Stop Sleepin: Donnis

With a unique sound and an even more unique story, Donnis is shaping up to be the next hip hop star to have their career jump started by the help of a 10.Deep sponsored mixtape.

The only other artists to ever get a 10.Deep mixtape sponsorship are Kid Cudi with A Kid Named Cudi, and Wale with The Mixtape About Nothing.  That being said, If 10.Deep thinks Donnis can successfully follow in Kid Cudi and Wale’s footsteps, then we all need to pay attention to the upcoming mixtape, Diary of An Atlanta Brave!

Another reason why Donnis’ upcoming mixtape will be an instant classic is that he is working with some of the biggest producers in hip hop, such as Ryan Leslie, Just Blaze, the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Don Cannon, and Tha Bizness.  These producers are coming together with Donnis and 10.Deep to create a mixtape full of original songs and content… aka an album.   This album will be released as a free mixtape.  Hopefully this trend of high production “mixtape albums” catches on!

To give you more of an introduction to Donnis’ story and his lyrical skillz, check out “Blueprint Freestyle.”

Now diving further into his unique story, we see that Donnis first started pursuing a career in music, while serving the US Military in Tokyo.  It was Tokyo’s DJ MasterKey who helped Donnis explode onto the local hip hop scene, eventually leading to Donnis’ decision to come back to America and pursue his hip hop career.

In addition to quickly gaining a strong fan base in America, Donnis managed to land a shoe deal with Fool’s Gold.  (Alongside other Fool’s Gold sponsored artists A Trak and Kid Sister.)

To give you a feel of what the 10.Deep mixtape will have to offer, here is the first track to be leaked, “Over Do It.”

Donnis comes with a lot of raw emotion and energy on this track, which coupled with the smart lyrics and catchy hook makes the listener eager to cop that 10.Deep mixtape on August 20th.

The opening line, “They don’t want to give it to me, Ok fine I’ll take it,” sets the “long time coming” theme of the whole song.  Donnis has been putting in time and effort honing his skills, and now he is going to the top, with or without label support.  Donnis spits:

“They would say Donnis so hot, but how we gonna break him?
See thats the problem, See you labels can’t break him,
I’m eating niggas dreams, and I’m shittin inspiration…
Aint no more patience, I’m sick and tired of waiting!”

The labels wouldn’t help Donnis see his dream become a reality, so now he is going to help the labels out by letting them sign him to a major deal… for the right price, of course!

A song that shows a different side of Donnis is the sexual “Clermont Lounge.”

Even though there’s no lyrics that stand out as extremely insightful on this cut, “Clermont Lounge” does a great job of showing Donnis’ ability to cleverly spit about a common theme in a new and refreshing way.

If you want to see Donnis’ freestyling skills, check out this video:

Like a number of other up and coming rappers who are straying away from stage names and personas in an effort to rap about their real life experiences, Donnis is spitting about what he knows.  Donnis himself has stated that were his life a movie, his music would be the soundtrack.

This new style of hip hop based off of transparency in both music and lifestyle works because everyone has a story, and no two stories are alike.  It is all coming down to who is talented enough and has lived an exciting enough life for all of us to care/listen.  With Donnis’ upcoming  Diary Of An Atlanta Brave, we are about to hear his story!