It's been another busy offseason for Damian Lillard. He won a gold medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, played a significant role in the "Space Jam" reboot, returned to his alma mater, Weber State, for a week of workouts and a reunion game and he's getting married to his long-time fiancé within the next few weeks. But before all of that, he put the finishing touches on his fourth full-length album, Different On Levels The Lord Allows, under his nom de rap Dame D.O.L.L.A.
The album, the follow up his 2019 release Big D.O.L.L.A (great album cover, by the way), contains 12 tracks and includes features by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lil' Wayne, Q-Tip and Raphael Saadiq. What's more, Lillard has also released videos for the tracks "Home Team," "The Juice" and "We The Ones" all of which were shot prior to the full release, and likely has a few more already in the can. So between the basketball, the music and the videos, Dame, both Lillard and D.O.L.L.A., have kept plenty busy.
But not so busy that he could take some time to return to a studio in Portland to record an interview with Pierce Simpson of Complex to discuss the process of making the album, how his process has changed over the years, where he feels he ranks among the best athlete rappers and his relationship with the media. Well worth watching the whole thing.