Baltimore rapper Rosito Dinero presents “Dreams,” his new single featuring Marleaux Desire and Aus Taylor. Cutting his teeth battling through school until “somebody a stole Cassidy verse and used it against me”, Rosito first broke out via Soundcloud (stream “Keep It Real” produced by Vanilla). “When I wrote this song it was around the time of the killing of Freddie Gray,” he explains. “With me living in Maryland my whole life it was wild to see the city and eventually the whole country up in arms over something that happened in our own backyard. That was the inspiration for my verse.”
What’s the inspiration behind your stage name?
So just for some context my actual “Government Name” is William Rose. Coming up I’ve gone through a few different iterations of my stage name, A’Moore Rose…William Rose straight up and then I finally settled on Rosito Dinero when I started to take this game seriously. Rosito, which is just a play on my last name and Dinero…because that’s money in Spanish.
Baltimore Emcee Rosito Dinero Brings Vintage Mood On “Dreams”
So I chose Rosito Dinero because it sounds like somebody that’s cool as hell, ha. It’s got a ring to it I guess. Plus I ran it past some old group members back in the day and they said it was a dope name, so that’s what I ran with. Also it’s a unique name so when you hear it you’ll probably remember it.
What’s a life motto you try to live by?
A life motto that I try to live by is to maintain a super strong sense of direction. I’m an easy going guy but I take life pretty seriously when it comes to my goals. I’ve always been super driven and literally obsessed to a fault with trying to accomplish what I wanted. I deal with procrastination just like everybody else but I can say pretty much everyday since I was like 18 I’ve kept a journal with my goals and a to-do list that I mark off daily.
I’m just really obsessed with making things happen in real life like I see them in my head. I’m really driven and I set huge goals that don’t always go as planned, but I’ve learned over time that multiple failures are usually a requirement for success.
What can you tell us about coming up in Baltimore?
So I was born in Baltimore and my whole family is from the city but at a young age we moved further out. I can tell you that when I did live in the city me and my family went through a lot. I remember somebody stole something from the shopping center that was directly behind us and I guess the security guard wasn’t feeling that at all so he chased him ALL the way up the hill to our house and ended up shooting dude on our front lawn. Crazy….and then my brother, who was told multiple times to stay in the house decided to do a NEWS INTERVIEW on the situation!
My parents were not pleased, especially when the extended family phone calls came in. I guess that was the last straw so we moved shortly after that. Besides that, I’m glad to say that my childhood was a true dream. As kids it was all video games, you know PS2, Gamecube normal stuff. I’d always been into music in school because my Dad is a musician but around fourth grade I started getting into Hip-Hop SUPER HEAVY. I first discovered AOL Radio through the little instant messenger thing they had back in the day and man I can tell you that changed my life.
First artist I started studying was Tupac and I became literally obsessed. I was on the “Tupac is Alive” boat for a very long time. From there I studied Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas, Big-L and a ton more. I also started writing shortly after and then when I got to middle school I had the chance to get around some kids who had the same interests as me. Dance battles, rap battles…Ha, anything could go down in the hallway honestly.
I literally won every legitimate battle but I had one kid who kept coming with wild bars, I did some research and found out he was using Cassidy lines, so let’s just go ahead and say that one doesn’t count. Besides rap I was in the band and played the drums all throughout elementary, middle and high school. By the time I got to High School I’d studied enough and listened to enough music to where I developed a decent pen game.
I started writing even more and eventually started coming out with some Soundcloud tracks that I got a LOT of love on. Unfortunately, I felt like I needed to be an “Adult” and put rap to the side until I made some money. I know that was a mistake and I wasted some years, but now I’m back and ready to show the world who I am.
What’s the biggest lesson you can share for other indie artists trying to make it?
The biggest lesson I can share for other indie artists trying to make it is to BE YOUR OWN LABEL. So often, us as artists and creatives just want to create and don’t want to or don’t feel justified in trying to financially benefit off of our art. This business doesn’t operate off of extremes. I say that, meaning that it’s not “Get signed to a major label for money” or “Be broke and make music in the basement”, we don’t have to try to chase down a record label to make money from art that we create, ESPECIALLY in the social media era.
We can make money on our own by connecting directly with our fans and building up. Don’t labels want you to have a buzz anyway before they sign you? Come on ya’ll let’s make a change man. Of course we gotta’ learn and start small, but I believe that if your art is dope and your making the right business moves to promote yourself, you can win.
What was your biggest lesson of 2022?
My biggest lesson of 2022 was to stop being a perfectionist. My girl helped me figure this one out. I’ve always been into extremes…Either I want to do it at a high level off rip, or I don’t want to do it at all. Which is not even really realistic when it comes to most things in life. You have to start small, and then through discipline and consistency and constantly learning how to improve you can succeed in whatever you want to do.
