Interview: Donnis (10/28/09)

One of the many impressive artists who came to town for CMJ was the Atlanta Brave himself, Donnis.

He impressed the crowd in every set, while performing tracks from the 10.Deep sponsored Diary of an Atlanta Brave mixtape.

A few CMJ performances gained major attention for various reasons, but perhaps one of the more memorable events of the past week was Donnis’ set being interrupted by a drunk fan.

Donnis and his management handled the situation quickly, making sure no one was injured.  What a crazy night!

Yesterday, Donnis stopped by the HipHopAtLunch.com offices to speak on his Fool’s Gold deal, his interest in culinary arts, and the drunken fan incident on Saturday night.

If Donnis is coming through your city and you know good places to eat, hit him up on Twitter:@DonnisMusic!  If you are also interested in the culinary arts, I suggest you check out Pill’s hilarious cooking show, as it does not disappoint!

The Fool’s Gold deal is actually for the release of the same song Donnis was performing when his set got interrupted.  As you heard him say in the interview, no one in Donnis’ camp promotes violence, but since the fan was out of hand, security had to make sure he left the stage.

This is yet another example of why excited fans should not run up on stage.  We all saw what happened with Lil Mama and the VMA performance of “Empire State Of Mind!”

After the break in his set, Donnis picked up where he left off and gave a performance of “Gone” that I’m sure the crowd won’t soon forget!

That time, Donnis had people he respected on stage with him, including fellow ATL rapper, Pill.

Like the mixtape’s best track, “Over Do It,” Donnis spits personal lyrics on “Gone.”

“I came to shatter hater’s dreams,
Kill their self esteem,
Don’t try to make up now my nigga,
This aint Maybelline,
You have made a scene,
Nobody like me,
And no I aint gay,
So I don’t care if Niggas like me.”

Motivational lyrics like those are what will bring Donnis to the top of his game.  One video for “Gone” has already been shot by Motion Family (Clermont Lounge, Trap Goin Ham), and Donnis plans on shooting another video for the song in the near future, explaining, “you can never have too much content!”

Before leaving the office, we had Donnis  quickly explain the origin of his name.

That’s a pretty simple explanation, but often the best names are the ones you are given and not those forced upon you!

If you haven’t already, download the Diary of an Atlanta Brave mixtape, and for more Donnis content, check out our previous interview.

Expect big things from Donnis in the near future, as his recent tweet states, “Just finished shooting for new def jam video game commercial bow!! bow!!”