Who Is Dizzy Wright?

The expression "small win" may seem like a trivial statement, but to Dizzy Wright, it's the genesis of his relentless pursuit for success as an MC. Developing a thirst for the microphone when his classmates were satisfied with sipping Juicy Juice, the Las Vegas rapper has over a decade in reps. In the last four years, Dizzy has released six mixtapes (his earliest one under the moniker Dizzy D Flashy), dropped his debut album, SmokeOut Conversations, and an EP for lyrical insurance.

Along the way, the 22-year-old signed a lucrative deal with independent stalwart Funk Volume, amassed a dedicated following in and outside of his hometown (and country, for that matter), and procured a spot on XXL's Freshman cover as the "People's Champ." While these accolades tell one story, Dizzy continues to divulge another. "They’re always big for me," he says. "But I treat them all like small wins."

The pursuit continues.

In between his extensive touring schedule and putting the finishing touches on his latest mixtape, The Golden Age, Dizzy Wright discussed the lineage of his humbling childhood, his obligations as a father, and what he has planned for the future. Who Is Dizzy Wright? You're truly about to find out.

As told to Edwin Ortiz (@iTunesEra)

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Growing Up In Las Vegas

Dizzy Wright: “I lived in Flint, Michigan until I was 4-years-old and then I moved to Las Vegas. Growing up, I was a travel baby. My mom was in the music industry. My mom was chasing a dream. Wherever she went, we went. So we moved around a lot.

My auntie didn't want us in her house after a couple weeks.

“When I moved to Vegas, we moved in with my auntie. My auntie and my uncle were like, ‘We're out here all the way in Vegas, we don't got no family here. You all should just come out here and bring the kids.’ So we came out there and we were staying with them for a little while, but me and my brothers were just trifling. We didn't really have good home training.

“My auntie didn't want us in her house after a couple weeks. We ended up moving into some small ass apartment. It was five of us in like a one-bedroom apartment. That's where the struggle began. I got three brothers and one sister, I'm the second oldest. At first, my older brother really had to hold the fort down, and then he started running wild. My mom was always there, we just went a couple hours out the day when she wasn't there. It was just enough time to be bad ass kids.”

Getting Into Rapping & Having His Mom Write His Lyrics

Dizzy Wright:“It was me and my brother KJ at first. I was eight, and my mom signed us up as youth reporters for [Just For Kids News]. She pretty much set us up for being in front of the right people. Just from that, we did interviews and met some producers. That’s what got us in front of Tyrese. He was like, ‘These kids, they the future.’ We ran with it.

My mom wrote the raps and we pretty much got on the track and said it. We hadn’t even hit puberty yet, just these little voices.

“It wasn’t much to the rapping. My mom wrote the raps and we pretty much got on the track and said that shit. We hadn’t even hit puberty yet, just these little ass voices. [Laughs.] It was crazy. I don’t remember the records too much, I’m going to find them, though. I had a bunch of songs. We had a song called ‘The No Name,’ we had a song called ‘Hustler’s Mentality.’ My mom didn’t like that one, though. That’s when we got a little older.

“I started writing my own raps when I was in seventh grade. My mom was being salty, too. She was still trying to give her own input. [Laughs.] Like, she would want to add a verse to a hook. I’d do a hook and she would try to add her own two cents and I was like, man, no. [Laughs.] It was crazy, we were beefing over the writing shit a lot. Whatever she was trying to do, I wasn’t feeling that shit.”

Living In A Homeless Shelter

Dizzy Wright: "I was in seventh grade. My mom was making bad decisions, I suppose. We were in a place, everything was getting paid for and then all of a sudden there's no money to pay for it. It's like, 'Where the fuck did the money go?' My mom always kept kids in a kids' place. You never really know the ins and outs to the struggle. We stayed [at the homeless shelter] for like five months.

"We spent Christmas at that shelter. They had a Santa Claus come and give everybody presents. But he forgot one kids' present. Mine. I was the only kid that did not get a present. They gave me an extra piece of whatever we was eating. Like, 'Yeah, take this extra piece. Sorry.' They didn't bring anything extra and I didn't get one."

Moving To Georgia

Dizzy Wright: “That was in ninth grade. We had a group called DaFuture. It was me, my homeboy DeJon, and my little brother KJ. Dejon took me to church and I got baptized. Dejon and his family were teaching me about The Bible and helping me build my connection with God. He was an only child. His mom was a twin and his dad was a twin, he had like some fucking ironic ass little life, but they got me into church.

