Posted on 08/26/2009
The Good Doctor can't help but notice that the rap game has changed: newcomers like Cudi and Drake are putting hits on the board and getting the Twitterers Twittering with melodic slightly-weirdo largely devoid of rap, cliche styles that can really only be described as Post-Kanye rap. This celery-flavored beverage/music enthusiast is not particularly mad at this trend. I grew up on N.W.A. and Above the Law, but also on KMD and Special Ed and (yeah, I'm about to say it) even Red Head Kingpin and the FBI, and I've long been a believer that rap is like food: best tasted in a variety of flavors AND, to belabor the metaphor further, I believe that much like food, there is good rap and bad rap of every flavor. Much as there are excellent dollar dumpling joints and awful $75-a-plate French restaurants, there is great gangster rap and awful gangster rap, great "hipster rap" and awful hipster rap, etc.

Anyway, this whole thing is just one long digression, a roundabout way of saying that I'm not mad at these new cats popping up into the game. Provided, that is, that they're good, which brings me finally to my point: Donnis. With this influx of dudes dropping 77 mixtapes digitally every week, it's getting hard to seperate the wheat from the chaff. Donnis is one dude who is clearly shining through. He's equal parts Dungeon Family and Drake and on his new Diary of an Atlanta Brave mixtape (really an album, really, but that's a topic for another time), he lets loose over well-picked Justice League beats and you can feel the thought that went in to the rhymes and hooks. Anyway, grab the tape (it's free like all music is these days) and decide for yourself if you agree with The Good Doctor's assesment.

DBC: Are you "the South's first hipster rapper?" Don't get mad, just discuss...

Donnis: In a sense i guess i am but then again im not...I think Big Gipp and Andre 3000 are just as cool and up on things like dressing different and all those thing as i am...I just come from a time where people identify rappers as "hipster" instead of just "different".

DBC: You obviously ride for the Dungeon Family, which is really one of the most important MUSICAL movements of all time (not just rap movements you rockists). What are some highlights for you from their catalog? Verses, singles, albums, particular lines or beats. Speak on it.

Donnis: Everything they did was monumental for me because they're from my backyard, but there are some moments I remember like they were yesterday. I remember being in Biloxi, Mississippi and seeing the "Southerplayalisticadillac" music  video. I also remember my dad was a part of that cd club where they send u a bunch of cds. Wellll...i remember that cd coming and me just ripping it open without permission -  that cd came to me, I didnt go to that cd, as odd as it may sound.  i feel like it was meant for me to have that cd.  I remember having my grandma take me to buy Atliens the day it came out. I remember reciting and knowing the whole Goodie Mob Soulfood album...WATCH FOR "THE HOOK" VIDEO!!! Definitely an amazing time for me. There's just so many, that Organize Noize movement gave me - KILO, OUTKAST, GOODIE MOB, WITCHDOCTOR, just so much. 

But a song that is just front to back for me verses that are ill is "BLACK ICE"...everyone did their thing on there SKKYYY HIGHHHH, LOL. A beat that I love is the "WHEELZ OF STEEL" on the Atliens project....THERES JUST TOO MUCH, THIS IS AN UNFAIR QUESTION. I'm sitting here now on youtube watching this "Dirty South" video with all of them in it - they just spoke for so much, they were the voice for me being young and from Georgia, they were speaking for young black kids trying to make a way. They talked about voting, dope dealing, what they were doing down in Atlanta to keep us down, and they spoke about how to make it... they were the ultimate movement for me.



DBC: Discuss the following statement: "The internet is a blessing and a curse for young dudes coming up in the game. It gives everyone access to millions of potential fans, but also bombards those fans with so much material that it's hard to stand out".  

Donnis: I feel like that statement is 100% accurate. Its almost gotten to the point where its hard to be relevant by just dropping stuff by yourself on the internet. Labels havent even figured out how to really use the internet to their advantage yet... because even if you're dropping gems.. its overlooked in 30 mins because Kanye, Rhianna, and Jay just dropped a video and a bunch of other artist dropped right after your track. Its getting harder and harder out here in this game.

DBC: Justice League provide a lot of the background for this cd. They can't be cheap. Are you signed to their production company, flushed with dope money, what gives? Where did you get your funk from?

Donnis: I met Kenny Barto of the Justice League at a party at the W in Atlanta and my song "Party Works" came on. He loved it and asked me to come to Hot Beats Studio in Atlanta...I went over there, played him a bunch of records, and he said that he was fucking with my sound and believed in me and that the only other person he had ever given free beats to was Drake and he believed i could take it to that level. He put beats down, created some more, and here we are today.

DBC: Finally, in 365 days, where will Donnis be?

Donnis: TOURING HEAVIER, HAVING MY ALBUM BUMPED EVERYWHERE, AND LIVING THE LIFE I ALWAYS DREAMED.

Grab the mixtape here.

- Dr. Brown's Celray

Dr. Brown's Celray is the Hitman Howie Tee to Okayplayer's Chubb Rock. He's hirsute but he don't have to wear a suit. And don't you forget it...