Who Is Dizzy Wright?

From taking it slow and steady to being motivated by his daughter, find out what makes this exceptional Las Vegas rapper tick.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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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

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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

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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

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Moving To Georgia

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Finishing Up School

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Rap Influences

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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

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Team Flashy & Flashy Inc.

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Passing On A Def Jam Demo Deal

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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

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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

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Being A Dad

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

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Putting On For Las Vegas

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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

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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

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