“He was moving and I was just like, damn. I didn't want the group to break up. That was the only nigga I really kicked it with. So I asked my mom if I could go with them. I was getting in trouble, but then I was getting into my spiritual stuff, and with the direction I was going in, my mom was like, ‘Yeah, if they say it's cool.’ So I moved to Covington, Georgia with him.

“You ever heard the saying, 'You never know somebody until you live with them?’ That's pretty much what I became a victim of. That shit was cool until I lived with them. Their way of living was a little too much for me. It made me kind of salty, and it started making me act differently.

“He kind of made me the enemy. I guess somebody had tried to fight him, and I ran up on the nigga on my own time. Everybody started saying, ‘Oh, his little brother got more balls than him,’ because I was in the ninth grade and he was in eleventh. He wasn't trying to fight, but I didn't give a fuck. He got mad at me for that shit, because he felt like I was doing it because I didn't think he could fight his own battles.

“My mom ended up moving out there. I was telling my mom, ‘They got nice ass houses down here for cheap. What you're paying, you could get a four-bedroom house down here, just right down the street.’ She was like, ‘Alright, I'll look into it.’ I sent her all the shit and she ended up getting the house I was talking about.

“So I moved out of his house and moved down the street with my mom. We stayed for a little while. But this was Hurricane Katrina time, we got hit with a lot of tornadoes and shit from Katrina. I was like, 'No, I can't fuck with this house. That scary weather shit that be going on, hell no.’ So we went back to Vegas.”

Finishing Up School

Dizzy Wright: “When I went back to Vegas, I didn’t even start school. My mom decided we were going to move to California. I went to five different schools in California, and I still ended up finishing the year off in Vegas. [Laughs.] I went to six schools in eleventh grade.

"Everywhere I went I was able to play ball, so that was the plan. Just play ball, go to college, and study something. Ball was supposed to be the college ticket, but because of the moving, my credits were all fucked up. They told me that I couldn’t graduate. It was either do night school and morning school and all that shit and graduate, or play ball and not graduate. So I had to make a choice. I just decided to do the night school shit.

“My senior year I got back to Vegas, and now I’ve got my own apartment. My mom is just up and go, up and go, and that shit is not good for a kid because they got to be stationed and settled somewhere. Luckily, I was able to do night school and early bird classes. That was my schedule, like literally I would start at five in the morning and get home at 9:30 p.m. every day. I didn’t have no car or nothing.

“I was a good student, I just had a problem paying attention. I lose focus in things because it becomes irrelevant to anything that I got going on, or anything that I want to do in life. I feel like I’m wasting my time. They just teach you that shit out of a book that they teach to everybody every fucking year. That shit made me not pay attention. When I would pay attention and I would listen to that shit, I would pass all of it. None of that shit was ever too hard for me, it was a simple fact that I didn’t care for none of it."

Rap Influences

Dizzy Wright:"Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, just their harmonizing. I always felt like they were really singing. I remember seeing Krayzie Bone in the studio, smoking a blunt. Half his hair was done and the other half wasn't and he was just in there puffing, and the nigga was singing. So every time I hear them harmonizing, I always pictured these thug-ass niggas really trying to sing. I was all about that.

My mom was close with Layzie Bone before I was born. Them just always being around, he told me when I was young, 'I'm your uncle Layzie Bone.'

"My mom was close with Layzie Bone before I was born. Them just always being around, he told me when I was young, 'I'm your uncle Layzie Bone.' It's been like that, he's always just treated me like I was his nephew.

"I fucked with everything that I heard. The most shit that I listened to was Bone. Everything that was coming out, like all through the 2000s, I bumped that shit. Chronic 2001, that whole album. I listened to whatever was coming out. I'm not like a big fan of anything. I fuck with a lot of shit, but I don't 'fan out' over anything. Not even Bone."

Growing Up Without A Dad

Dizzy Wright: “My pops did 20 years. My mom told me bits and pieces of what was going on. He was a snitch, he told me when I met him. He told me the whole case, like everything piece by piece. I learned everything about what happened in that case. But meeting him and just talking to him as a young man, and being open to hearing everything about him and his life, we’re very similar. It definitely made me look at him completely different.”

Team Flashy & Flashy Inc.

Dizzy Wright: "I pretty much created that circle. We were into fashion and shoes, that was pretty much it. Then I started throwing parties. As I started throwing parties, it wasn't like it was, 'Dizzy Presents,' it was my crew. So with my crew, we would all show up to the party, flyer than everybody. Then all these other little niggas want to come up with their crew. It just kind of started like that.

