FA Sophomore Wows a Crowd of Supporters With His Original Music

FA+Sophomore+Wows+a+Crowd+of+Supporters+With+His+Original+Music

On one of the first brisk Autumn days of 2018, Dominick Williams, known by his Soundcloud followers as DOM300, turned up the heat with his live performance of “Road Dog” at the Friends Academy Fall Fair this past Saturday. After the performance, I sat down with Dom to learn more about the man behind the lyrics.

The Friends Academy sophomore began writing his music relatively recently, starting at the age of fourteen. However, in the past two years, Dom has continued to develop his lyrics, specifically working on “structuring his writing.” However, while structure may be an area Dom has been working on, he says that his favorite part about writing music is “how unpredictable the whole process can be.” As Dom put it, “You don’t know what’s going to come out of that pen onto that paper. Sometimes you’ll think of one thing, and one thing that compliments that… it’s a really fun process to be a part of.”

The unpredictability of the writing process is exactly how “Road Dog” came to fruition. “There was this one night…” Dom said, “I was just in my feelings, so I listened to this song called ‘Hopeless Romantic’ by Swae Lee and Wiz Khalifa… and it just had this vibe that was… so calming, and I wanted to do a song that had a vibe like that.” He went on to describe how after making the beat, he began to hum over it, and realized he could put words to it. All of a sudden, he put the beat to the words “I been on the road,” and the song simply developed from there.

With “I been on the road” becoming the hook to the song, Dom raps from the perspective of a traveling rapper trying to get rich. The song describes a certain relentlessness and determination needed to achieve one’s goals, and we hear Dom’s commitment to his craft when he says, “I’ma write this heat down until my fingers get sore.” Looking past just the lyrics, the relaxed yet complex beat makes it practically impossible for one to not bump his/her head to the rhythm of the song!

Just like ‘Road Dog” began with a vibe, a night with Dom “in his feelings,” the rapper made it clear how important mood and feeling is to his music. After reflecting once more on the “really calm vibe” of “Hopeless Romantic,” the young musician listed his favorite artists, such as Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and 21 Savage, Savage particularly for his “cool” style where it sounds like the rapper is asleep. It is impressive to see how Dom incorporates styles and rhythms from some of his favorite artists, giving his music its own unique flavor.

With all of his published work on Soundcloud, Dom said that performing his song live made him “so happy.” Standing at the top of the library steps, microphone in hand, before a crowd of students, Dom got everyone on their feet jumping up and down with his energy and flow. He added a nice effect to the performance by singing over his own recording, which gave him the freedom to add new ad libs on the fly, and at one point the crowd even sang a verse for him! After the show, he remarked, “To just… look out into a crowd of people and just seeing people supporting you and cheering you on as you’re singing… it’s just one of the best feelings in the world. I don’t know if you could really get any better than that.” The same night after the performance, the rapper sent out an email to the high school, thanking the students for their support. “I can’t even begin to describe how much gratitude I have towards you all,” he said. “You guys really made my day today. More music coming soon for you guys!” Dom’s performance on Saturday and thousands of plays on Soundcloud prove that as long as he keeps making music, people will be excited to hear the results of his unpredictable and unique writing process!

If you want to hear “Road Dog” and more of DOM300’s work, here is a link to his Soundcloud: