Steve 'Flash' JuonI was reasonably sure going into “What Made Me” that Doodie Lo was a Chicago drill rapper affiliated with OTF but I always like to fact check myself at the start of a review. My first search pulled up confusing results for a similarly named New York rapper, so I tried “Doodie Lo wiki” instead. That in turn led me to some things I didn’t want to know (more on that later), but at the very least confirmed he’s the rapper from the Chi that I thought he was. I suspect the “zero posts” on his official Instagram are related to the accusations that his ex stirred up as well, and the fact he calls himself “Big Doodie Lo” on tracks now helps distinguish him from that other rapper and distance himself from what she has to say about the Dood.
The negative press doesn’t seem to have hurt his career at all. In fact the nearly half a million views “Hoodbachi” with Tee Grizzley has done in only a month. In fact the gruff rapper born Davis Saulsberry doesn’t sound the least bit bothered on songs with titles like “Livin’ My Dreams.” If he’s bothered by anything he’s doing his very best to not show it and make you believe it’s all good and he’s succeeding more now than at any point in his career to date. “Livin my dream, it’s funny now, got thots and plenty house/Nigga, it’s plenty M’s, got money just comin in.”
And you know what? Doing some further research I can see why he’s not bothered. He sued his ex for defamation and WON, garnering a settlement worth millions and exonerating his name in the process. He raps “I was a bad kid/they loved me just as is” on the song above, but who among us didn’t get up to some foolishness when we were young? Just because you acted out then doesn’t make you a bad person now, but like nearly any drill rapper he’s not above warning his opps not to mess with him. If they’re not OTF they’re “Not My Friends” and he’s making that crystal clear.
I have no objection to Big Doodie Lo saying who he’s loyal to and who he’s not, but I do object to the boring and cliched AutoTune on the track. When Doodie is straight up rapping with no added filters I enjoy his raspy vocals, but the more he sings the less interested I become. That shouldn’t be the case with songs like “Relapsed” because he does have a story to tell. “I don’t went to rehab/I can’t lie, I relapsed/Tried to use ’em for some sleep but I be fightin demons.” I’m down for hearing him talk about how he fought addiction (and probably still does — addicts will tell you it’s a life long war) but the pitch correcting doesn’t enhance his vibe, it just disguises his compelling story.
The short length of many of the songs on “What Made Me” also disrupts your chance to connect with Doodie on a personal level. 16 songs and 38 minutes may seem better than the average at first, but you quickly realize that only two of those songs are over 3 minutes (one by just a second) and both of them feature guest stars. I’ll give him credit though — both his “Intro” and his “Outro” are actual bars over a beat and not just some skits or instrumentals. He shows his love to the late King Von on the latter.
It pains me to say I’m damning him with faint praise, but Doodie Lo is a slightly above average rapper. I’d be lying if I tried to say he’s more than what he is though. He’s from a very competitive rap scene, not to mention a very deep clique from that scene, and there are a lot of Chicago drillers that are both here and gone I enjoy more. The production on “What Made Me” is solid, that helps a lot, and I admire the fact Doodie fought back against some false accusations and won. He crawled through half a mile of shit and came out clean on the other side. So he has my respect, my admiration even, but he’s not the best of the best doing it. My disappointment is that with all his struggles to get to this point, he could have told a much more epic story with his album, but it’s largely a paint by numbers affair.