Dax, currently one of the most prolific hip hop artists actively recording, shared a personal look at his life through a series of posts over Facebook. The journalistic approach gave fans a look into his life, an inspiring journey from college basketball player to top charting rap artist.
The series of posts served as social hype for Dax’s upcoming single release “Self Proclaimed 4” that released on February 25th. Personally, I enjoy the story and wanted to capture and compile the post together. The following story was pulled from Dax’s Facebook. Make sure to click over there and follow him, if you haven’t already.
“”CHOOSE ONE….Can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I started this poetry and now music journey. As many of you know each year has always received a “Self Proclaimed” but due to me leaving Gotham this year our start to 2021 got pushed back a little bit. Next week on the 25th we officially close the Chapter to 2020 with the release of “SELF PROCLAIMED 4.” This series is special to me. This is the final release before IMPACT 2021 truly begins. This song is all about motivation and becoming who you’ve always envisioned. This song is about the journey and overcoming obstacles. The people need this. Those chasing dreams need this. Over the course of the next 7 days before the release I will be posting some different motivational videos in order to get those who care in the right mindset. This will be how WE THE LABEL close 2020 and open 2021. Thank you. #selfproclaimed4“”
Dax via Facebook posted Feb 17th, 2021.
Dax releases a song on the end of year, something that caps off how he felt the year went. This year I felt we all learned a little bit more about the hip hop artist who’s been in the game since 2017 out of Canada.
“”SELF PROCLAIMED 4 drops next week… in order to absorb what going to be said you first you have to understand the journey. It all started with a basketball. I left Ottawa, Canada when I was 18 in hopes of one day playing in the NBA. I went to 3 different colleges in 4 and 1/2 years. I played JUCO at Casper College in Wyoming, Division 1 at the University of Montana, and finally after being told to leave I played Division 2 at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas where I would eventually go on to lead the conference in scoring my senior year. It was at Newman where I wrote my 1st poem on the bus on the way to a game. That was the day the “Self Proclaimed” series was born. It’s an ideology. A thought process. A belief. It’s seeking validation from no one. It’s being your own Co-Sign. It’s not letting people who don’t matter dictate the value you have for yourself. And yes I can dunk lol. Wasn’t an in game dunker but I always had fun in the layup lines. Self Proclaimed 4 drops on the 25th. After that IMPACT 2021 begins…#SelfProclaimed“”
Dax via Facebook posted Feb 18th, 2021.
I used to be able to dunk. I should have been able to dunk all the time, at 6’3″, but I can’t jump. Not an in-game dunker either. 😀 The post above was the first one I caught about the series Dax was running. I can honestly say I did not know he played college ball, something that was interesting to find out. I could imagine it’d be pretty life changing to switch up everything you focused on, into something that was new, where success like Dax doesn’t come often.
“”Chapter 1: JANITOR…SELF PROCLAIMED 4 drops in 1 week… After I got told to leave the University of Montana I transferred to Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. Halfway through my Junior Year I needed a job. I always thought my only Job would be basketball but reality had hit and the NBA was a long shot. I was 22 years old at small private Division 2 school studying communications. I had absolutely no skills or interests other than putting a basketball in a hoop and I had dedicated my whole life to it. I neglected everything. I was smart but I had never taken school seriously. I slept through every class during my 4 and a half years of college and that was because I had literally dedicated every ounce of energy to being the best I could be physically so when I got to class and had to sit still I would literally just pass out from exhaustion. I needed money. It was either fast food or the Janitor Job at that point and I had no car to commute anywhere or even a license for that matter so I had to stay on campus. I needed to start saving. I took the overnight janitor job on campus that paid 7.25 an hour. I worked that from 8pm-12am during the school year and then 7pm-3am during the summers for 2 and a half years. God had a plan though. My janitor duties were to clean the Demathias Hall. That building was where we played our Games and also the Art department of the school. While constantly cleaning up the art side every night I believe it opened up my mind. I had always thought being artistic wasn’t masculine and while I had been always good with words and speaking I never thought anything of it. After 3 months of cleaning up after art events and being around it I wrote my first poem on the way to a basketball game and showed 2 of my Teammates. They were shocked. It was from there the Janitor job would start to make sense. I began speeding through my work every night so I could have free time to write. I worked that job with pride and passion because I knew one day it would be apart of my story. That’s how I got through it. I would literally envision my mop as a paintbrush and pretend the floor was the canvas of my life. I painted masterpieces EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for 2 and a half years relentlessly while working on my craft during the free time I created by sprinting through my duties. I couldn’t find the change so I became it and the work I would soon start creating became what I listened to religiously because it was manifestation. I was motivating myself and anyone who chose to listen. Self Proclaimed 4 will be just that. Motivation for those who want and need it. #selfproclaimed #janitor“”
Dax via Facebook posted Feb 19th, 2021.
“”Chapter 2: Poetry/motivation (OLD PHOTO LOL) …SELF PROCLAIMED 4 drops in 3 days….While on break at my Overnight Janitor Job on March 30th 2016 I made my first video (vids on my Instagram) and posted it on my Facebook. I was frustrated. I had wrote my first poem on that bus but was battling the thoughts of going public with it and what the opinions of people would be. Everyone knew me as the basketball player and I was self conscious about how they would perceive me doing poetry of all things. While in rage at my own weakness I filmed myself denouncing the opinions of others. That’s when it clicked. I couldn’t find the change so I had to become it. For the next year I would film videos relentlessly in front of a picture in the building I was cleaning. I had one goal. To inspire people to chase their dreams while I chased mine. I wanted to provide people with value. I wanted to do more for them then they did for me. I wanted to create a family. I wrote down the number 1 million on a piece of paper and decided I would personally talk to that many people myself and try to bring them on this journey with me of self improvement. I made over 400 of these videos in less than a year and also did some motivational speaking at different school in Wichita, Kansas. This was the first step to my artistry. If you read this far let me know which one of these is you’re favorite. In 3 days we inspire millions… #selfproclaimed“”
Dax via Facebook posted Feb 22nd, 2021.
