October Jonez is a Columbus-based rapper. Credit: Courtesy of Demetrius Lamont
Rappers can lose themselves in ego-trip and fantasies, but Columbus native October Jonez keeps his music autobiographical, rapping about his daily hardships and responsibilities.
“When The Leaves Fall” is the third release for the rapper, whose given name is Kabelo Dobosu. Released on livemixtapes.com on Oct. 9, the mixtape centers around Dobosu’s life story as a man about to be a father and striving to make a living out of his passion.
“On this project I want to make doing a responsible thing sound cool,” Dobosu said.
The 25-year-old former marketing student at Ohio State said he’s not interested in ego contests fantasies of fancy cars even though he respects these rap standards.
“Since I record various artist throughout the city I’ve learned to be open-minded,” said Dobosu, who also does sound engineering locally. “They’re speaking about what they want to be, they feel like if they speak it into existence it will become true.”
Dobosu started writing lyrics at 12 years old and recorded in a studio for the first time at 17. From that time on, he said reality has been his first source of inspiration.
“I lost my grandmother at nine. She was the glue of the family and I used to write about these things — things I got to do to survive,” Dobosu said.
After high school, Dobosu joined the National Guard for six years. There he said he learned some hard lessons.
“You are responsible for your own action, don’t expect anything from anyone — just hold yourself accountable,” Dobosu said.
When he went back to music, he found a mentor in Audrey L. Beard, also known as King Drey, the producer and founder of Columbus record label Hit Makers Boulevard. Beard said the studio caters to up-and-coming independent artists.
“He’s talented, he’s very creative,” Beard said. “He’s not an artist that’s just making things up and try to sound cool or anything. He’s really organic in the things that he talks about in his songs.”
Through Hit Makers Boulevard, Dobosu started making beats professionally and started as a sound engineer, but he said more importantly he found the support he needed to take the leap to go full-time into his passion.
“It’s crazy that some people had more faith in me than I had myself,” Dobosu said.
Correction Nov. 3: A previous version of this article said Dobosu went into the military after college, but it was in fact after high school. A quote in the seventh graf was also corrected.
