, as it happened with SFR, and knowing Sage prior to SFR becoming a label and sort of "getting in on the ground floor," that's been really exciting and challenging as well. I feel very bound up in the story of SFR, and that it's more than just my 'label' in that sense.
N: What artists personally have been an inspiration to you when it comes to poetry and hip-hop?
B: There's too many to name, and I really draw inspiration from all kinds of art.... but, just to run down a kind of random list that gives an idea of the spectrum of things.... let's say... Werner Herzog, Big Daddy Kane, Michael Jackson, Stephen King, Klaus Kinski, El-P, Pharoahe Monch, Kool G Rap, LL Cool J, Scarface, Chuck D, Rick Rubin, Howard Zinn, Philip K. Dick, Philip Glass, Joe Frank... haha... I could go on like this for hours.
I watch a lot of movies man. I even run a semi-regular column on the SFR blog called 'Movie Time with Benjamin' where I recommend movies. David Lynch and Coppola are also two big inspirations.
I tend to do a lot of research when I write, and that research is sometimes literal and sometimes more mood-based... I use books and movies to keep me inspired in a way through those times, and make my brain work. Keep feeding it good stuff and good stuff comes out.
N: What are your thoughts on Saul Williams?
B: I dig Saul William's work a lot. He's someone I'd really like to work with at some point. He's another poet who outgrew that scene fairly quickly, as I think most of the good ones do. As a result of performing in New York and being around, I know a lot of people that Saul knows, and vice versa... and have even met and had a few conversations with him at times... not sure if he'd remember me though. He's a good poet and good people. And he's made some really exciting music in the past few years as well.
N: Was there ever a time when you felt like you wanted to give up on writing and music? If so how did you get through that?
B: Amazingly, no. After almost 20 years, there's never been a time where I wanted to give up. There were times when I wished I wanted to give up. When relationships were ruined and money was strained and my physical and mental health were pushed to the absolute brink. Hah. But even in those times I know that I can never quit, as sick as that is.
N: A lot of your material is very political. How come you chose politics as some of your dominant subject matter?
B: It's not really a conscious choice, it just sort of happens. I've always been politically minded, since I was very young. I guess if I had to trace that back to something it would be Public Enemy.... they sort of awakened that consciousness in me first, and then I just became obsessed with learning more. In 6th grade we had this thing called 'Young Authors' where you had to make a little book, write it and create the cover out of construction paper or whatever. Mine was about the assassination of JFK. If i remember I came to the conclusion that it was the CIA working in conjunction with the mafia. haha. I've always been this way man. I dunno. Problems with authority. Daddy issues. Lead paint.
N: It goes without saying that there is always going to be a part of the audience that doesn’t understand your message, or people that are angered by some of your words. Does this ever discourage you?
B: Not really. I'm also confrontational by nature. The time when I'm excited is when the shit is hitting the fan, in any given situation. I'm almost a student of conflict. When everything is cool and people are being polite and civilized, I'm busy studying their little ticks and searching for that hidden anger anyway... So either way, what I'm after is the conflict. So, when people get angry, that sometimes feeds me. Especially with something like the Bombzo performances. In that case I actually set out to incite as much anger as possible in the crowd, just to see what would happen.
As far as 'not understanding' my message, that's a different question. I try to hit people in the gut whenever possible, or to make things available at different levels of any given performance or song or piece... So that even if you're not necessarily engaging with it in the way that I am, there's something there for you.
At times I make things just to communicate with myself, and then I let other people see it. Thats what "The Failure" lp was about. It wasn't made with any consideration of audience in mind, really.
All in all I've never been convinced that I'd be able to communicate with anyone. So when communication breaks down I'm never surprised.
I understand accessibility though, and how it works. In some ways its one of many tools that an artist has at their disposal. Sometimes you want to be understood as plainly as possible, sometimes you want to be abstract, or somewhere in the middle... and you can open and close the blinds depending on how much light you want to cast on things at various times.
N: I understand that Sage Francis and yourself founded the site Knowmore.org. In your opinion, has this project been a success and are people embracing it the way you hoped?
B: It's been a success in the sense that the site is read by thousands of people every month, and continues to grow in readership. It's still my hope that the site will gain some kind of critical mass, in the way that Wikipedia has, and that volunteer editors will start to create that content on their own more. However, it's been growing steadily for sure.
N: Is your forthcoming album, “Fallen House Sunken City”, a concept album? What is the overall theme of the album?
B: It's not the kind of concept album you would call a concept album, but I had a concept I was 'writing around' while making it. It involved Atlantis, and a morbidly obese man trapped in his home. Lost people and lost civilizations, is the overarching theme, but the songs are made to stand very much on their own.
N: Personally, what do you see in Hip-hop’s future?
B: Ah. Hip Hop. That's a tough one to call. There's a lot of dumb shit that goes on under the umbrella of hip hop... a lot of dumb attitudes and expectations that fans have of artists. And that's lead some artists to do dumb shit, just to fill the mold rather than break out of it.
At the same time, there's continually new stuff that I'm excited about, though maybe the quantity of that has slowed down.
But there's at least a steady trickle of new hip hop that excites me most of the time... and by the way that has nothing to do with the genres that are imposed on rap.
'Commercial,' 'independent,' 'street,' 'emo' ... I don't really pay attention to any of that shit. I'm a fan of rap, and that includes Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Cage.. even dudes like Diplo, even dudes like Curtis Plum. haha
But I'm getting into something that's hard to quantify, which is personal taste. And that's all my opinion on the future of hip hop really is. If I ran a major label I'd be speaking with more authority maybe... as it is I'm just a fan of rap like everyone else, really.
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Swim inside the brain of B Dolan and it’s hard to come back unchanged. It’s certainly been personally enlightening to hear his thoughts on art, poetry, his new album, the hip-hop scene, and Daddy issues. :)
He definitely needs all of our support for him and his new record! So pre-order it now at www.FallenHouse.com.
Much support for B Dolan and SFR!!!!!!!
“We’re at the fire! Where the hell are you?”