I’m curious what picture he did his videos in front of. Bonus points to anyone out there that can send us a clip of him rapping back then.
CHAPTER 4: INSPIRED… SELF PROCLAIMED 4 DROPS IN 2 days…It was 2017 now (photo from 2017). I was drawn to poetry. I never wanted to rap. I grew up in Canada and was from a different walk of life than anyone I had seen as a successful hip hop artist growing up. I wasn’t from the streets, I had no experience with crime or run ins with police, for fuck sakes I had never even tried a drug. I thought it would be impossible to be accepted. I just played basketball and really couldn’t relate to much of anything I was regularly hearing and I refused to make music about things I had no business speaking on. I had decided I was going to just be a Spoken Word Poet until one day at work me and Alonzo, my boss, were talking. I finally summed up the courage to show him my poetry. He was amazed. He then told me Tupac had also done poetry. I was shocked. I began doing my own research. It was true. A couple days later I walked to the Town West Square Mall. They had a cheap theatre Called The Movie Machine. I watched “All Eyez On Me” and after that it was Game Over. I told myself I was going to find a way to integrate my poetry into musical format while staying true to myself. That’s how Tupac became an inspiration of mine along with Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan who had always been. I then started to slowly bridge the gap between my poetry and music. Many of my songs you hear today like Dear God were actually poems I started over 3 years ago. I wrote all these remixes (videos on my Instagram post) you see after I watched the movie. #SelfProclaimed4 drops Thursday…
Dax via Facebook posted Feb 23rd, 2021.
GOAT story when finding the confidence just takes listening to a little Tupac. Thank you Dax for letting the fans in on your life. These chapters were teasers for “Self Proclaimed 4”. Check out the video below and let us know what you think!
Dax – “Self Proclaimed 4” Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Don’t let nobody tell you who you are
I remember sleeping wishing on a shooting star
After practice overnight cleaning working hard
Coming up short, hoping one day I’d go far
I was young, dumb, broke, and I was still naive
I had failed so many times, but I still believed
That I would turn into that man everyone could see
Wouldn’t never let nobody tell him what he could achieve
I stayed focused, walked right on my path
I told my mom I was leaving and I couldn’t come back
Hopped out my feelings, quit my job, graduated, and laughed
Then went to Cali straight broke and hopped right in my bag
Now I’m standing here speaking giving all I am
Trying to show you that the change starts with one man
I ain’t lying ’cause I did so I know you can
So I’m here to help the world understand that
[Chorus]
This is motivation
For every single chance you ain’t taken
Any rule that’s in your way, you better break it
Shut up, embrace it
The pain is a pre-requisite, without it how the fuck you think you ever gon’ make it
The sweat is your payment
Fuck an escalator, take the stairs to top right from the fucking basement
Your life is a statement
Leave a legacy and stop waiting
Get yo ass up today and start chasing
This that motivation
[Verse 2]
I’m hoping that this hits your soul
They’re just dreams ’til you sit down and you write your goals
I remember when they said I wasn’t built this strong
I bounced back like elastic and put myself on
Now I’m selling out these tickets to places I don’t know
Going to these places they said that I couldn’t go
Giving all my time to people at these shows
To spread this message and this music that I know brings hope
They feel it
I don’t gotta top a stupid chart or win a Grammy just to show that I’m the realest
I don’t need a co-sign from nobody if they ain’t said nothing by now, they pretending not to see it
Any odd I beat, negativity delete it
I don’t care about success, it’s the journey I’m fiending
If I say it, I mean it
Flow (floor) dirty, can’t clean it
Give a fuck about the past ’cause I R-I-P’d it
Now I’m ’bout to fucking hit the top
You fucking people can’t cancel me
Put me in box or fucking drive to me to insanity
I’m already crazy, one-fourth of me is all of you
So half of me is two of you, and four of you is all me
You’ll need a whole army if you thinking ’bout stopping me
And five lifetimes if you’re thinking you can copy me
I’ve beaten poverty, went to war and beat mediocrity
My life is mine, I’m molding that shit like I’m doing pottery
I’m not scared of failure, I embrace it and chase it
If there’s a one percent chance I can do it, I take it
I took the hate they all threw, sat down, and I ate it
Then took the motivation from it, turnt to one of the greatest
And now every time I drop I know I’m making a statement
Replacing every single person that you got on your playlist
I’m not a product of the system, that’s why no one can break it
I’m tryna change the whole game, man, fuck being famous, dawg
I’m self-proclaimed, and I ain’t never changed
I rock the same clothes and still got the same chain
It’s a reminder when I hooped, and I would go and get my jersey
And those people didn’t even know my name
Well, now I know you see it!
They told me leave, I made a promise they would all feel it!
I couldn’t find the change, so I said I’ll be it!
So I hope that y’all know
This is Dax fucking self proclaimed 4 GOOOOOO!
[Chorus]
This is motivation
For every single chance you ain’t taken
Any rule that’s in your way, you better break it
Shut up, embrace it
The pain is a pre-requisite, without it how the fuck you think you ever gon’ make it
The sweat is your payment
Fuck an escalator, take the stairs to top right from the fucking basement
Your life is a statement
Leave a legacy and stop waiting
Get yo ass up today and start chasing
This that motivation
Lyrically Rap 
Leave a comment