My real name is Manasseh Champion, stage name Doso’. I chose it as my stage name from my friends back in Indiana who I grew up with, who used “dos” for a lot of things (hand shakes/signs) and I just added an “o” to it. It’s also a reminder for myself to know that family and love is important. I’m 17 years old, and I’ve lived in Gary, Indiana and Chicago (South side) most of my life. I go to Jones College Prep, and I’m a senior. My dad got me started in music by teaching me the drums at age 2, and then trumpet at 7. Later on I used those skills and started making beats, then naturally rapping became part of it, because I started to become a big fan of hip-hop. My creative process first starts with making a beat, I never write my lyrics first. Then once its completed or almost finished, I come up with something to rap about in my head, and try my best to freestyle it. After that, once I understand the direction of the song, then its time to write, and eventually record. Really creative people inspire me. People who are able to create exactly what they have in their head really makes me work harder. People that have inspired me include Pharrell, Dr. Dre, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, and PartyNextDoor. I’ve been rapping and producing since I was 13, almost 5 years. What really makes me tick, is a good song. An instrumental or vocal piece that just feels good, and it just sounds right, it really motivates me, whether I did it or somebody else did. This is what I really want to do as a career, and I work as much as I can to improve my skills, so I can achieve that goal. Within the next year, hopefully I’ll have a big enough local buzz that can really help me tour around the city, and open up for even bigger artist, leading to great collaborations. In the next couple years, I plan on working hard to develop a skill in studio engineering, and just getting even better at producing (not just hip-hop.)

soundcloud link: http://www.soundcloud.com/champdoso
twitter: @champdoso