On Tuesday, Portland Trail Blazers point guard, 5X NBA All-Star and rapper Damian Lillard, aka Dame D.O.L.L.A., dropped “Blacklist.”
The spoken word “open letter”song addresses police brutality and is available via Soundcloud.
This isn’t the first time the artist has addressed police brutality using music as his vehicle. In 2016, he released “Bigger Than Us”, a song and video in response to police brutality against black lives.
“As a rich black man living in this country… It’s hard being comfy..When the hate yo people get is coming from the ones amongst me.” – LYRICS FROM BLACKLIST
Dame has been focused on giving back this year, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. He re-launched his #4BarFriday brand community of 100+K members as a weekly show hosted on his Instagram live every Friday.
#4BarFriday was originally launched in 2013. It was launched as a weekly Instagram freestyle challenge; unsigned MCs put their skills on display in less than 30 seconds via hashtag.
Dame hosts the two hour-long IG live session. Members of the #4BarFriday community compete by rapping in multiple rounds until a winner is crowned.
He’s created an unprecedented hip hop experience for the unsigned lyricist community and hip hop fans worldwide. Lillard partnered with the biggest names in music production. He set up a guest producer to provide beats each week.
Producers include: Murda Beatz, 808 Mafia, Non Stop, Hitmaka, boi1da and Mannie Fresh.