Nobody’s going to give me my confidence, so who’s going to take it away? I would say my confidence in making music and running OPM as a company, we’re stronger than ever today. I love you bringing the baseball comparison up because the whole time I was thinking this is like a Clayton Kershaw situation, ‘cause you know Clayton cooks in the regular season. Then, if he has one bad game in the postseason, everybody’s like, “What’s up with him?” At any point, was your confidence shaken? It is a good time to address stuff when you’re making an album. People can’t see me revamping shit, they just see the finished product. I took it as an opportunity to know where I was at with my career. I might get 25 great comments and have two people like, “Man, what’s going on with this?” I have to be true to both sides. You can’t be like, “It’s all good” when it’s not all good. I was happy to address who I am and what I’m about. I had to restart my career and look at it in a different way over the last 18-24 months. If you’re lucky enough to play season after season, you’re going to have to answer some questions and prove yourself. When you go to a Yankee game, they can’t be like, “What y’all think I should throw right now?” They just gotta do their thing. I liked being on the pitcher’s mound, meaning like, I couldn’t really worry about what people in the stands were saying. As an artist, for me, the only other things I did besides rap that I took seriously was playing baseball when I was younger. I’m always looking for ways to express myself.

Did any of the criticism get to you and was that motivation when working on this album? Then, the new tape comes out and you’re on your shit front to back. To us, Yellow Album is a classic, and we were concerned because we needed that old Dom.

I was harsh on you for a minute because me and my boys grew up on you. I’m trying to give the real life visual,” he says.īillboard spoke to Dom Kennedy on dealing with critics, bouncing back with Volume Two, limiting himself on features, not signing with Rick Ross, and witnessing the growth of Nipsey Hussle. I’m not an artist just making songs on beats and talking about regular stuff, I put who I hang out with, places I go, my son, things I do, places I went. “As a man, I don’t know any other way to put my life than to my music. Dom Kennedy's New 'Volume Two' Album: Stream It Now

Dom kennedy yellow album artwork