David Augustine Jr. is a rapper from New Orleans who is better known by his stage name Dee-1. He started rapping while attending Louisiana State University and continued to do so after graduating in 2007 and moving to Baton Rough to be a teacher. Within the year, Dee-1 released three mixed tapes starting with his debut, Its Only Tha Beginning. Along with Dr. Rani G. Whitfield, whose monicker is Tha Hip-Hop Doc, he embarked on a series of lectures at schools that gained him national attention from media outlets such as CNN for being a positive influence on hip-hop culture. Dee-1 ended his teaching career after two years in order to focus on his music, and he released his debut album David & Goliath in 2009 and has since worked with several prolific artists such as Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco and The Roots. Having received a great amount of recognition from the entertainment world for his dedication to education and socially-aware music, Dee-1 was named Artist of the Year at the NOLA Underground HIp Hop Awards. Dee-1 released a series of mixtapes titled I Hope They Hear Me, volumes 1, 1.5 and 2, between 2010 and 2011 to critical acclaim.
