Marcelle Haddix noticed Seth Colton’s talent almost before he did.

The director of English Education at the Syracuse University School of Education met Colton when he was 16, at nearby William Nottingham High School. She was leading an after school writing program when Colton stumbled upon the group.

“I noticed right away that Seth was a self-starter, he was mature,” Haddix said. “He always had that drive. You just know that kid is going to stay connected, and see his dreams through. I admire that about him.”

On a cabinet behind Haddix’s desk, under a blue magnet, is a picture of a beach. Next to the serene image is a note from Dollar. In it, he told Haddix about how the beach brought him back to his work, and how it reminded him of his passion.

Four years later, Seth “Dollar” Colton is 20 years old and his work is still on track. He owns his own clothing brand. He writes and produces music. And on Feb. 27, his mom’s birthday, he will release his first mixtape, titled “It’s Only Right,” which he recorded in Newhouse’s music studios.

The project, now two years in the making, is his coming of age tale. If all goes well, Dollar said, those who listen to the tape will not only get a glimpse of his personal story, but relate to it as well.

“It’s special,” he said. “For fans to be like, ‘He’s going through that, too?’ It makes people want to stick around more. It’s like they’re part of something.”

The idea for “It’s Only Right,” and the title itself, came about when Colton broke things off with a former girlfriend two years ago. Since then, Colton said he has been looking for closure –– the album is his way of searching.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t know themselves,” Colton said. “They get stuck in a moment. They define themselves by that moment. ‘This is who we are.’”

Although he is a student at Onondaga Community College, Colton spent many hours of his evenings in a dark recording studio on the fourth floor of Syracuse’s Newhouse II. The only light in the studio came from two bulbs, mounted on rails, above a silver soundboard.

More often than not, the person controlling that soundboard was Anija Robinson, Dollar’s sound engineer and close friend.

“Sound engineering is something I do,” Robinson said. “I’ve never looked at it as a job. Seth is passionate about what he does, obviously, and I am too.”

Robinson tried his hand at rapping several years ago, but it didn’t work out. Nonetheless, he wanted to stick with music however he could. As it turned out, he had a talent for working with sound. Colton saw an opportunity in Robinson’s talent. The two teamed up to continue, and eventually finish work on “It’s Only Right.”

Both Colton and Robinson plan on transferring to SU in the fall –– Colton to the College of Visual and Performing Arts and Robinson to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Both have planned on going to SU since high school.

But SU isn’t Colton’s ultimate goal. He said he has a lot of plans for the future, and SU will help him in the long run, but he wants to focus on developing his own creativity in the present.

“You go through life, and things change,” Colton said. “Wherever I’m at in my life, in that moment, that’s what I try to capture.”

Colton said that he, like anyone else, has had his own personal trials. But he thinks his work is better because of them.

“Struggles are very important,” he said. “Heroes like Spiderman or Batman, or policemen and firefighters — when they put on their suits, they’re some of the most vulnerable people.”

“In my lyrics, I’m vulnerable, too. But if you’re going to put on that cape, you’ve got to go outside.”

Published on February 24, 2014 at 10:02 pm