Former resident pursues his dream in hip hop music

It took a second arrest and 30 days in a juvenile diversion center for Allen “Matchstik” Forrest to realize he wanted more from life.

“You’re young, you’re 13,” Forrest said. “You’re thinking you can’t get caught.”

Raised by a single mother in Dothan with his brother and sister, there just didn’t seem to be many options for a young man who spent his days with his grandmother at Martin Homes while his mother worked. His father had left when he was 9. He was selling drugs before he even turned 16.

He eventually left the drugs behind, but he still lacked focus. Looking back on it now, he admits he never applied himself to his academic courses at Northview High School. At 19 and in the 10th grade, Forrest dropped out. It didn’t stop him though — he got his GED and attended a year of classes at Wallace Community College. At 20, he joined the Navy.

The young man had finally found his focus.

After four years in the Navy, he decided to pursue his dream of making music.

Now 28, the former Dothan resident has developed a following on the Internet with his hip hop music. With songs like “It’s OK,” “Surina’s Song,” and “I’m So Fly,” he’s been featured on rapmusic.com and myxer.com. He now lives in Los Angeles, but returns home this weekend for a performance at The District in downtown Dothan.

“The Bible says you take one step and God will take the rest of them,” Forrest said in a telephone interview with the Dothan Eagle. “It was a leap of faith.”

He credits his friends in Dothan as helping him find his way as a young man. His friends from Northview High School were all planning to go to college and showed Forrest he could do more.

“The only life I’d really seen was in Martin Homes,” Forrest said, recalling his high school years. “I’m seeing there’s a different life than what I was from.”

He’s had some luck along the way.

Forrest still bears the scar on his left arm from an Arizona car accident that happened on his way out to California to pursue his musical dream. A friend of his was driving and unknown to Forrest was suicidal. The friend drove the car into the path of an 18-wheeler at 90 mph. It should have been a fatal wreck, Forrest said, but the only injuries were some scratches to his friend and a hole in his arm.

And after he arrived in Los Angeles, he was invited to a party. He ended up at the wrong party, but it led to a gig for the self-taught artist.

Forrest said he doesn’t necessarily see himself as an example for others, but he knows you can change your life if you want to.

“There are no limits in life,” he said. “The only limits are the ones you put on yourself.”
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If you go ...
Who: Hip hop musician Allen “Matchstik” Forrest
Where: The District, North Foster Street, downtown Dothan
When: Saturday, March 14, 8 p.m.