Three days before graduating from DePaul, femdot. released his now critically acclaimed Delacreme 2 album, a task that required trimester course loads where he logged upward of 70 credits per year. Since receiving rave reviews from the city of Chicago, where the album was recognized as one of its top 10 in 2018 by the Chicago Tribune, femdot. has received a cosign from a host of media outlets and major publications, including this one.
Most recently, the North Side-groomed talent released 94 Camry Music, which he calls his most personal and “strongest project to date.” Reminiscing on past experiences in his first car, one he was gifted by his parents at 16, the album is something of a joyride set in the early 2000s when life was simpler. Fem teams up with St. Louis standout Smino on “Rap City,” where the two take turns wrecking the mic. Elsewhere, he promises his mother a new house on “Hot Lunch” and shares details of a relationship gone left on “Happy Break Up Song.”
The title track — an ode to what femdot. calls “the realest” person he ever met — finds the self-admitted misfit living life as reckless as any other teenager. He sneaks out of the house, finds his boys and they chase girls — all fair game for a group of teens trying to figure life out.
“That was my first car,” he says. “I learned to drive with that car. The car had like 300,000 miles on it. It was like a member of the family.
“That car got me in and out of, most times, any predicament I was in. I learned so much about myself in that car and didn’t even realize it until after it was gone. And I would reflect back on like a lot of moments, in my own personal life, like, ‘Oh, OK. Like, whatever I’m learning now, I’m taking it from whatever the experience [was] that I had in my car.”
Femdot.’s vigilance has served him well. While making 94 Camry Music (he plans his albums three years in advance), he and his managers saw illimitable potential for the project and wisely prepared for a potential partnership with the Toyota family. Not knowing how or when they would pitch the album, the trio developed a deck and, as fate would have it, met a company rep at an industry event.
“From there we started the relationship,” he said.
By the grace of the man upstairs, that 94 Camry and the real-life soundtrack that is literally playing out in front of him, femdot. is now the face of one of the most respected car companies in the world — all because he was ready for his moment.
And while he has traded in his beloved Camry for a ride-sharing account, mild sauce is but a couple dates and a phone call away.
Femdot.’s 94 Camry Music is available on all streaming platforms and through his website, www.femdotdot.com. Keep up with him @femdotdotcom on Instagram, @femdotdot.com on Twitter and @femdotmusic on Facebook. If you’re like femdot. and want to roll up in style wherever you go, click here to watch a video of him test-driving the 2020 Camry Nightshade through the streets of Chicago and toyota.com/nightshade to see what Toyota’s newest model has to offer for yourself.
Words by N. Ali Early
Images by Eddy “Precise” Lamarre
