Fans and friends welcomed the accomplished recording artist and record executive Yo Gotti to the 3400 block of Malcolm X Boulevard to sign the 24-year-old rapper, best known for his hit song “Back To The South,” to a major label recording contract with his popular CMG (Collective Music Group). Doe accepted Gotti’s deal, and the two joined the community in celebrating the moment with a Champagne shower.
Zillionaire Doe shared the moment with his fans on Instagram, where he highlighted the dangers of South Dallas and celebrated his escape from street life in his post's caption: “Lil Doe from the neighborhood did the impossible,” Doe wrote. “Today, I can officially say I beat the streets. @yogotti, let’s get it [blowing nose face emoji] [fingers crossed emoji].”
Excited to share this moment with the world, he remembered many who couldn’t be a part of this occasion for various reasons, including death and imprisonment.
“A lot of people, bro,” he tells the Observer of those he's lost. “I'm not going to lie. A lot of people I thought about. I lost so many childhood friends. It's really ... that shit is fucked up. I lost a lot of childhood friends to jail and death. Shit, I really wish they could have been there.”
The Youngest Boss creator joins a roster of superstars such as GloRilla, Moneybagg Yo, 42Dugg and Big Boogie. Yo Gotti followed his new protégé’s post with a statement expressing his excitement about using CMG's valuable resources to amplify Doe’s organic popularity in today’s hip-hop.
“I really believe in Zillionaire Doe’s talent and hustle,” he shared in an official statement. “He’s built organic buzz on his own, but now, we want to build the right team structure around him to maximize his full potential. With CMG’s foundation and resources, we feel like Doe can elevate to a new level and become a star."
Doe says that having CMG’s resources is essential for boosting his brand's visibility.
“I already built the organic buzz,” he says. “They got all the resources to do nothing but amplify the things that I was already doing. There are so many different connections that you need. They've been doing this shit. ... I've been doing this shit for two years; they've been doing this for 20-plus years. And in my two years, I know how many connections and resources I've built already. So, I can only imagine the amount of resources that they built in 20 years. Come together, put all this shit together, can't do nothing but explode.”
Yo Gotti arrived in South Dallas wearing a large signature “Z dollar-sign” chain. While many believed that Zillionaire Doe gifted the chain to Gotti, it was later revealed that Gotti had made his own custom pendant to demonstrate his commitment to Doe.
“I didn’t give it to him,” Zillionaire Doe tells the Observer of Gotti's Z chain. “Bro grabbed it on his own. To have somebody of his caliber to believe in you it is priceless. It's worth more than $1 million to know that someone like him believes in me. That gives me all the confidence in the world, all the confidence that I need.”
Yo Gotti and Zillionaire Doe later celebrated their deal by attending Doe’s first courtside experience at the American Airlines Center, watching the Dallas Mavericks play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 22. The duo appeared on the jumbotron as AAC congratulated Zillionaire Doe on signing with CMG.
Although he earned the contract with his hit music and undeniably loyal fanbase, the moment still feels “unreal” to Doe. In Addison later, he tells us that signing with CMG in South Dallas still hasn't fully registered.
“At the time, it was just like, damn, this shit is amazing. Like this shit is a dream. But at the same time, it felt unreal," he says. "It still feels unreal. It hasn't hit me. I just still feel like, shit, the same old Doe. It hasn't really hit me yet.”
Yo Gotti and Zillionaire Doe’s affiliation began in December 2023 before the release of Doe’s second mixtape, Youngest Boss.
“Yo Gotti hit me yesterday,” Doe wrote at the time on Instagram. “Told me he like what I’m doing. Dat was motivation.”
Gotti is dedicated to giving street artists life-changing opportunities. He shared an Instagram post with his new artist, captioning, “I’ll never get tired of this feeling. Helping a young street artist reach his dreams.”
Doe’s signing with CMG is a manifestation for him. He says he looks up to Yo Gotti as one of his musical idols. When he was becoming an artist, Doe told himself that if the chance ever came up, he would sign with only two executives, Gotti and Q from Quality Control.
“When I first started rapping, I told myself I'll never sign to nobody unless it's QC and Yo Gotti,” he says. “Both of them had reached out to me.”
He decided to sign with Yo Gotti after a lengthy conversation with his idol in Miami.
“I went to talk to him in Miami. We sat down and talked for about four hours," he says. "Him just giving me game, just telling me this and that. Four hours of straight to the game. He had won me over. I was with it.”
Motivated by his late friend and East Dallas rap star, BFG Straap, Zillionaire Doe began pursuing music in September 2022. Days before he died, BFG Straap encouraged Doe to pursue rap music. Doe can't be certain he would have pursued music if his best friend hadn’t died.
“Had Straap didn't pass away, I probably wouldn't even be doing this shit today," he says. "When I look back and reflect on my life, this shit is really like all God's plan. The story is already written. It's nothing that nobody can do to try to do to stop what God has planned. For me or for you, or for him or her or him. The story is already written.”
