Doughboy came through to Home Grown Radio to chat with The Real Cousins about his upcoming album Broken Cuffz 2, his 13 year prison sentence, and what life was really like being in jail at the age of 22.
Doughboy is a rapper, creative, and an entrepreneur from Inglewood, California. He was recently released from a 13 year prison sentence that unlike many other business men, actually paved the way to where he is now. “He was working while he was locked up, you would have thought he was here!” Aja exclaims while referring to Doughboys work ethic. He’s a very hard worker and a firm believer in staying true to your vision. He just knew that being in jail wasn’t supposed to hold him back, he knew he had a second chance and he was going to figure out what it was. He talked about how some people had phones in jail and he knew that he could make it work for him too. “I just wanted to see if I could do something to try and keep myself relevant and just stay afloat to whats really going on and it just happened to work out,” Doughboy explains. He started working on Broken Cuffz 14 months before he was released from prison in 2017. He even had a mixtape release party that he didn’t even attend, but someone had him on face time! He never let his situation hold him back from what he knew he was capable of. Although he’s in a better place than most people are when they get out of jail after 13 years, he still knows he had a lot of work to do, he still knows he needs to hustle to get all the things he wants out of life. “Im just leaving the starting line so I still got a long way to go, but I came a long way in this year and a half, so its just blessings and staying firm,” he explains. Doughboy stayed true to his vision so much, that its only been a little over a year since the drop of Broken Cuffz on May 20th, 2017 and he’s about to drop Broken Cuffz 2 any minute now! When asked what his vision was for Broken Cuffz 2 he said he wanted to have something meaningful for the community. He’s put a lot of effort into this project and brought a lot of different people together, such as, J Worthy, TF, Larry June, Young Rowdy, and Marty Baller.
Although Doughboy made the best out of his time in prison, it was not an easy 13 years. When Aja brought up the topic of sex and being in jail, Doughboy said, “I didn’t touch a woman for 8 years,” including his mother, he didn’t see her or anybody else for the first 8 years of his sentence due to being so far away from home. He did get married while in jail, and spoke fondly of his conjugal visits where he was able to spend 2 days with a loved one. Obviously he couldn’t have his mom and the wife there at the same time due to BIDNEZZ he had to handle with the wife, if you know what I mean, but he would have mom come the following visit. I’m sure seeing the people you love helps with all the drama and stress on the inside, because jail is NO JOKE! When referring to to the pressures of being in jail Doughboy said, “Jail is a place with a lot of predators, so if you come in like prey, timid, or scared they gone pick up on that. They prey on weakness.” He says it wasn’t terrible 100% of the time, he did meet some guys he learned a lot from in terms of how to handle yourself in that environment which helped him a lot. He says he went in with the mentality of listening more and speaking less. When your in jail for a long time you do end up in those situations where you get tested and have to get your hands dirty. “Im not gone let nobody punk me. I’m not the hardest nigga around, but I’m not no push over, I’m not finna let no nigga punk me so I’m gone go out,” Doughboy explains.
Not only did Doughboy not let anybody punk him, he also didn’t let anything get him off track from what he wants to do with his life. He remained focused and continuously put his best foot forward. Towards the end of the interview DJ Deezy asked Doughboy whats next for him, and he explained that he wants to do a documentary on LA car culture. He wants to show the history of low riding in Los Angles, but mix it with the history of music. He went on to say, “Were going to mix it with the music, kind of give you the dope visual, with the dope music, with the dope history. We just gone merge it and see where it goes from there.” In addition to the documentary, Doughboy also mentioned that in the future he wants to create an expungement clinic with the help of The Amity Foundation. This is a foundation that is committed to the inclusion and habilitation of marginalized groups such as people that served time in prison. He wants to create a space for people in his community to come to and get the things that they can get off their records removed. When explaining how the process will be he said, “Certain things that you were charged with that can come off your record, if you go down there and go though the proper steps, will come off your record; and that gives you a better opportunity as far as getting jobs and moving on in society.”
So keep a look out for Doughboy’s Broken Cuffz 2, as well as his other projects in the works! He’s not only the man with the plan, he’s also the man with the determination to actually get it done! As he would say, “Stay true to your vision.”
Tori Hazee