Like a full moon on a cool night; Motown’s Fokie Dope unleashes a terrifying beast in the form of his latest Release ” Raised by Wolves”. An 8 song project with a run time of 29 minutes; Fokie takes the listener through his experiences maneuvering through the streets of Detroit, Michigan chasing his dreams of Riches and growth with his music along with building and maintaining a budding relationship.
We caught up with Fokie to get a deeper understanding on his release.
So first and foremost introduce yourself?
What’s up! my name is Fokie Dope Stereo Academy recording artist and COO
Where does the name Fokie come from? Is that a nickname?
Haha…well my name was given to me by my family…my rap name used to be Focus Montana… and they hated calling me that so the called me “Fokie” for short. Everybody said I was dope at everything I tried so I just put it together…..we all are a close-knit group and we call each other by our nicknames or stage names even our parent call us by our nicknames
You’re initially from Detroit correct? How was it growing up there?
Yeah, I grew up in Detroit. I spent my formative years in the 6 mile and Woodward area…which was a pretty dangerous place to live honestly. On one block it was the dope boys and on the other were dudes that dressed in drag and sold themselves on the strip….so it was a pretty tense place most of the time. My block though was pretty cool. It was clean and for the most part pretty quiet. The older bro’s we came up behind kept all the bull shit off the block and the older folks were very encouraging to us growing up. They always encouraged us to be who we want to be even as little kids.
“Raised by wolves” is an interesting title and your project starts with the song titled “Wolves”; What is the significance of the Wolf imagery for you and this project?
That’s a pretty loaded question. Wolves are very significant in my life in general. I feel like wolves are misunderstood and in a lot of cases so am I. In a lot of stories whether it’s presented as fiction or factual, wolves are portrayed as vicious killers that attack things in numbers. This is exactly how people with my same skin color are looked at daily…same type of thing you know…” they’re wild and dangerous but man they’re cool to look at and I can dress up like one for Halloween.” But if you looked at them for real or did any research you will find out they’re one of the smartest, most caring, and loyal animals on earth. Wolves are monogamous creatures….they’re not savages they don’t mate with other wolves if they have pups with one already. They form packs because individually they are quite weak if you put them against another animal in the wild. The pack is planned and thought out…. the elder weaker wolves and the pups stay in the middle of the pack so the young betas and alphas can protect them. They do what they have to for their family…sound familiar to you???? I’m also a big wrestling fan and the wolf imagery represents my childhood hood nostalgia…it also represents my mental state if I have to go to an aggressive place…like I said it’s a lot.
What was the creative process when starting this project?
I watched a lot of John Carpenter movies…I study great composers of any genre and let them inspire me. I didn’t set out to make a project I was just ready to start dropping music. I happen to watch “The Thing” which is my favorite horror movie. So then I watched “They Live” and “Halloween” and “Escape from New York” and it all put me in a very somber place…it made me remember what some parts of my childhood were like. So I tapped into that..and that’s how this came out. I basically would watch a carpenter movie and the go write a new song.
The production is so fluid and consistent throughout the project; who produced this project?
My mans frak beats hit me and we start talking about making music together. He sent a few through and one of those turned into “outta place” the rest of the tracks came from all unknown producers…. I just went through their library and bought the ones I liked. I’m around a bunch of producers and I Could get tracks from them all the time. But I wanted this one to be different than the music I usually record.
I noticed the only songs on the project that have you on the skits are the ending of mission statement leading into sky castle featuring kiWi and the ending of the same song which is dealing with growing a relationship. Is there a reason for that?
Yeah…It is…I didn’t want this project to be the Fokie Dope story for real. I more so wanted this to sort of be the listener’s story. It’s some of my past experiences sure. But to be honest growing up there that’s most people’s story. So I wanted to put a little light on that. Initially I was going to use sound bites but it wasn’t any I could think of that fit what I was going for. I wanted “sky castles” to touch people on multiple levels. So I know I needed to reveal a little more of myself to get the emotion I was going for. To me….love…especially black love is the coolest thing in the world…because in a lot of cases we don’t really know how to love each other…but when it’s real we figure it out and make sacrifices for it.
Speaking of features you also featured fellow artists they call me prop, Ethan Exile, Calest of the sky and Kae Racheryl as well. What made you decide to choose these artists?
They’re part of my pack….we all understand each far better than most people understand their friends or family…we are sort of the same person with different personality traits. I believe we are the most talented collective of individuals that any music production company has produced….no exceptions…so it’s almost like a privilege to have them contribute to my project. It’s not many artists from this city I admire…..phaze gawd, Kiwi, Side Note, and a few others is all I really listen to from Charlotte that’s outside my pack. I’m genuinely a fan of my label mates and music from my family. I couldn’t think of better artists to feature.
You have samples from the classic crime film “New Jack City” all over this project. Why is that?
It was another thing where I happened to be watching New Jack City and a lot of the scenes resonated with me at the time and I took more out the scene than I think most people would. Any of us could be Nino or G-Money….few bad situations we right in their positions….people don’t understand what the real message of the movie is…it all falls down after while…if you are using negativity to raise your stature it’s gonna fall down on you sooner or later. Everything that happened to Nino was by chance…it wasn’t the police officers that brought him down it was random occurrences that happened as a result of the lifestyle he lived…I just don’t want people to forget.
“The Masters” feels like the perfect ending to this short project. What is something that you’ve felt you’ve mastered or want to master?
I don’t think I’ve mastered anything to be honest…and I don’t think the people we consider masters feel like they are masters either….the only thing I can honestly say I mastered is the desire to always want to improve in every area.
Ok, Last Question! I see that it says “Raised by Wolves Volume 1” on the cover; Can we expect a sequel to this?
Yeah…..this will be an ongoing series….I plan to do six of them…I look at them like short art-house films. I will switch between these and a more mainstream sound for other projects. The next one in the wolves series is called “Sheep Clothing”
Fokie Dope’s Raised by Wolves is an effortless showing of lyricism and mindful writing over impeccably smooth production and while the mixing can at times be off; Fokie’s proficiency shines clear as the aforementioned full moon.
Ranking: 4 / 5
Listen to Fokie Dope’s Raised By Wolves out now on all streaming sites!
