Empire

Photo Credit: KPShotIt

Canarsie, Brooklyn’s Dusty Locane is is making a name for himself and is only just getting started. Similar to some of his counterparts, Dusty turned to music as a positive alternative to what the streets had to offer. He turned to music out of necessity and has never looked back. Initially Dusty had hoop dreams, but after a few short stints in jail Dusty knew it was time to switch lanes and focus his energy on music. Dusty began by dropping freestyles and started generating buzz, quickly catching the attention of Empire. Today Dusty joins us to share his debut project Untamed which includes gold-certified hits like ““ROLLIN N CONTROLLIN FREESTYLE” which alone has amassed over 200 million streams. Untamed also includes features from Yung Bleu, OBN Jay & Rah Swish. Last week we attended Dusty’s album release at Goldbar and earlier this week we got to sit down with Dusty to discuss his quick rise to fame, his latest project, working with Empire and switching up genres on Untamed. Find out more in our exclusive interview below:

The Knockturnal: How old were you when you first experimented with music? Singing, rapping etc?

Dusty Locane: Around 18-19. That’s when I made my first freestyle with the gang. Just playing around, pulling out Youtube and pulling out beats and we just did freestyles. I would sing to my mother but my go to is rap. 

The Knockturnal: What motivated you to try? 

Dusty Locane: Back against the wall. Not really having no option outside of it. I just did what I thought could help me and the people around me in a positive way. Because what we were doing thus far was taking us down. 

The Knockturnal: Was your family supportive of your career? 

Dusty Locane: No. My mother, my father initially were not – they love me to death no matter what we went through and they just didn’t understand and it was a lot for them to take in at first. Gradually they saw I was trying to bring out the positive in this and myself so they were good. 

The Knockturnal: I’m sorry to hear about your sister-in-law’s passing, rest in peace, can you talk about the role she played in your music career? I read that she was the one who told you when you were in high school that you’re destined for greatness.

Dusty Locane: My big brother was a smooth criminal, he was always in another situation but she held him down. So to watch how she had to raise the tough one and be behind him and push him out the way made me respect her for that. She never ever kept how she felt from me. If she felt a way she had to let you know then and there. I feel like I adapted that from her. I kept that with me. She was somebody that I could talk to but even when I was scared to talk to her or feel uncomfortable, she would try to start a conversation with me. She was always cool. 

The Knockturnal: At what age did you start rapping seriously as a career? What triggered this?

Dusty Locane: 20. I was remanded from doing stuff. I came home and like I said I needed a bag, I couldn’t wait. 

The Knockturnal: How did you learn and grow from your stint in jail? From what you’ve said about your time there it seems to be a period of growth for you?

Dusty Locane: Yeah, it was a short period but it definitely gave some light because I’m still fighting some situations but it gave me more of an understanding of how it really goes, like who’s pretending, who’s fake, what’s what. It definitely made me realize what it’s like. I could do anything I put my mind to, nobody could stop me. 

The Knockturnal: Who’s another artist in the industry that’s shown you a lot of love or supported your career so far?

Dusty Locane: Yung Bleu, that’s my boy. He reached out to me! I was bumping him before I ever thought about music. Watching him take a liking to what I’ve got going on, I respected that. That’s my dog.

The Knockturnal: What have been the 3 biggest highlights of your career so far?

Dusty Locane: I would say getting signed, being able to take my boys with me from the beginning, not having to worry about anything, and lastly I would say is my recent show in PA, Philly, Penn state showed out. The energy from the show was really receptive and there weren’t any issues and it was just a vibe. 

The Knockturnal: How has your experience releasing content gotten better since ganging the Empire team vs. not having a team? 

Dusty Locane: Prior to meeting Empire it was me. It was self marketing and knowing if I do this I would get this reaction, playing around with it. Getting a team like Bobby and everybody at Empire was definitely a blessing. It took a lot of weight off my shoulders but at the same time it gave me the freedom to do as I please, having creative control, I believe every artist should have. I’m appreciative for that. This independent work is not a walk in the park, you gotta be ready for the bumps and bruises and just keep pushing. 

The Knockturnal: How does it feel to release your album, Untamed? 

Dusty Locane: I don’t even like the word album, let’s stick to project. The way we went about it – I was creating music with my team, we didn’t know what order this could be in but we just made some good ass music. We understood that and turned it into a project.  This isn’t an album, my album is gonna have a lot more feeling and emotion put into it. This is just the beginning. 

The Knockturnal: What is the meaning behind Untamed? And how did you land on that title? 

Dusty Locane: At first it was called Life of a 5, that’s when Ghazi pulled up on me, I was having second thoughts and we said a few other names like Undeniable. Then I came up with Untamed. But there was also Undeniable, we thought it could be a second one or third one. But right now I am feeling Untamed. Everything that helped me grow was Untamed. Not allowing anyone to knock me off my path, not being able to easily be manipulated or not being gullible. It is just that word for me holds a lot of meaning and I forever believe I am Untamed. 

The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite track off of the project?

Dusty Locane: I don’t know man, they’re like kids to me. You just have to understand the importance of each and every one of them. Everytime I made a track it was in the mood I was in. The feeling and mood I was in is what you got, but if I could say a few it would be, “Rewind,” “Get Money,””Rumble” and “What You Need.”

The Knockturnal: I know you sing in this project, how does it feel to show the world other sides of you? 

Dusty Locane: It’s a relief because everybody was under the impression that, that’s all I could do, rap and that I can’t melodize. “Intro 2 Me” did give a little hint of that if you really look at it, but it was so different that they didn’t know what to categorize it as. On the project I got the opportunity let people know I switch lanes and still f*** s*** up regardless.

The Knockturnal: Can we expect more visuals from the project?

Dusty Locane: yes, a lot more. We got “Rewind,” Change You,” “Floss State of Mind”& “What You Need” featuring Yung Bleu.