Pop Smoke’s death left a hole in the Brooklyn drill scene
that will never be filled -
but some fans think Dusty Locane comes the closest.
Some call him a Pop clone
and others even think they are related,
but Dusty had a wild come up
in the same streets before he broke out in 2020
and started blowing up.
But before he could hit the mainstream
Dusty got booked on a weapons charge
and is sitting behind bars right now.
Today we’re breaking it all down,
let’s get right into it…
Dusty grew up in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn,
which isn’t as wild as some areas of the city.
A lot of drill rappers got active in the streets at a young age
because they came from broken homes,
but Dusty grew up in a good household
and didn’t have to provide for himself as a kid,
but he was still exposed to the streets.
Before he ever thought about hopping in the booth,
Dusty thought he was gonna make it to the NBA.
Basketball is what kept him in school,
and he even earned a scholarship.
But while basketball kept him focused enough
to make it through high school,
college was a different story.
When Dusty got to college,
it didn’t take long for him to start getting in trouble.
His dream of making it to the NBA
wasn’t enough to keep him disciplined,
and he ended up getting kicked out after just one semester.
He didn’t have any other goals besides basketball,
so when that opportunity was ruined,
Dusty didn’t know what to do.
His parents both had normal jobs,
but Dusty decided to take another route.
Even though he wasn’t active in the streets as a kid,
he grew up in the environment and knew how to move.
So after college and basketball didn’t work out,
he went back to Brooklyn and and got down
with the rollin 60s neighborhood cripps.
Dusty knew the consequences that came with the streets,
but he didn’t expect it to come back on his family too.
What’s crazy is that his dad was a cop in the city for years,
then he became a detective.
And after Dusty really got active
and his name became known in the trenches,
his dad ended up having to retire from the force.
Dusty didn’t have any long-term plans,
he just started hustling to support himself
after his basketball dreams were over -
but it didn’t take long for the streets to catch up to him.
After he got booked and had to chill out for a little while,
Dusty knew he needed to switch up how he moved.
That’s when he decided to record his first track
and everything changed.
In August 2020,
Dusty dropped ROLLIN N CONTROLLIN and popped off immediately.
The song ran up huge numbers from the jump
and had Dusty buzzin.
Then he followed it up with the track Rolando
and blew up even more.
After his first two tracks racked up hundreds of millions of plays,
Dusty knew he could really make it in the music game.
He stayed on the grind in 2021
and didn’t slow down at all.
None of his new tracks went as viral as Rollin N Controllin or Rolando,
but he was still getting millions of streams
and building up a solid fan base.
He dropped his debut album later that year,
then in 2022
he dropped a collab tape with Ron Suno,
Rah Swish, and OnPointLikeOP.
But while he was popping off
and becoming one of the hottest new rappers in the Brooklyn drill scene,
some people called Dusty out for copying Pop Smoke’s style.
Before his tragic murder in 2020,
Pop Smoke was the biggest artist putting on for Brooklyn.
His unique style and deep voice
set him apart from everyone else in the game,
and he was on the way to becoming a superstar
before he was killed.
A lot of people accused Dusty
of jacking Pop’s style and trying to ride his wave.
It’s wild how similar their voices are,
but that doesn’t just make Dusty a clone.
When people first started making the accusations,
Dusty just laughed it off -
but eventually he revealed
that Pop and him have a lot more in common than just their voice.
Dusty and Pop both grew up in Canarsie,
and they even went to elementary school together
and were on the same basketball team.
According to Dusty,
Pop was always a wild kid who was already smoking Black & Milds back then
and getting into trouble.
And while basketball kept Dusty in school all the way into college,
Pop got kicked off of their elementary team
for disrespecting the coach.
There were also rumors
Pop Smoke and Dusty were actually cousins.
But it turns out Dusty just referred to Pop as “cuz” one time
and didn’t actually claim they’re related but fans just ran with it.
Even though he’s been accused of sounding like Pop
just to make it in the industry,
Dusty told Fucious TV
Like, when Pop got lit I didnt try to
"Oh yeah I grew up with him, I knew him"
I feel like you gotta give people they- it's his shine, it's his time.
He told HipHopDX “He was the biggest to do it.
When he dropped that, you can’t say nothing.
All you gotta say is,
‘Cuz, I wish you was still here.’
If it’s another comment besides that,
they a hater.”
Drill fans aren’t the only people sending shots at Dusty though.
22Gz called him out on social media
and accused him of being an industry plant
because he’s never seen him in Brooklyn.
