Dashius Clay
Miami's Next Leader
By: Bear Frazer
Last updated December 17th , 2009

Most people dream about living in a beautiful ocean front community like South Beach, Florida. The city has some of the best beaches, the hottest nightclubs and a tangy array of music that appeals to all walks of life. But just like everywhere else, there is always some melodrama that comes with the territory and if you're not Pitbull, Rick Ross or Flo Rida, then it'll be difficult for Floridian talent bubble to the mainstream. That is something Dashius Clay has noticed.

"There's a lot of politics in Miami and that's the only thing I dislike very much," the 25-year-old says. "The day somebody in Miami steps up - and I don't mean as an artist, but somebody who has their hand in the store and is able to open it for the rest of these artists - the day somebody decides to go out of the box, I think Miami will be the most recognizable and undeniable force in the world because the amount of talent you have here. You got reggae people, you got singers and you got hip-hop. If you're from Miami, you're raised by music. Everybody's life revolves around that shit."

Clay is looking to be that unifying force and if his new mix series Cookies Ain't Shit can help open the door, then he'll swing it wide open. After all, the 25-year-old is an outsider looking in.

Like many cats in Miami, Clay's life has always revolved around music. Born into an extremely musical family, he spent his early years having fun and learning how to play an array of instruments – except for trumpet - in his native Columbia, South America.

The rich, musical Columbian culture would also help define his vocal styling. "I wouldn't either say singing or rapping is what I do. It's a combination that's just real smooth," he explains. "I don't really have a particular thing I like to do to. It's not rapping, it's not singing, it's not production. It's whatever the moment calls for."

Fast forward to 2002, Clay is living in Miami and attending an audio engineering school so he can learn how to operate his personal recording space. "That's the main reason I went to that school; I wanted to not be in the studio with question marks," he says. "I wanted to learn how to run everything." In the years to follow, he worked with several independent artists in Miami and releases a slew of projects with Ottey as a member of the TRAX. But now, Clay elbow deep in his solo material in the form of Cookies Ain't Shit: Volume 1, the first of his brand new mixtape series that is clearly light on the Oreos and Chips Ahoy. 

The first installment of Cookies is an explosive 12-track collection that touches on life outside of the stereotypical gangster lifestyle that many MCs attempt to portray (and fail at in the process). Instead of making songs that fall into the "just another number" category, Clay crafts entertaining records with a barrage of tropical-flavored production, which includes the pump-up track "Shut Up," the societal "Leader At Last" and the banger "Red Wine."

And while others record before they think, Clay is quite the opposite. In fact, he thinks about his work a lot. Perhaps a little too much. "Every time I put product out, in the back of my head, I got so many thoughts like, ‘Do I not wanna piss this person off? Do I not wanna offend my friends? Do I not wanna offend the women? Do I not wanna put this out there.' To be honest, I put it out was because one day, I just said, ‘Fuck it. I make music, this is what I do, it comes out of me, so there should be nothing wrong with it.' If it's in my mind, then I should be alright with and that's all I should be concerned with it," he explains. "If people don't like my music, [then] I shouldn't pressure somebody to like my music in the first place, so why should I go around [with] all these feelings I have I if wrote them down and recorded it for a reason? I said, ‘Fuck it. That's why cookies ain't shit. I don't give a fuck.' I make music for everybody to hear, not just me. I'm not gonna make it anywhere by just enjoying my own voice."

On the contrary. He makes music for a more important reason. "I guess our main goal in life is to change the outlook of people," the artist says. "I am a big ‘peoples' person. I like helping as many people as I can. I'm all about helping everybody. You know how they say one man can't change the world? I feel that's true, but at the same time, it's not ... not if a man can gather enough people to change it. It's a little bit more than music for me."

To check out or buy Cookies Ain't Shit, click here.

[Tags] Hip Hop, Rap

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