My name DC stands for Dock City, the area I grew up in London. I grew up in an area called Woolwich Dockyard. As kids, we nicknamed it Dock City or DC. That’s where my name comes from.
Growing up, I was a big fan of rap. I used to play football. That was where my focus was, until I went to the university. With my love for rap, I just said to myself: “Let me write something down.” And when I did write, I realized that it was kind of good. So I decided to go into rap music and started writing lyrics, writing about my experiences, other people’s experiences, my feelings, any idea that comes to me, I put it down. The more I listen to other rap music, the more I am inspired to write my own lyrics. Rap is poetry of the street. It is rooted in street culture and happenings in the society. 
My favorite rapper is J. Cole, an American rapper. He inspires me a lot. I also like Jay-Z, Kanye West. With UK rappers, my favorite is Skepta, a Nigerian whose real name is Joseph Junior Adenuga. I grew up listening to Skepta. He is probably my favorite UK rapper. In the last five years, he has made a connection with Nigeria. He has done songs with Wizkid. He made Nigerian music popular in the UK through his collaborations with Nigerian stars. He is a legend in the UK rap scene. There is another rapper called Giggs. He is UK as well. Those are the kind of rappers I grew up listening to. UK rappers are different from American rappers. The way of life is different. The way we talk is different. UK music is a bit faster. We rap faster. In America, the tempo is slow. In my opinion, the UK rappers are more talented at the moment in terms of writing. I am not familiar with Nigerian rappers. I listen more to Nigerian Afrobeat: Omah Lay (Understand). I don’t listen to Nigerian rap. Nigerian music is amazing. It’s international now. In my opinion, from being in the UK, it’s No.1 sound at the moment worldwide. You can tell because everybody is trying to make African music. Everybody is trying to get a piece of Afrobeat, trying to do remix. You can see the impact Fireboy and Ed Sheeran made with the song Peru which went No.1 and everybody doing their own remix. It can only be good for Afrobeat.
I was born in Lagos on September 6, 1994. I left for UK to go join my mum when I was four. My dad is a Nigerian. He is Dr. Steve Olarinoye. He is based in Ilorin. And I am Richard Seun Olarinoye, the only product of my dad and my mum Ronke Ogunkoya who studied nursing. I have no musical background. No one in my family has ever done music.
The first single I released was freestyle on YouTube. And it did very well. That got me a lot of attention. I was in the University of Kent at that time. I studied sports management. In 2020, I released a song on YouTube called Neighbourhood which had 3.3 million views. And from there, I released a project titled In The Loop which did very well. I guess that’s what made me get the attention.
THE FOOTBALLER THAT NEVER WAS
I am quite well known in the UK among up-and-coming artists that are doing well. If I had not been a rapper, I would have tried playing football. I used to go do trials in a lot of academies. From 16 to 18, I went to Leicester, West Ham, Exeter, Blackpool to try my luck as a footballer. When I was in college, it was just football, football and football. But unfortunately, I didn’t take the opportunities. After football, I went to the university. And that’s where I picked up rap.
Chelsea? No way. I am Arsenal. As a footballer, I was playing central back. With my height of over six feet, people were asking me if I played basketball. I played it before in college but I have no passion for it.
In school, I gave mum a lot of trouble. When I was almost finishing school, I got kicked out. And in college as well, I got kicked out. Life is full of ups and downs. She is an amazing mum, very supportive of my musical career. Me and her, we are very close. We wear the same dreadlock hairstyle. It is easy to talk to her about anything. I don’t know how it happened but I have a big fan base in Germany and the whole of Europe. There is a platform in Germany called Colors and they invited me to come and perform. That’s how people started hearing me in Germany.
My dream is to get as big as I can. There are so many struggling rappers in the UK right now. It’s like football. Everybody is trying to be a footballer, everybody is trying to be a musician. London is a small place but it’s a bit harder to make it. My style is a blend of UK grime and garage.
I really enjoyed my Christmas holiday in Nigeria. I also went to Ghana where I have lots of friends. I would love to collaborate someday with Wizkid and Omah Lay. Internationally, I think Wizkid is bigger than Davido but Davido is big as well. Davido is massive as well, but Wizkid is a superstar. Only Wizkid can sell out the O2 Arena in the UK three days in a row. He is the first African artist ever to do that. Not a lot of people can do that. I don’t think Burna Boy can do that. I know Burna Boy won the Grammy but it’s about timing. I don’t think Wizkid’s album was out when Burna Boy won the Grammy. So it’s about timing really. But I think Wizkid is definitely bigger than Burna Boy but Burna Boy is not far.
Burna Boy, I must say, is unique. When I first heard his music, I hadn’t heard music like that from Africa. He is one of a few artists that made a lot of people that didn’t listen to Afrobeat start to like Afrobeat. That’s why you have to give him his credit. Especially in the UK. He made Afrobeat quite popular. He and Wizkid, they made Afrobeat popular. I love Davido too. He is one of the artists where I didn’t realize that I know so many of his songs until they play and I know the words. That’s where I realize I guess I am a fan. Davido is amazing as well.