Florida-Born Emcee Is Focused & Ready
2:30PM ET March 7th, 2012
Contributor : Malcolm Strong
A Rocky Williform Company

E Dott’s musical journey has been interesting to say the least. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, the rhymer recognized the power of music early in life, even though it would be years before he committed to rocking the microphone. “I started out as a drummer when I was really young--In the southern Baptist church,” he explains. “[There’s] a lot of soul in the church in the south where I’m from. I developed this love for music on Sunday. I went to the hood church [and] they’d bring their problems and express their emotions through the music in church. I embraced the emotion.”

Apart from drumming in church, E Dott also recognized the energy of the secular sounds Florida was becoming famous for; namely, raunchy bass-heavy club rap. “In Tampa, it wasn’t always big on lyrics. We grew up on 2 Live Crew and jams like that and everybody jumped on that Miami movement and as we got older it turned into the jook movement. We called Tampa ‘Jook city,’” E Dott says. “I think I developed that love for the party in Tampa. But when I moved, I developed the love for lyricism.”

That move took the soon-to-be-artist north to Pennsylvania, where living in the Philadelphia area gave him a newfound appreciation for rhyming—and sharpened his focus. “It was like everybody on the block was spitting. They go around in a circle and everybody rapped. It was more involved in the culture for people to lyrically rap. It was a high standard for freestyles and cyphering. I knew I had to step my lyrical game up.” And after the fateful killing of his best friend and rhyme partner in 2008, E Dott committed himself to achieving his dream and making hip-hop his career. “When he got killed, it was definitely like...sealed in stone that this is what I gotta do,” he shares. “I gotta go after this.”

And E Dott has gone after it, wholeheartedly. He focused his attention, talent and energy into recording “Letter of Intent,” a mixtape that reflects his life and reality and showcases his gifts as an emcee and vocalist. The title is more than just a clever nod to E. Dott’s past as a basketball player, it always references his perspective on where his career is today and where he’s heading. “[It’s like] the process of becoming a college athlete--you sign your letter of intent to go off to school and accept your scholarship. To me, it’s like the come-up. I’m not necessarily there yet. I’m right there, though and I’m hungry and I’m waiting. I see this big opportunity—just like when you sign the letter of intent to play a college sport.”

“Letter of Intent” has gotten the emcee tremendous online buzz, and it’s shown him how his own words can resonate with listeners in the same way that those choirs resonated with folks in his younger years. “I get tweets and Facebook statuses and people hitting me about ‘Letter of Intent.’ Just knowing that my emotions and my experiences and me expressing that through my craft is really touching people and they’re vibing…[and] it’s getting them through their day. That’s a helluva reward.”

Follow E Dott on Twitter at twitter.com/edottanswer
And check him out at EDottAnswer.com