Latest Comeups, The Dom Vallie Edition
Written by Spencer Rioux.
Who IS dOM vallie?
Dom Vallie born Dominic Omario D’Aguilar Turton is a rapper, producer, and songwriter born in Toronto and raised in Kitchener. With one album and two ep’s under his belt with a slew of singles released in between, it’s easy to find a new favorite song when listening to Dom Vallie. His Spotify sits high at 309,000 monthly listeners and his top song ‘Vallie Mode‘ is just shy of 6 million streams.
His latest hit, ‘Been Himma‘ shows the same caliber and surpassed the million-listen mark fast when he first released it. Now sitting at just over 5 million streams with help from his amazing fan-base he has built over on TikTok. With more views and more opportunities arising in his atmosphere, it’s well-known that it’s Dom Vallies’ time.
Why Should I Know Dom Vallie?
With a clear vision and an eye on what he wanted to achieve, Dom Vallie is one of the most strategic and persistent rappers in the game. When he made his smash hit ‘Scared of Death‘, he was sent a series of beats from his producer tomb and picked one he knew would work and sat on it for a year. Within that year he would write small parts at a time to see what worked and how he could piece together a hit.
After a year of grinding over the beat and perfecting the lyrics, he had finished constructing his song. It’s impossible to leave out the range of Dom with slow heartfelt Mac Miller-Esque songs found on his first album ‘Nights‘ to his alternative sound that comes through like a head-banging, wall smashing, sound on ‘Tweaking‘ and ‘Clique, Boom‘ that fuels like a Rage Against the Machine. Everything in between is a balance of memorable lyrics and infectious beats that are easy to get lost in.
Our Recommendations!
My Top 3 Songs I Would Recommend You to Check Out:
Spotify:
– Been Himma
– Deadman
– Tweaking
SoundCloud Exclusives:
– SWAY FREESTYLE
– CALM DOWN NEVA
– Juno Brunch
Learn More About Dom Vallie!
Dom was born in Toronto and was relocated to Kitchener during his teen years. He first started writing short rhymes at a young age after years of studying and dissecting lyrics from his favorite artist like Lil Wayne, A Tribe Called Quest, The Black Eyed Peas, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. He would go on to say that Lil Wayne was his greatest influence even stating that Tha Cartier III was the first album he ever bought.
His influences are nothing if not proof that he was able to understand all types of music at an early age and would go on to benefit him with his genre-hopping tracks in the future.
After studying the greats and surrounding himself with music, he was one push away from starting the path of a rapper. That push came in the form of a grounding by his mother. He was caught smoking weed with his friend and was sentenced to a summer house arrest where out of boredom he opened up GarageBand and started making beats for fun.
He started adapting lyrics over the beats and sending what he produced to friends where he received positive feedback, sparking the fire and the hustle that would shape his life. Dom turned to SoundCloud to put out freestyles and asserted dominance on his first Spotify single Bags.
As he was cranking out singles he was also working on his debut album with tomb behind the scenes. While working on his first album, he would work into the late nights spending countless hours finding his footing with track production and lyrics and appropriately naming the project ‘Nights‘. Right away the intro is a piano and string-heavy, heartbreaking message to a former lover before your hit with the beat drop on, ‘In the Shadows‘.
This album is riddled with awareness, heartbreak, and confidence with songs that allude to his vision to make it big and touch on failed past relationships which he balances perfectly. Melodic songs like ‘11:11‘ give you an inside look at how he deals with his thoughts and songs like ‘Deadman‘ that amp you back up.
‘Nights‘ in my opinion is an extremely overlooked debut album that anyone can get something out of just after one listen. After finishing a very impressive debut album at 17 years old, Dom released an abundance of singles that showcased his range while showing his cadence jumping skills. During this time he would release ‘Scared to Death‘ the song that would bring major awareness to the waves he’s been making.
During this time, Dom would effortlessly switch styles bringing something new to the table with enjoyable lyrics on ‘Gotdam‘ and ‘Welcome to Tartarus‘. He would show his teeth with the bass-heavy, alternative sound on his song ‘Tweaking‘, that gels with what Rage Against the Machine put out 20 years prior.
‘Tweaking‘ tells a story of a pent-up person expressing his angered feeling against society and touching on the drug activity he witnessed throughout his life. It births something in the listener that gives a bulletproof, wall-punching feeling when hearing the eclectic guitar chords and brain-vibrating beat. Dom displayed strong confidence from stepping out of the mainstream norm and trying something that he wanted to do, which brought something new to his tracks every time.
After four years of dispensing singles after ‘Nights‘, he released his first EP titled, Vallie Girls. It has one of the hardest cover art I’ve seen on an Ep. With him standing in between two topless girls with the city behind him, giving a sense of inspiration to anyone trying to make it insuring that the dream is possible.
The title track ‘Vallie Girls‘ has a unique mix of raw vocals, a steady beat, and a small acoustic guitar piece which proves his skill as an artist by making a 3 ingredient beat work and leaving the listener’s thumb over the restart button.
Throughout the project, he uses a distortion in his vocals that almost gives a Travis Scott-like feel to it. ‘Ballerina Aquaman‘ shows Doms control of beats with an undeniable skill for amping up the listener with a beat drop to go crazy on. With much praise from his previous works on ‘Nights‘ and ‘Vallie Girls‘, his career was taking off.
The hard work paid off with the offer to perform at Canada’s first Rolling Loud festival in Toronto. He accepted, and his name was listed alongside artists such as Future, Roddy Ricch, Ski Mask The Slump God and NLE Choppa. The pride he felt from being asked to share the same stage as these new school greats in his hometown shined through in his performance.
He showed his gratitude for this eminence opportunity while also applauding the lesser-known rappers after seeing the crowds leaving when they would take the stage. His performance was scheduled days before his 22nd birthday and he could feel the love of the crowd as they sang along to every song he performed. Another very impressive thing I would like to point out is, he had performed a few unreleased songs from his upcoming ep and his fans still sung the lyrics word for word!
After his performance at Rolling Loud, he followed up quickly a week later with his latest EP, ‘Are We There yet?‘ This one in my opinion is an unskippable work of art.
After multiple listens I haven’t found a song I would consciously skip. Strong vocals split through tracks like ‘Didn’t Go Through‘, ‘LNLA‘ with easy-to-follow bumping flows on ‘Nana’s iPod‘, ‘Chase The Feeling‘, and ‘15 Minutes‘. Dom even touches back with the guitars and hotel smashing, fight mode alternative spirit on ‘Clique, Boom‘ that can easily be a rave favorite. ‘Are We There yet?‘ is an instant classic with an unskippable tracklist and if it doesn’t bring him to the mainstream, then the mainstream will lose out on a significant star.
Follow Dom Vallie!
With all things considered it’s extremely unfortunate Dom Vallie isn’t at the top of the charts, but at this stage of progression and still very early in his career at only 22 years old, the world is still not ready for his official arrival. Outside of his music and through his interviews, he still maintains a humbleness and excitement that most have lost when obtaining their small piece of fame. You can tell that he’s still a kid at heart and is happy to just be here living and doing what he loves. If you want to see this sharp tooth energy in a live performance I strongly suggest watching
the Sidedoor Session performance on Sidedoor Magazines’ Youtube channel where he performs ‘Tweaking‘ and ‘Tell Me Please‘. Accompanied by a live guitarist and drummer it’s sure to put goosebumps up and down the arms and give a newfound sound to already great tracks.
Find Dom Vallie and Much More Talent In Our Official “Northern Comeups” Playlist!
