TEN TOES DOWN
The Memoir of DJ Dirty Dog
PROLOGUE
Resistance Training
Some people train in gyms.
I trained in resistance.
Not the kind you see in movies.
The quiet kind.
Struggling to read in school.
Feeling behind before life even started.
Watching other kids move smoother, faster, easier.
I wasn’t the natural.
I wasn’t the standout.
I was the kid trying to catch up.
And what nobody knew back then was this:
Trying to catch up builds endurance.
PART I — THE FOUNDATION
Chapter 1: Roots
I come from Chippewa and Navajo roots.
Survival runs in my blood.
Not the loud kind. The quiet kind.
The kind that keeps going.
Heritage didn’t hand me success.
It handed me backbone.
And I would need that.
Chapter 2: Special Ed
Special ed teaches you something most people never learn.
Humility.
You sit there while other kids read fluidly.
You stumble.
You feel small.
That feeling doesn’t leave quickly.
It follows you into adulthood.
Into confidence.
Into the way you measure yourself.
But what it also builds is tolerance for discomfort.
I became comfortable being uncomfortable.
That would later become my advantage.
PART II — PRESSURE
Chapter 3: A Man and His Pride
There’s a silent weight when you’re a man and you physically can’t work the way you want to.
You want to provide. You want to build. You want to stand tall.
And when your body has limits?
It messes with your pride.
I felt behind in life.
Financially.
Physically.
Socially.
But pride can either break you or redirect you.
I redirected.
Chapter 4: The Van
This is where most people would’ve quit.
My ex-wife would only let me see my kids if I took them out to eat.
That was the condition.
And I couldn’t afford rent and restaurant bills at the same time.
So I made a decision.
I lived in a van.
Not for adventure.
Not for aesthetic.
For access.
For my kids.
There were nights parked somewhere quiet, staring at the ceiling, thinking about where my life was.
But when I saw my kids smiling across a table?
Worth it.
You learn something powerful living in a van for your children:
You stop caring about ego.
You start caring about purpose.
Most people talk about sacrifice.
I parked it.
PART III — CREATION
Chapter 5: Music as Oxygen
Music wasn’t entertainment.
It was survival.
Late nights recording. Uploading tracks. Refreshing stats. Low views.
Repeat.
People ask why I make so many songs.
Because I refuse to let probability win.
If success is one in a thousand?
I’ll make a thousand.
DJ Dirty Dog became armor.
When life felt unstable, music gave me structure.
When life felt small, output made it bigger.
Chapter 6: The Author Nobody Expected
Here’s the part that surprises people.
The kid from special ed wrote books.
The Adventures of Johnny Reem wasn’t about fame.
It was about reclaiming identity.
Writing wasn’t smooth.
There were moments the old voice came back:
“You’re not built for this.”
But I wrote anyway.
Every chapter was a middle finger to doubt.
Chapter 7: Building My Own Infrastructure
No label. No investor. No industry push.
So I built DirtyLBRecords.
I built a website. I built a catalog. I built consistency.
Not because it was easy.
Because nobody else was going to do it for me.
PART IV — LEGACY
Chapter 8: Fatherhood
Everything changes when you’re not just fighting for yourself.
Living in that van changed me.
It stripped away ego.
What mattered became clear.
My kids.
I don’t want them to inherit struggle.
I want them to inherit proof.
Proof that their father didn’t fold.
Proof that when life squeezed him, he created.
Chapter 9: Port Huron
Small cities don’t limit you.
Mindsets do.
Port Huron became my training ground.
I built where I stood.
I didn’t wait for relocation to start legacy.
Chapter 10: Capacity
People look at my catalog and say, “Why so much?”
Because volume builds capacity.
Because effort compounds.
Because consistency beats talent that quits.
The man who lived in a van to see his kids
built music.
Built books.
Built a label.
Not overnight.
But relentlessly.
EPILOGUE
Ten Toes Down
There were a hundred reasons I should have stopped.
Financial strain. Physical limits. Low numbers. Isolation.
But I learned something living in that van:
Comfort is optional.
Commitment is not.
I didn’t become who I am because life was smooth.
I became who I am because life wasn’t.
The kid who struggled to read became an author.
The man who couldn’t afford both rent and dinner built a catalog.
The underdog built output.
And when someone reads this story, I want them to think one thing:
“If he can survive that and still build…
this guy can do anything.”
And maybe…
so can I.
Ten toes down.
— Dirty