As we begin to build our new artist interview section, we at The Dope Show thought it’d be cool to nix the standard Q&A format and give you a first-hand account of the artist’s life by having them provide 7 random, interesting facts about themselves.

Why the number 7? Mainly because we thought that 10 facts would be a bit much and 5 wouldn’t be enough. 7 just felt right. Plus, 7 is just a dope number. It’s lucky, and Erykah Badu and 3Stacks named their first born son Seven Sirius Benjamin so it’s infinitely the coolest number alive. Oh and have you seen Sevyn Streeter lately? Lawd.

But, we digress.

For our first installment of 7 Dope Facts, we hit up Detroit producer and lyrical beast Nolan The Ninja to find out what makes him tick. The 23 year-old has been pretty busy this year with back to back releases including his beat-tape, lo-fi l∞ps., and a stellar feature on DJ Soko‘s album, Domino Effect.

As he gears up for the release of his forthcoming EP, f-ck the hype. (due out 11/10), Nolan found time to let us pick his brain about his love for wrestling, mac & cheese, Dexter’s Lab and more.

So without further ado, here’s 7 dope facts about Nolan The Ninja.

1: He was Too Cool for school

Nolan: “I was a HUGE wrestling fan as a kid. I was more of a WWF person, though. My favorite wrestlers were Too Cool (laughs). Their names were Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay, and they sometimes had Rikishi with them. Every time their theme song came on, I got mad hype!”

2: He’s in the lab like Dexter

Nolan: “I was a Dexter’s Laboratory kind of guy. I love that show. It always puzzled me how Dexter managed to keep an entire set-up behind a book-case. I remember the episode when his parents found out about the lab but they needed it to save the city or something. I believe it was a 2-part episode. Aside from that, I loved Cow & Chicken, Hey Arnold!, etc. You know, the classics.”

3: He was Pumped for his first album buy

Nolan: “I can’t remember the first album that got me into music. My mother always played neo-soul R&B so it was probably a notable release from the mid-to-late 90’s or early 2000’s. I would say Brown Sugar by D’Angelo or Jill Scott’s first album. As for my first album purchase, it was Joe Budden’s first album. I was 11 and I loved “Pump It Up.” I saw the clean version on sale at Target. (laughs)”

4: His favorite project is still in the vault

Nolan: “My favorite project [from myself] is unreleased. It’ll be released within the next year or so. For the past 6-8 months, my recording sessions have been awesome. I record at home studio set-ups so it’s more freedom, you know? It’s just me and a few of my peoples. We create, smoke, create, eat, smoke, create and repeat (laughs). Plus, I’m in a different creative space. Since the time is pretty much unlimited, I can express in different ways and try new things. People’ll understand what I’m talking about soon!”

5: You can learn a thing or two from his hobbies

Nolan: “I like to read and research whether it’s a book, article, whatever. My mother is a teacher so she was somewhat strict on keeping my brain fed. I would have to say [my favorite books are] The Purpose Driven Life and Think Your Way To The Life You Want. I love books that encourage motivation to better [your]self, you know? Same thing for movies. My favorite films are Pay It Forward and The Pursuit of Happyness. I love anything that promotes the idea of positive inspiration or determination.”

6: He supported the ladies at his first concert

Nolan: “Ironically, I’ve never really been to any big concerts. That may be weird due to me being an artist. My first concert experience was Brandy’s tour in ’98. I went with my cousin and his girlfriend at the time. I remember one of the acts didn’t make the show and they brought out 702 instead. At that time, they had “Where My Girls At” [that was] high on the charts so the place erupted! I also remember that we left near the end of Brandy’s set and we passed the entrance to her green room. My brother began to open the door and security cut that short real quick (laughs).

My most recent concert was at DTE Energy Center last year, though. It was Slick Rick, EPMD, Rakim and a few others. My favorite part of the show was DJ Scratch. That’s my favorite DJ of all time so I was hype. He played “Mary Had A Little Lamb” off of the opening of “Let Me Blow Your Mind” by Eve (laughs). That shit was crazy.”

7: His favorite food is the cheesiest

Nolan: “Hands down, macaroni & cheese! I can eat that as a solo dish for the rest of my life and I’ll be good!’

Extra Dope Fact

Nolan: “My first words were “heeey, hooo”, which was derived from Naughty By Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray” (laughs). My mother says that she has it on a camcorder but she can’t put her hand on it. If she finds it, I’m definitely putting it on the web somehow! (laughs).