The Zillionaire rap name was inherited from his father, who started Zillionaire Records in the 1980s. Doe’s older brother, Zillionaire JJ, carried the name as a local recording artist before him. As a third-generation hip-hop artist, Doe is giving the name its biggest accomplishment yet, something that has surprised the emerging star.
“It is a dream come true for my family,” he says about the record deal. “But it is crazy because this is not something that I wanted to do. This was never my dream. For it to happen so soon, it's like it's got to be God's plan. My dad had been doing this since the 1990s and pushing this shit. I grew up in a studio. I grew up around music. I used to ride around with my daddy as he was promoting. Every time we stopped at a gas station, we sat at the gas station for 20, 30 minutes to an hour. He's putting up stickers, doing this, passing out CDs. At the time, when I was a kid, I never understood that.”
Zillionaire Doe's lyrics classify as a traditional trap rap style: storytelling about street life infused with unique vocals, heavy 808s and hi-hat patterns. The production often samples mid-2000s Southern hip-hop while the artist shares stories about hustling with coded but catchy wordplay. This style has been instrumental in building a large following that originated in South Dallas and rapidly expanded throughout the South, including the Carolinas, Mississippi and Illinois. At CMG, he intends to keep providing fans with the style that originally secured him the deal.
“If it isn't broke, don't fix it. There isn't no need ... we got here," he says. "What's the point of changing up the formula? The formula is working, you know what I'm saying? There is no pressure. Just continue doing the same thing. There's no need to change anything.”
Although he always tried to convey inspiration through his music, Doe realized the message was being received only recently, based on feedback he's gotten from fans.
“My message was to inspire, but I didn't know that it was actually working,” he says. “I just realized that it is actually working. They're actually getting inspired. People text me DMs, telling me this and that. The goal was to inspire from the jump, but I didn't actually know that they were inspired. I didn't know that it was working until not too long ago.”
There's a reason we named him one of the rappers to watch in 2024 and gave him the No. 5 spot among the top 30 rappers in Dallas-Fort Worth right now. Zillionaire Doe quickly rose to the top of the local music scene with ambitious raps about hustling through DFW’s street life, mixing the music with a “Life of a Zillionaire” vlog series. His father's background in music and other mentors inspired him to promote his music through branding such as fashion.
“I watched my pops do this,” Doe says. “I study. When I'm at home, I study all the greats. I studied Nipsey Hussle, Yo Gotti and Birdman. Branding is everything. I saw my pops do it; I saw my big brother do it. So it's only right to do it. You have the brand; you have to stamp, make your mark and leave your legacy on this earth. When I got into this rap shit, that was my main thing. I want you to still be able to go on YouTube and see how we were living, how we were coming. That's the whole point of the 'Life of a Zillionaire' vlogs.”
In 2023, Zillionaire Doe began collaborating with emerging Oak Cliff rap star Montana 700. Inspired to unite the DFW scene, the two began the “New Dallas Movement,” a collective of childhood friends turned recording artists from across DFW with the aim of creating communion following years of animosity. The group includes buzzing artists MBPee, HeadHuncho Amir and Kevan Got Bands.
With the music leading the way, Doe's vision for the movement is to uplift and bring new money to the city. He wants to create something larger than himself.
“This shit is bigger than Doe,” he says. “This shit is bigger than music. I started this new Dallas shit. This was something I just wanted, [a] new Dallas for the whole city — the bettering of, shit, Black-owned restaurants, beauticians, barbers. I just want to bring more money to Dallas. That was my whole plan and my vision. I just want to see Dallas just be great, bro.”
Fans honored Zillionaire Doe with the moniker “The Face of the New Dallas Movement” after he released hit after hit, including “Southside Still Da Realist,” “Trap Star,” “Trap Motivation,” “CBFW” and “D Boi Dreams.” Doe then received consignment from Rod Wave and Future. 70042, a collaborative mixtape with Montana 700, was one of the biggest albums of DFW Hip-Hop in 2024.
While most recognize the New Dallas movement as a hip-hop posse, it’s more than that to Doe.
“New Dallas is not a group. It's not like you can be in or you can't," he says. "I want to get that understood now. It's just a movement. It is not for me to tell this man, 'Oh, no, you're not New Dallas. It's a movement. If you want to be a part of it and push positivity and unity, you're new Dallas.'”
The movement is open to everyone, but the group doesn't tolerate misrepresentation.
“For people like that, might have a sit-down with my guy, Manny, my manager. He's going to talk to them real nice and get them together," he says.
As the latest North Texas artist to sign a record deal, Zillionaire Doe joins an elite of other regional superstars including 4Batz, BigXThaPlug and Montana 700, who are earning nationwide acclaim. Doe intends to have a conversation with other regional rap stars to strengthen the sense of unity in DFW hip-hop.
“Now that you say that, you gave me an idea, maybe we need to have a conversation about that,” he says. “To keep everything intact. I want this shit bad. I feel like our city was just destroyed. I don't want that to ever happen again. I'm going to do everything in my will to keep this shit together. I don't want to see the city go that way. There's strength in numbers. Unity is power. So now that you asked me that, we are going to have some conversations about furthering this to make sure that we don't have no confusion, no miscommunication. We got to keep this intact.”