"As we started seeing that we were setting trends and niggas was trying to be like us, then that's what made us want to start adding things like music. That's when I started fucking up, because I wanted to do more than what niggas was trying to duplicate. I had a couple rappers, like niggas who rapped who weren't even into fashion. I completely took it off the fashion aspect of things. I tried to get a photographer, rappers, dancers, whatever. And Team Flashy wasn't suitable for that.

"That's when we changed to Flashy Inc. It was my business move at a young age. Everybody started doing team blazers and team Nike, all this 'Team' shit started happening. That's when I started doing the Flashy Inc. shit. But I put too much on my plate. I had too many people representing the name.

"I started reaping the consequences. The more I would do, the more I wouldn't be around, and I'm the one that can shut it down quick. Niggas get ready to fight, I'm the one that can shut it down. But, me not being around, everything just got wild. Next thing you know, people started turning on me. It was a learning process. Now, the same people I started the dress crew with are the only people that are in Flashy Inc. All the shit that we added eventually got cut out."

Passing On A Def Jam Demo Deal

Dizzy Wright:"Def Jam offered me a little demo deal. They had a sound that they were going for and it was awful. I've always been more comfortable taking the slow route, because I feel like we've always struggled because we move too fast. We got to take our time with things.

You're up on level five when you're supposed to be on level two, but you skipped three and four. In order to get to six, you got to have three and four.

"That's been our downfall, just trying to take shortcuts and fast track shit, that will fuck you up. You're up on level five when you're supposed to be on level two, but you skipped three and four. In order to get to six, you got to have three and four. So you're pretty much stuck until you step back three steps.

"They want to try to push you to have potential to do what they want you to do. I could have gone in there and did exactly what they wanted me to do. They probably would have dropped that shit and did some low budget video, and it would have went everywhere and made a couple thousand dollars. And then I'd be irrelevant by now, just trying to come up with a mixtape to try and get relevant again. But I just said, 'Fuck that shit,' and waited for my time."

Signing With Funk Volume

Dizzy Wright:"It was really weird. After [a failed deal with independent label Bluestar] I was really salty. That was supposed to be some independent shit but it turned out to be some weird ass shit. That let me know that you have to pay attention, because that shit could have turned out bad for me.

Every artist can be a good artist, but a platform makes you really who you are.

"So when I met Dame [Ritter], I was hesitant. But Hopsin was on the rise, and his numbers were way better than my numbers, so they obviously had to have been doing something right. From that, I was all ears. We're still growing with each other. SwizZz and Hopsin are from California, Jarren Benton's from Atlanta, I'm from Vegas. We're still putting pieces to the puzzle.

"They bring a platform. Every artist can be a good artist, but a platform makes you really who you are. Kendrick Lamar being under Dr. Dre, or Dre and Snoop Dogg, coming out and saying, 'This is the leader of the West Coast,' niggas was hot off that shit.

"When you have that kind of platform, those are the kinds of things that are going to happen. So Funk Volume created this platform for me to just be an artist. If I make music, they can get it to the blogs. If the blogs are feeling you, then they'll fuck with you. So it's on you to make it what it is, but the platform helps too."

His album, SmokeOut Conversations

Dizzy Wright: "I'm just talking a lot about how I was feeling. It was based off emotions. It had nothing to do with what I wanted it to do, or how the people were going to react to it. I knew the people that would fuck with it would fuck with it, and those who wouldn't, didn't. It may not be in somebody's reach, but I just put it out and learned from it. There were no expectations."

Being A Dad

Dizzy Wright: "Having my daughter Xhaiden, she made me want to work harder and get my shit together to be a successful black man. I've been in an environment to be a hood nigga, just grinding. Against all odds, my daughter, she just made me want more for myself, to not be okay with struggling.

"Being on the road, It's tough, but I face time her a lot. Technology makes it so I can talk to her like I'm there. If she's not going to sleep, I can still get on the phone and tell her to go to sleep. She'll still cry just by hearing my voice through the phone sometimes, but I'm still very much involved.

"The most important thing for me is that I'm able to be a provider. We just moved into our new place, and it feels good to be able to make that step where she has a little more space and she can be a kid and do things that I didn't get to do."

Following "The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom" In Life

Dizzy Wright: "There's a lot of things in that book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. They are being impeccable, not taking anything personally, not making any assumptions, and always doing your best.

"Being impeccable in your environment means making sure you know everything that's going on. Create that surrounding of being impeccable, that way you're not unaware of things. That's been real good for me as far as dealing with my manager, my girl, and my mother.

"Not taking anything personally, that's one I took that hit home for me because all of the shit that goes on with the Internet. These people act like they know you. Just know that they're saying what they're saying because of whatever they're going through. It really has nothing to do with you.

"Not making assumptions, I just try not to make assumptions about things. I always try to do my best. I apply that to my life. That's pretty much what goes on in everybody's life. It's like a self-improvement book to create what they would call a heaven on earth. It gets you immune to certain things and shit that tries to throw you off your game."

Putting On For Las Vegas

Dizzy Wright: "A lot of people love me out here. I was cool before I was famous, I was everybody's homie. I threw the functions, if nigga's were short on money, I was getting them in. Then I would get up there and perform, and they would rock with me because I was the hardest rapper.

I definitely will be remembered as a piece of Vegas, somebody that did something for Vegas.

"Now they see me on all these blogs, the same place where we would go look for music, and I be at the top of that shit, next to the big dogs. I'm like the first person that people saw at hookah lounges off the strip that they could look at in a magazine now.

"I want to be known for putting this city on the map for hip-hop. As I make more money, I'm going to add shit to this city, try to give kids shit to do, because I know there ain't a lot of shit for niggas to do out here. I definitely will be remembered as a piece of Vegas, somebody that did something for Vegas. I'm never trying to be the face of Vegas, though, ever. This is Sin City, I don't want to be the face of this motherfucker."

His upcoming mixtape, The Golden Age

Dizzy Wright:"I'm still in the process of wrapping it up. We're doing a lot of work on this mixtape, I'm about 12 records in. It's that golden era shit, but mixed with some new shit. It isn't going to be too far-fetched off of what I got going on. There's a lot of '90s shit on there, though.

I get to do something dope to make the old heads feel a certain way and give these new cats a taste of substance.

"The shit that I'm doing, nobody is doing it. Not that I'm doing it because nobody is doing it, but I'm in a position where I have a lot of attention now. I get to do something dope to make the old heads feel a certain way and give these new cats a taste of substance.

"Me and Wyclef Jean, we just caught some vibes. He's a good dude. We created our record so fast, it was crazy. I was thinking, if I spent a week with him, fuck! Kid Ink is on this record, so is Honey Cocaine. Fashion is my roots, and she's definitely a fashion statement of her own. So I wanted her to be a part of that. Production, I got DJ Hoppa, my boy Rikio, Kato, ThirdEye is on there. Pretty much the people that I've been with. Lex Luger is going to have beats on there. He sent me a bunch of shit."

Future

Dizzy Wright: "I'm going to do The Golden Era, then I'm going to do The Second Agreement, and then after that I'll do the second album, probably next year. I'm learning a little more [each time], I'm getting a better understanding of this game. I'll definitely have to get Layzie Bone on the album. Snoop Dogg, man, if I could just get Snoop on a Dr. Dre beat, I'd be set.

"I'm excited for people to hear the shit that I did with Wyclef Jean more than anything. It's that boom bap, '96 shit. I did some shit with Wyclef and Rakim, they put me on their shit. I'm excited for people to hear that, 'Back on My Boom Bap.' It's going to be insane.

I don't want to be wrong, but I think he's doing part two of April Showers. It's an extended version. I'm excited, because he wants to do a video and everything, and Dizzy is going to be in there with Rakim and Wyclef. Just creating that new wave of hip-hop.

"I walked in and he played me what he had going on. I'm like, 'Damn.' I played him like six records, and we were just vibing out. He told his brother, 'Yo, give me a beat.' He grabbed his guitar and started playing his guitar. He was vibing out, he was looking at me, just trying to figure out what I was feeling. I started rapping a little bit, and he was like, 'Okay,' and I just started writing.

"When he was done with the guitar, I was done with my verse. When I rapped him my verse, he was like, 'Okay,' and he started freestyling. Literally, just started singing. We didn't go in no booth, he just had his microphone out. He was like, 'I haven't recorded with this microphone since The Fugees.' I literally just rapped my verse into it, and he sang his shit and then I did another verse. It felt like some old school, some '96 shit. It was like there was no booth, like we couldn't afford a booth, and we were at the studio.

"I'm about to put a studio in my new place. Everything being more right here for me, where I don't have to go to the studio or leave, and have people send shit over. With me just putting that shit in my house, I'm going to be able to vibe out in a different kind of way now. In a more productive way, so I'm excited to be creative here."