Hailing from Brooklynati, Donwill (one third of rap group, Tanya Morgan) is starting to make a name for himself as a solo artist.
The emcee had his first solo performance last month at NYC’s Santos venue, and just last week dropped the well received Laura’s Tape project, sponsored by Rocksmith Tokyo, 2DopeBoyz.com, I’m Culture, and Flud Watches.
Laura’s Tape carries the High Fidelity theme that’s also present in Donwill’s upcoming album Don Cusack in High Fidelity. Interludes creatively introduce featured artists as characters form the movie.
If you’ve seen the film, you know that the main character, Rob Gordon, makes a mixtape for his love interest, Laura. Keeping with the theme, DJ King Most gave himself the nickname DJ Rob Gordon for this project, ha!
HipHopAtLunch.com met up with Donwill to discuss the movie theme behind both Laura’s Tape and the upcoming album, which West Coast emcees he’s feeling, and the upcoming High Fidelity tour.
Growing up on West Coast music, it’s no surprise that Donwill comes off as such a chill dude in our interview.
I like how his upcoming album is a companion piece to one of his favorite movies. The hip hop game needs more artists to explore creative concepts like that.
Here’s a personal favorite of Donwill’s, which will also serve as a single off the Don Cusack in High Fedelity album.
Donwill – “Love Junkie” (Featuring Harlem’s Cash and Peter Hadar)
On “Love Junkie,” Donwill and Harlem’s Cash spit lines about their love interests between the smooth hooks provided by Peter Hadar.
Here’s an excerpt from Don’s first verse:
“Go, go, make her take notice,
If I blow this, she won’t blow this,
We so focused,
Grinding on the fast song,
Like we got our pants off,
Yo, yo
Love Junkie, fiendin’ for the feeling,
Get a rush for her touch, it doesn’t matter who she is.
Long as it’s us going home,
My bed so cold and she’s so warm,
My head messed up since she’s been gone,
And we all got issues, nothing’s wrong,
But tonight another life, no static click,
Cause a well done fling is a beautiful thing.”
I know there’s plenty of people frequenting clubs who can relate to this song. Here’s footage of Donwill performing “Love Junkie” live in NYC at his first solo performance. As for my favorite track off the mixtape, I’d have to go with “Misdemeanor,” where he goes in over a sick D.O.C. sample.
Here’s the track off El Prez’s Animal Style! project mentioned in the interview:
EL Prez – Victory Lapse (Featuring Donwill & Von Pea)
Shout out to The A3 for producing that smooth track.
If he High Fidelity Tour hits your city, be sure to check out Tanya Morgan’s live show as Brooklynati was rated the #1 album across all genres for 2009 by Time Out New York.
Don Cusack in High Fidelity drops on March 23rd!
