After attending Chicago's Black and Brown Punk Fest in 2013, D.O.P.E. Collective founders were inspired to create modes of political education and highlight punk and hip hop culture, which was stigmatized, in their hometown of Buffalo, NY. Dismantling Oppressive Patterns for Empowerment Collective was founded the first punk-rap show held on March 13, 2015. 

​

Coming off the heels of Black Lives Matter, D.O.P.E. Collective was finding its identity between worlds of anti-oppressive organizing, non-profit industries, growing Black entrepreneurship, non-traditional education, and underground arts. These intersections defined the collective as both nomadic and crucial, as art venues and punk houses were targeted for evictions; and the fourth wave of identity politics settled.

​

In 2016 D.O.P.E. Collective developed its first workshop and series, Deconstructing Masculinity, an overview of masculinity and gender through various scientific and hxstoric contexts. At this time most co-founders disbanded, and the collective was established by Ineil Quaran (co-founder), Jason Cathcart, Vondale Walker, Kenny Hollins, and Khari Waits (co-founder).

​

During covid-19 D.O.P.E. Collective changed its mission, becoming project based as a means of sustainability and personal nurturance. Rather than deciding on one collective direction; efforts are to guide members towards completing their individual goals, fulfilling community and self.