Overview:
Hip-Hop legend The D.O.C. is launching a non-profit platform, DOC Cares, to provide young people in Dallas with practical skills and pathways into high-growth creative and STEM-based industries. The Dreams Experience Academy, a community-based learning and student-led professional services enterprise, is already making waves, winning D CEO's and Dallas Innovates' INNOVATION IN EDUCATION honor for groundbreaking accomplishments in its first year of development. The Dreams Experience Academy will host a fundraiser in April and will be partnering with Big Thought, The Dallas Foundation, and the Dallas Regional Chamber.
During the summer of 1989, the ‘Best Rapper Alive’ and hottest MC in the music industry was not from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston or Atlanta. He was and is from the westside of Dallas, Texas, and his name is The D.O.C. Born Tracy Curry, The D.O.C. shattered all perceptions of what Hip-Hop from the South was supposed to sound like with his lyrical debut album produced by Dr. Dre, No One Can Do It Better, and its two number one singles “It’s Funky Enough” and “The D.O.C. & The Doctor.” However, in 2025, The D.O.C. has even bigger plans for young people in Dallas.
I first sat down with Tracy ‘The D.O.C.’ Curry (and Hip-Hop artist Bobby Sessions) in November 2023, on stage at the Dallas Museum of Art for a conversation entitled “No One Can Do It Better: Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop with The D.O.C.” Dallas is often left out of the global Hip-Hop conversation, and I attempted to shine some light on one of the most prolific artists Hip-Hop culture has ever produced. The D.O.C. is not only a legendary Hip Hop artist who also convinced Dr. Dre to make the classic album The Chronic, mentored Snoop Dogg and wrote “Something in My Heart” for R&B labelmate Michel’le, but he is also Death Row Records co-founder, 2024 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner, and a documentary filmmaker.
During our discussion, DOC, as he is respectfully known as, expressed that he is interested in music technology, specifically artificial intelligence. During an 2024 interview with CBS Mornings Michelle Miller, DOC shared that artist and Hip-Hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy asked him if he would be interested in doing another album using A.I. to recreate his old voice that was damaged as a result of a car crash 3 months after the release of his debut album. DOC agreed, and began working with the A.I company Suno, which employs a generative artificial intelligence music creation program to produce songs. The results of this collaboration are still forthcoming, and DOC shared that he is exploring many options. DOC’s slogan is: “It’s not a ME thing. It is a G.O.D. thing!”
In our 2023 conversation, DOC passionately discussed his love for Dallas and its youth, and that he has plans to support all of the talented young people that come from South Dallas, West Dallas, Pleasant Grove and Oak Cliff. He shared that even though artists and entrepreneurs in Dallas are extremely talented, the south and west sides of the city are often overlooked and that lack of opportunity leads to negativity and lack of resources. DOC also shared that he had “big plans” for Dallas, and some of those plans have recently emerged.
I recently spoke to DOC about his non-profit platform, DOC Cares, and his “community-based learning and student-led professional services enterprise,” the Dreams Experience Academy. According to his website, “The Dreams Experience Academy (“DEA”) is a pioneering educational initiative designed to provide under-championed youth – beginning in the Southern Dallas region – with practical skills and pathways into high-growth creative and STEM-based industries, such as Media, Technology, and Entertainment.” Targeting 7th–12th grade students in the 75216 zip code who they share are experiencing a 47% absenteeism rate from school since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, DEA plans to remove barriers and open opportunities for inclusive prosperity by employing “social innovations, advocacy, storytelling, and convenings to foster social cohesion and improved stability.”
The Dreams Experience Academy is already off to an award winning start. In January 2025, DOC, along with his partner, former American Idol executive Chris Gannett, won D CEO’s and Dallas Innovates’ INNOVATION IN EDUCATION honor for groundbreaking accomplishments in their first year of development for their “educational and commerce platform to provide practical skills and pathways to students into the multibillion-dollar media, entertainment, and technology industries.”
DOC shared that “things are moving” and that the team will be hosting a fundraiser in April. With partners like Big Thought, The Dallas Foundation and the Dallas Regional Chamber, be on the lookout for more from DOC Cares and The Dreams Experience Academy in 2025.
Jerry L. Hawkins is a Comcast NBCUniversal Digital Equity Local Voices Fellow. This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.
