Meet Dingo Johnson, a San Antonio Rapper Who Currently Has Lockjaw
Image via Dingo Johnson
I came into contact with Dingo Johnson on Twitter. The Pigeons & Planes Twitter account tweeted some Earl Sweatshirt GIF that Dingo had posted the same day, and he was calling us out. A friend of his said (in a tweet now deleted), “They hoed you” and Dingo replied “Not the first time.” I had no idea what he was talking about at the time, but we went back and forth a little, and eventually I was led to his music. This is not to say that calling people out on Twitter is the way to get your music heard, but in this case, it worked out.
Listening to Dingo Johnson’s music, it’s not surprising that he’s out there confronting people on Twitter. The San Antonio rapper’s music is crass, loud, and in-your-face. But right now, Dingo Johnson is very quiet. He’s got lockjaw.
“A few months ago I was told I had a rare tumor called ‘Ameloblastoma’ which was in my sinus area so I just had surgery to get it removed on this month,” Dingo explained via email. “They basically removed the top half of my jaw along with like give of my teeth, so I am pretty much out of commission for a little while until I get this permanent retainer fitted in my mouth. I actually have lockjaw right now while typing this lol… The surgery cut through my jaw muscle and I have to stretch it out every day until the muscles on the right side of my jaw aren’t tight anymore.”
On his background:
“I’m from San Antonio, 25 years old, and MAKE SAN ANTONIO GREAT AGAIN is my first tape I dropped. I started out by making beats about three years ago but I couldn’t find anyone to rap on them that were up to my standards so I decided to rap on them myself. After realizing that making the type of beats I wanted was much harder than expected, I started to focus more on the rapping. Currently I am just in a writing phase before I drop another EP because I am unable to record for about 2-3 months.”
On the surgery:
“Very scary. I thought the surgery was going to be way worse from how he described it but there will be no cosmetic changes to my face or anything, so that is good. The doctor said that hole you see should close up in a few months and I will also have a retainer in there so it wont be noticeable to anyone in a few months once the fake teeth get put in. I don’t really think the surgery will affect my rapping honestly but only time will tell. I feel like I’m going to have a slight lisp though but I hope not lol.”
Image via Dingo Johnson
On being compared to Tyler, The Creator:
“As for the Tyler comparisons, I literally get that 90% of the time I show people my music. I don’t really mind the comparison, but after a while it gets annoying. I really don’t think we sound alike other than the deep voice and what not. That’s why in the ‘3Sum song’ I said, ‘And I know you hear the ingenuity, but y’all say I sound like Tyler so fuck it.’
“But yeah, Tyler is actually my favorite artist right now which makes all this even funnier to me. I think he is one of the best all around artists out right now, and has the chance to go down as one of the greats.”
On future ambitions and his present situation:
“As for the future, I’m just focused on writing right now and finding beats from people since I can’t do anything else. After I am good to go I want to start making music videos. I also want to get to the point where I can make music with some of my favorite artists and where I can relax and make music all day with my friends in a big house and not have to worry about bills or waking up at 4 a.m. to go to work everyday. I work at FedEx right now.”
On his name:
“The Dingo Johnson name origin and the DingoHive name origin are actually funny stories. Back in like 2011 I was looking for a new Xbox gamertag name, so me, my friend Dexter, and my girlfriend at the time were sitting in my room thinking of names. I don’t know how the topic of porno came up, but there is a porn star named MANDINGO and we all thought the name was funny so we came up with Dingo Johnson because it sounds hilarious to say.
“Fast forward to early last year, me and that girlfriend broke up and her new man—I cant even remember his name—used to always hit me up on Twitter trying to troll me with his SoundCloud links because he knew I made music and I still wanted her back at that point. I would usually just ignore it because he only had like 30 plays and I knew he was just trying to get me to react. But after the sixth or seventh time he mentioned me one of his music videos with her in it, I said screw it I’m going to be petty and give him the reaction he wants. So I tweeted his youtube link and told all my followers to go dislike the video and comment something about Dingo Johnson on it. I wasn’t expecting that many people to do it but a lot of people went on there and just started commenting on it. This was also when ‘Beyhive’ was on Twitter so one of my followers tweeted ‘DingoHive’ and I thought it was funny, so we ran with it and here we are now. So shout out to my ex one time.”
On his music and his personality:
“My music is pretty loud and direct. I’m actually pretty quiet in person until you get to know me, then I’m pretty much the same way I am in my music and always making jokes. I’m not really a confrontational person at all though, I’d rather just mind my business and worry about myself and my team because that’s literally all I have at this point. I am confident in myself and my music because where I live (San Antonio) everyone is basically rapping about the same stuff (Xanax, lean, guns, hood raps) and I’m trying to break that mold.”
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