Dizzy Wright On His Sophomore Album Title: “We Need Some New History Now”

Photo By: Steven Lau (@SLphotographies)

Every rapper puts out a mixtape, but few take the time and effort to make it just right. And so, recent XXL Freshman Dizzy Wright is readying his sixth mixtape, The Golden Age, which will be influenced by early ‘90s hip-hop and the era's samples. More than a month from the release date (August 19), Dizzy is still polishing up the tape in the studio, tweaking verses and adding a few more surprises, but as of now Dizzy's confirmed production from DJ Hoppa, Lex Luger, Rikio, Kato and ThirdEye. Guest appearances include his Funk Volume family, as well as one of his dream collaborators, Wyclef Jean. Dizzy’s gaining a larger following by the day, and each of these accolades only pushes him to go harder.

Adding one more to his resume, Dizzy performed at this year’s Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival over the weekend. While fans endured on-and-off showers throughout the day, it didn’t stop them from bouncing to his energetic set, fueled by fan favorites like “Can’t Trust ‘Em,” “Still Movin’,” “Independent Living,” among others. His half-hour set was well-received by the audience, who all respected Dizzy bringing his Las Vegas flavor to the culture's birthplace.

In between classic tracks played by Brooklyn Bodega's own DJ Rawbeatz, XXL caught up with Dizzy backstage for a quick chat. We discussed The Golden Age, his relationship with budding producer DJ Hoppa, and what he is planning to title his sophomore album.—Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

XXL: You got one of your dream collaborators, Wyclef, on a track. Tell me about it.
Dizzy Wright: It’s just reality, man. Wyclef is a legend. But, it’s all hip-hop. I went in the studio; we actually created the song from scratch. It wasn’t like I sent him the record, he sent me the record. I was in there. He made the beat. He freestyled the hook. I wrote my verse. I recorded it right after he recorded his hook. It was literally a whole process. It was the dopest process ever. Hell yeah.

Is Funk Volume going to be on The Golden Age?
I got everybody on Funk Volume on there. But everybody is on one song. I got everybody on their own song. I got everybody on their own song. [Laughs] I don’t have a posse cut on there, but I am still working on it. It’s not done yet. I mean, it could be done. I’m just going all out. It’s a lot of music on this project.

Describe the recording process so far.
Over the past few months, I’ve just been working on it. I did some verses. I went back and dissected them verses. I brought them all the way down and cleaned them up. So, it all really makes sense. When I say something, I want niggas to listen. I don’t want to be one of them niggas that be saying shit, and niggas don’t be listening. Be taking me for a joke. I don’t like to be played for no joke. [Laughs] It’s really all substance, so I wanted to make sure it flowed like that. That’s what I’ve been working on. Polishing it all up.

DJ Hoppa is also on the tape. Why do you guys have good chemistry together?
Hoppa comes from hip-hop, from a hip-hop background. Through the ‘90s, he was the little Korean kid running around buying hip-hop. This is what he wanted to do. Me through the ‘90s, I was younger. A lot of things that were right in my face, I didn’t catch on to because I wasn’t of age. He put me on so much, like, he just has that style. He grew up on niggas that kind of [value] substance. He gets where I come from. He feels my sounds. We got some dope shit on the new project.

Are you thinking of an album now? When do you see it dropping?
I might not drop the album this year. I might drop the album next year—the beginning of next year. To be honest, I haven’t even told anybody this. But, I am thinking of calling the album New History. That’s how I feel right now. That’s what it is. Niggas need new history; do you know what I mean? All the greats are great. Everybody before me has done a great, impeccable job. But, we need some new history now. We need some niggas to talk about what’s going on right now. That’s new history, that’s Dizzy Wright right now.

I am thinking about this title because that’s what really hits my heart. That’s what’s real to me. Niggas need new history. I feel like with SmokeOut Conversations, when I dropped that album, I met my father for the first time. I didn’t know what he was going to be like, and he was a stoner. He didn’t know anything about me, I didn’t know anything about him, but he was a stoner. So all we did was smoke and talk. That’s where SmokeOut Conversations came from.

So The Golden Age, [that’s] all the substance. That’s where the golden age came from, wanting to put the substance in there. And New History, it’s me creating that new history. You feel me? I feel like that’s going to probably be my next move. That’s just me throwing my random thoughts out there. But right now, it’s definitely looking like that’s what it’s going to be.