Hot Dollar: Show & Prove

Chances are, if you saw a gold-grilled, cornrowed rapper handing out autographed dollar bills to high-school kids in a New York City subway station in May, it was Jermaine Dupri's latest signee, Hot Dollar. As part of an ingenious new promotional campaign, the 27-year-old MC really went underground to promote himself.

Born Leon Gray in the rural city of Hattiesburg, Miss., Hot Dollar was raised in an environment where money was hard to come by. In 1989, his family relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of a better life. "Ain't no real jobs or opportunities down in Mississippi, so we moved," says Dollar. Unfortunately, the coastal transition wasn't exactly positive, and before long, he was running the streets as a full-fledged Crip.

Not wanting to succumb to the pitfalls of gang life, at 14, Hot Dollar started to explore his talent for rapping. His earliest inspiration came from his older brother, Compton rapper Guerilla Black. Counting bars and crafting choruses gave the youngster hope and a much needed way out of his dangerous lifestyle. "I finally realized that gangbanging wasn't for me," says Dollar. "I just had a daughter named Sierra. She influenced me to rap."

In 2006, Dollar recorded a demo he dubbed Rags 2 Riches. He pressed up thousands of copies and passed them out in L.A. to anyone who'd listen. As his buzz grew, Hot Dollar's disc found its way into Jermaine Dupri's hands, through close friend and video director Pop Gates. The song "Streets on Lock" was already spinning on West Coast radio, and lucky for the rookie MC, JD couldn't get the sinister chopped-and-screwed track out of his head. Knowing he had found the next big thing, the newly anointed president of Island Records Urban Music signed Hot Dollar this past April.

"His style is a mixture of the South meets the West," says Jermaine. "He also has the ability to write songs, and that is hard for a lot of good rappers today." Executive produced by Mr. So So Def himself, Hot Dollar's debut, My Dream: Tha Day in Tha Life, will feature additional production from DJ Toomp and Shawty Red. Hopefully, he can turn a dollar into a dream.


XXL Magazine/August 2007 No. 94