But 22Gz and Dusty
aren’t just rivals in the rap game,
they both have street ties that automatically make them opps.
Dusty reps the rolling 60’s neighborhood cripps,
and the set he’s affiliated with
belongs to a cripp alliance called 100 Clocc -
and he shouts them out on tracks like Rolando with the line
“I’m Dusty rollin’ from the Clocc
And I can surely get you shot
Don’t play, you talk to cops
And now you turn into a stain, a opp.”
The 100 Clocc’s are under the umbrella
of an even bigger gang called the Woo,
which Pop Smoke was also affiliated with.
The Woos started out as a crew called Wave gang,
while their rivals the Choos used to be called the Hoodstarz.
Back in the day
both sets were cool and there was no issues,
but everything went downhill fast
after the cops arrested a ton of members from each side
in a case called Operation Tidal Wave.
After that,
they started going by the Woos and Choos
and have been at war ever since.
Bobby Shmurda is the first Woo rapper
who really popped off.
He reps GS9, which is a set
known for beefin with a Choo gang called the Blixky’s -
which is the same set that 22Gz reps.
After Bobby Shmurda got booked,
there weren’t any big rappers from either side making waves.
But in 2016,
22Gz popped off with the track Blixky
and put the Choos back on the map.
The next year he blew up even more off the track Suburbans,
then Sheff G clapped back with No Suburbans
and made it an official rap beef.
Sheff isn’t with the Woo
but he was cool with Pop Smoke and other Woo affiliates.
For a minute, 22Gz was the only dude
from the Choo vs Woo beef who was really putting on with the music.
But in 2019,
Pop Smoke dropped Welcome to the Party
and became the biggest drill rapper in the city overnight.
22Gz called Dusty an industry plant
after he popped off,
but as of right now
he’s never had a major deal.
He signed a distribution deal with Empire Records,
but he wants to stay independent and have control over his career -
and in an interview with theknockturnal.com he said
“Getting a team like Bobby and everybody at Empire
was definitely a blessing.
It took a lot of weight off my shoulders
but at the same time it gave me the freedom to do as I please,
having creative control,
I believe every artist should have.
I’m appreciative for that.
This independent work is not a walk in the park,
you gotta be ready for the bumps and bruises and just keep pushing.”
The drill wave all started with Chicago back in the day
and now New York has their own version of it.
It’s known for the cold bars dissing dead opps
and sending shots at the ones who are still alive,
but Dusty told Dirty Glove Bastard
that he wants to switch up his message.
According to him,
his whole mentality changed
since he got back active in the streets.
He said back then
it was all about spinning on opps and avoiding the police,
but now it’s about “motivating
and uplifting my n****s.
You gon’ see a change in the music.
We still gon’ keep it treacherous,
but with meaning.”
Before he got locked up again,
you could already hear the change
on tracks like RAIN where he said
“And I know you goin’ through a phase,
I’m just prayin’ that you never gon’ change
She ask me a question like,
“Do I got kids?”
I told her, “Got two on the way”
My baby boy’ll be here in March,
my little girl’ll be here in May.”
Dusty also talks about
guiding kids away from making the same mistakes he made.
In his Dirty Glove Interview he said
he wants young dudes from his hood
to set real goals for themselves
and that “You gotta have a little sense of direction.
We born winners,
but I still got a lot of n****s taking L’s in the hood so we still working.”
It looked like Dusty was making all of the right moves
to leave the streets behind and take it far in the rap game,
but then in November 2022
he went to jail after pleading guilty
to two gun charges.
One of the charges is from 2019
and the other is from 2020,
but it’s not clear exactly how he caught them.
On Thanksgiving he hopped on IG and told fans
that he was going to turn himself in.
Getting locked up right before you can turn everything around is tough,
but it seems like Dusty is handling the situation alright.
Back in December
he posted a couple of jail pics and said
“ALIVE IS THE BEST PLACE TO BE.
THEY LOCCED ME PHYSICALLY BUT MY MIND IS FREE.
I APPRECIATE THE LUV N SUPPORT,
FREE ME!!”
It’s not clear how long Dusty will be in there,
but he has a mandatory minimum of 1 year
and a maximum of three years.
It doesn’t seem like the charges are that serious though
so he might be back on the streets before 2023 is over.
And while his name isn’t buzzing as much as it was
when he dropped Rollin N Controllin,
there’s still plenty of room in the Brooklyn drill scene
for him to come back and get it popping again.