Yo Gotti plans to open a CMG office in Dallas with Zillionaire Doe as the flagship act. "CMG office coming soon,” Yo Gotti wrote in a recent Instagram story with a drop pin emoji and Dallas on the location tag.
The CMG roster has already welcomed Zillionaire Doe to the family. GloRilla invited him to perform with her at the Dallas stop of the Hot Girl Summer Tour last June. It was Doe’s first experience performing for an arena-sized audience.
“I felt like a little kid just getting thrown in the deep end,” he recalls. “That shit was crazy. I never had done no shit like that in my life. It wasn't like I rehearsed. I was out doing some other shit. I got a call two hours before. I don't have clothes, nothing. I had to run to the mall, just grab something, grab a white shirt, some white Air Force 1s, and some Nike shorts. Next thing I knew, I was on stage in front of however many people. That shit was crazy. I'm ready now for sure.”
Doe isn't going to let the celebrations get in the way of his bigger plans.
“It's time to get to work,” he says. “I got big goals and inspirations and dreams. We are nowhere near the finish line. Not even close.”
He accompanied the announcement of his CMG deal by releasing his first single, “Pull Up,” featuring Bossman Dlow. The collaboration came together after Dlow heard the original snippet on social media and asked to participate.
"Dlow ended up reaching out to me to send him something. And I already had that joint. And the world was already going crazy about it," Doe says. "And I could already hear him on it from the jump. When he hit me, like, send it to him, I sent it to him, and he killed that bitch. I feel like he murdered that motherfucker.”
“Pull Up” is an exciting track from Zillionaire Doe’s latest mixtape, D Boi Dreams, which marks his first project as a CMG recording artist. The 12-song project will be more motivational music that delivers a positive message. “A lot of motivation, inspirational type shit,” he says about the release. “I'm still giving good quality street music, just telling my story. Let the world know, whatever you want to be, whatever you want to do, you can do it, you can achieve it.”
Doe’s favorite song on the new mixtape is “Try.” Realizing his newfound influence, he created a song encouraging others to pursue their dreams.
“I love this song so much,” he says. “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If you don't ever try, how do you know you can’t make it out? How do you know you can’t make it out of this shit if you don't never try? That's like my favorite one because it is a message to the world. It's a message to any ghetto child that comes from poverty. That comes from living on the EBT food stamps. That comes from living on a social security check every month. Because I come from that, bro, I come from that same shit. So, to have the voice and influence I have now, I want to just tell people to try.
"Don't just sit around and not do nothing. Try to do something. You never know what might happen.”
Along with Bossman DLow, D Boi Dreams features Zillionaire’s usual collaborators YTB Fatt, Montana 700 and Foreverrolling. Buzzing producers Fuelz, Drum Dummie, Pluto Brazy and X9 Beatz contributed most of the production. On the mixtape’s intro, “Life’s Great,” he enjoys the fruits of his labor and is eager to share his success with his family and Dallas.
On the hook, he raps: “Fuck crashing out / life been great / On a flight right now headed out the USA / Told momma she can quit her job today, we gone be straight / Long way from dope houses and section 8.” Naturally, the artist's mother is exceedingly proud of his success and reminded him of this a couple of weeks ago.
“She told me she knows if anything happened to her, she's just proud,” Doe says. “She knows that she raised me correctly. And she just told me she's happy to even be able to witness her son do what I'm doing.”
Thinking ahead, Doe plans to release his debut album as part of a new series honoring his 2023 debut mixtape, Life of a Zillionaire.
“I think I'm going to do the album series," he says of his future plans. "My first project I ever dropped was an album, which was Life of a Zillionaire. I think I want to do a series like Life of a Zillionaire 2, 3. I think I want to roll with that.”
Many up-and-coming artists will examine Zillionaire Doe's strategy in hopes of achieving a deal of their own. He emphasizes that teamwork is the key to achieving success.
“It's super important,” he says. “I wouldn't be able to even be this far without them. My big brother, JJ, calls me every morning and tells me I need to be doing this, I need to do that. He's like my mentor. You know what I'm saying. My mother, she's part of my team also. She gave me so much game. She instilled so much into me since I was born, bro. My father, he's also a part of my team. He laid out the blueprint. I seen him do it. He was like, you need a team. It's impossible to do anything alone.”
Although he has family, he advises artists to find a group of individuals who share the same passion.
“It is super important, bro, to get you a group of individuals that's on the same page,” he says. “You all put it together and there's no telling, there's no limits on how far you can go, when you've got a team that believes and is 100% with you. They just want to see you win. There is no better feeling. I'm a team player. I'm all for the team. It is never just about me.”
Having started at the bottom and made it to here, Zillionaire Doe is grateful for the lessons he learned in South Dallas.
"I wouldn't be the person that I am today — seen the things that I've seen in South Dallas," he says. "South Dallas has a very special place in my heart. When you see Doe, you see South Dallas. Rest in peace, all my people that aren't here, that didn't get to see this shit, that couldn't make it to see that day. I know you're all looking down and smiling. I'm doing it for you all. South Dallas for life. Triple D for life.”
