The Spirit MOVES

The Portland Trail Blazers All-Star point guard and rapper DAMIAN LILLARD brings his game on the court and on the mic

Vanities/Music

Lisa Robinson

L.R.: How did you get the nickname "Dame D.O.L.L.A."?

D.L.: My college roommates called me Dame Dolla, and then I decided to use it as my rap name. But I turned Dolla into an acronym: It stands for "different on levels the lord allows."

You can really rhyme, but many basketball stars who rap aren't taken seriously.

I think people just respect my rap [because] I didn't skip steps. It's a passion I picked up before [my] status as NBA player. I took the route of any other aspiring artist. I started a platform on Instagram called #4BarFriday, where you rapped four bars, I got some big basketball names to do it (LeBron James, Paul George, C.J. McCollum), and basically created a whole community. I started dropping freestyles every Monday, performing little shows in Portland and Washington, then started getting tweets from people who actually wanted to hear me make more music.

What was that "battle" about that you and Shaquille O'Neal engaged in last year?

The battle with Shaq was not personal. He took offense to something I said and decided to dis me. So we settled it in a lyrical spar.... But since then, we've done a song together and communicate often through text.

Who were your musical influences growing up, and who do you still listen to?

I love Tupac, Nas, Andre 3000, Common, Lil Wayne.... Lil Wayne is on all three of my albums. When I started putting out my rap music, he heard my stuff, we connected and started talking and became really good friends.

How has your music evolved from your last album to what you're working on now?

In this era they want the bounce or the mumble rap, but I love Nas and J. Cole, that's more of my style. With this new one, I'm giving 100 percent authenticity of how I think and feel—being more vulnerable.

Much of rap music is about struggle; did you have a rough childhood?

I did have a rough childhood. I come from a real strong family—a lot of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents—we had dinner, we had school clothes, we didn't have everything, but our life was fine. But the environment where we grew up in Oakland was rough.

Do you feel the current protests in response to George Floyd's murder have exposed systemic racism in a new way? Do you think there will be real change?

I don't think systemic racism was exposed more this time than in recent years; I just think we as Black people have had enough of the bullshit. We've reached that breaking point. Our ancestors dealt with inequality, slavery, segregation, lynching, et cetera. Now we have so many instances where what we knew existed is in our faces on camera, and there are never any repercussions or remorse shown. It's always "justified" somehow. As far as real change, I think the unity being shown across the nation and in other countries is delivering a strong message and applying true pressure. There are also more people in search of ways to take true action toward change and not just be part of the outcry. So I think now, more than any other time, we are moving in the direction of change.

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