About Me
Born the middle child of 5 brothers, Robert Harrell aka Tha “Don Dollar†Drastichas been heating up the west coast and southern underground scene foryears before his latest solo disc “Many Try…. Many Die†became one of themost bootlegged independent cd’s of the year in Atlanta. Growing up movingfrom state to state, Dollar Drastic was literally a product of his environment.As a child before the age of 15, he’d already lived in a shelter before, was“quoted†into one of the most notorious street gangs in the west coast (TheCrenshw Maffia Gangsters) , already pushed/used drugs and squeezed whatever steal he got his hands on, but hecredits his broken family with keeping him alive when he should be dead. Hisparents, both from projects in New York City, split up at an early age butmaintained a fighting spirit. Whenever they saw opportunity they went for itand often times that required moving to new states, but a lot of times themoving came as a result of trying to keep their kids from being statistics.Attending six different schools before dropping out, Dollar Drastic learned toadapt and soon founnd rapping and playing football as a means to try tostay out of trouble and connect with new people. By rapping about theplaces he was currently living in instead of where he’d just moved from, DollarDrastic always seemed to get local crowds to love him. In California, hebegan to run with a crew of thug battle rappers in the Ventura/Santa Barbraarea where they ran in the same circle as Tha Alkaholics and the Loot Packand opened concerts with west coast legends like WC and DJ Quik, butsuccess was short lived. After selling close to 10,000 copies of theircompilation cd the crew disbanded amongst money squabbles and noorganized direction. Remebering what it was like seeing successful blackpeople while living with his mother in Atlanta, The troubled rapper soonpacked up his rhyme book and headed back down south. Starving to get hismusic heard, Dollar Drastic sold his music in the streets and tried breakingthrough the scene by running up on famous rappers with his music. Thisstrategy failed miserably as he was kicked out of every mall in the city andreceived the “Skinny Black†(from the movie “Hustle & Flow) treatment fromthe big time rappers, though some of them showed love and gave helpingadvice. On the cusp of giving up and going back to old criminal ways, oneday while selling cd’s himself at a gas station, a bootleg music guy stoppedDollar Drastic and tried to sell him some cd’s and one of them was an earlyversion of his album “Many Try.. Many Dieâ€. He knew right then and therethat was a message from God telling him that if he was being bootleggedthen the streets are hearing him. Soon he began to see bootlegs of his musicin gas stations and small record stores and Tha Don Dollar Drastic neverlooked back, instead started flooding the streets and the clubs with newmaterial. Surely someone to watch in 2008, Tha Don Dollar Drastic has thetalent, drive, hunger, and the humble beginnings that are known to produceHip Hop biggest stars!
