During the summer, Damian Lillard made the headlines when he asked for a trade request out of Portland after playing his entire NBA career with the Trail Blazers franchise. However, it seems that the superstar has kept his mind out of the basketball courts in these past couple of months, preparing to release his fifth rap album as Dame Dolla, his artistic name.
His newest album shares a similar name, as “Don D.O.L.L.A.” is out for everyone to listen this Friday, August 18. The songs have been released through his own label “Front Page Music.”
This news comes two weeks after the All-Star guard first announced its released. “Most complete project I’ve put together. Top notch features and production,” he said in an Instagram post.
#DonDOLLA is out now! 💿
📲 Stream on your music app of choice here: https://t.co/KAW2JoFxp0
Some real heavy hitters featured on this project. 🫡 to everyone that contributed to the album! @rickross @SyAriNotSorry @RexxLifeRaj @brookfielddeuce @IvoryScottIV @TobeNwigwe… pic.twitter.com/xR8mWJmU6u
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) August 18, 2023
Just yesterday, the Portland player dropped the pre-save link to “Don D.O.L.L.A.” on Twitter. According to the player, the “D.O.L.L.A.” stands for: “Different On Levels the Lord Allows.”
Back in 2020, Variety made an interview with Lillard as he revealed the meaning behind his rapper name.
“My college roommates called me Dame Dolla, and then I decided to use it as my rap name,” he said three years ago. “But I turned “Dolla” into an acronym — It stands for different on levels the Lord allows.”
In the past, Dame D.O.L.L.A. has released music with hip hop legends such as Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg, and other well-known artists like G-Eazy and Blxst. This time around, Wayne also has a feature on the album, but includes a debut collaboration between the athlete and musician Rick Ross.
The Trail Blazers still show no interest in trading for Lillard, as they wait patiently for a worthy offer to appear
Ever since the veteran guard asked for a trade request from the Trail Blazers, he made himself clear that he hopes to be sent to Miami to join Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The thing is, the Oregon franchise feels they are yet to recieve a worthy offer for him.
In the meantime, they aren’t stressing about trading for their superstar. “Meanwhile, as of early this week, Portland was still showing no interest in doing a deal with Heat, who visit Blazers in late Feb. in what is reportedly Portland’s only national TV game. To me, Lillard has much of leverage based on how messy he’s willing to make this (unknown),” posted NBA insider Barry Jackson on Twitter.
Check out Dame Dolla’s trailer announcement for his fifth rap album:
The thing is, Lillard is a world class player that should win an NBA title at some point of his career. After 11 seasons of trying in Portland and staying loyal to his team, he recently admitted he just wants a ring on his finger.
“Winning the ring is like the ultimate level of success,” Lillard told JJ Redick on The Old Man and the Three Apple podcast. “And I always think about it like how you said, like, you wrestle with that, like, I always think about it like, man, but like, I really do want to win. And I don’t think I would go crazy if I didn’t, but like I really want to win a ring.”
