Outside the Eloise Lundy Recreation Center in East Oak Cliff, two days before Christmas, a young boy dribbled a basketball down the court, lunging for a lay-up at the net. A few yards away, though, an atypical scene unfolded.
Police officers stood on the street, gazing at the swarm of toddlers, tweens and teens in a line that stretched around the building’s corner. Christmas had arrived early, courtesy of the rap collective New Dallas, who hosted their first annual holiday drive at the center.
Visitors trickled into a gym where action figures, plush toys, Barbie dolls, PlayStations and other gifts galore extended across a long table and kid-size bikes lined the floor. “One bike per family!” an emcee’s reminder lifted into the air.
HeadHuncho Amir brings a bike to Emmory, 10, during a holiday drive organized by ‘New Dallas’ collective rappers at the Eloise Lundy Recreation Center on Tuesday in Dallas.
Azul Sordo / Staff Photographer
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The 20-somethings who inspired the large turnout — rappers Zillionaire Doe, Montana 700 and HeadHuncho Amir — circled the room, flanked by security guards as they paused for photographs with fans.
New Dallas formed among a group of friends around 2023. The artists’ music often employ tales of hustling and reaping the fruits’ of one’s labor with glitzy outings. If the old Dallas rap scene was mired in neighborhood turf wars and interpersonal beef, as the artists suggest, their movement is instead about promoting peace, being charitable stewards of the city that reared them and pursuing wealth doggedly.
New Dallas “means coming together. It means family. It means loyalty. Giving back,” said HeadHuncho Amir at the start of the holiday drive, as kids scampered around the gym. He penned a 2024 track, “Motivate the City,” where he urges listeners to “cut out all the hating” and instead join forces to collectively “get some cheddar.”
“You can move mountains when you come together, stick together,” Zillionaire Doe also said at the event.
New Dallas’ music has caught the eye of prominent record labels. Zillionaire Doe joined Memphis rapper Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group imprint in January. The pair celebrated the occasion, spraying bottles of champagne onto a block of Malcolm X Boulevard in South Dallas.
The rappers have also bumped elbows with hip hop’s buzziest names. In February, Montana 700 enlisted BigXthaPlug for a remix of his song “Pipeline.” Zillionaire Doe performed at GloRilla’s American Airlines Center tour stop while HeadHuncho Amir was brought out by NBA YoungBoy when he swung through the area.
For Zillionaire Doe, “it’s a blessing to be able to be here, free and alive,” considering that many of his friends are dead or incarcerated, he said.
“People might listen to our music and feel like we might be poisoning the youth,” he said, referring to popular singles with explicit lyrics around street life.
Other detractors might portray the artists as gang members, according to him.
City prosecutors sued the owners of a South Dallas convenience store in August, describing the property as a “criminal hub” with rampant narcotic sales. In the suit, the city pointed to a music video Zillionaire Doe filmed in front of the store in 2023 as evidence of gang-related activity.
Zillionaire Doe called the gang accusations a “stereotype.”
“It’s nowhere near that,” he said. His discography also contains songs that emphasize youth empowerment, music that urges kids to “go to college, make your folks proud,” he said.
“We ain’t doing nothing but getting the money, taking care of our families,” Montana 700 said.
In a corner of the recreation center’s gym, a man dressed like Santa Claus watched over the room. It was Joshua Cilumba, the manager of Montana 700 and Zillionaire Doe, aka Kongo Boy.
“This is a dream that started in my studio a couple of years ago,” said Cilumba, who is a producer. New Dallas is as “an image we’re trying to push of positivity — being as one rather than being separated in this hood, in this hood, in this hood,” punctuating different areas of the city with his hands.
Referencing past divisions in the city’s rap scene, Cilumba said, “there was a few hiccups. The world knows,” adding, “they couldn’t keep it together. It’s our job to do so and bring everybody back on the same island.”
“Don’t take it the wrong way. Out with the old and in with the new,” he said before a toddler was placed on his lap and he resumed his Santa duties.
Kevin Sagrero gets his hair cut during a holiday drive organized by ‘New Dallas’ collective rappers at the Eloise Lundy Recreation Center on Tuesday in Dallas.
Azul Sordo / Staff Photographer