Donny Goines shares his life with us through the view of Court Dunn’s iPhone.

“Not Your Fault” is the final track off Donny’s 20X EP.

Since then, the New York emcee has been hard at work cultivating his fan base and staying true to his motto, “If you don’t know my name, I ain’t working hard enough.”

Now Donny is getting ready to release his 20X EP in conjunction with clothing label, Rocksmith Tokyo.  The project will feature 6 original tracks from emerging producers while containing only one featured artist, K Quick.

Projects backed by clothing labels always seem to have that extra effort from both the artist and his camp, and 20X shouldn’t be an exception to that rule.

Donny Goines stopped by the HipHopAtLunch.com offices yesterday and shared the inspiration behind “No Apologies,” talked about the upcoming 20X EP, and named a few of the artists he’ll be watching for in 2010!

It’s good to see Donny Goines release new material in an effort to hold us over until his next album, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, drops.  All too often, this industry operates with an “out of sight, out of mind” policy.

I agree with his statement of “no matter how good your music is, if no one hears it, so fucking what?”  Artists have to think creatively, not only with perfecting their craft, but also in finding the most efficient ways to get heard.  Having said that, it seems like Rocksmith Tokyo has some promotional surprises up their sleeves for this one!

Donny’s list of artists to watch in 2010 is quite impressive, as few people would argue that J.Cole, Fashawn, Pill, Freddie Gibbs, and Outasight are going to have anything but a great year.

Here’s the first single off 20X, “No Apologies” produced by M-Phazes.

Donny uses “No Apologies” to let out pent up frustrations over certain industry dick riders, record labels, and blogs.  The hook-less, guitar laced, beat works as a perfect canvas for Donny to vent.

Here’s an excerpt that touches on the aforementioned topics, as well as Donny’s place in hip hop:

“Couple labels heard something but those nerds frontin,
Guess it’s too much slang within my words, fuck it.
And a lot of bloggers sleepin,
got me feeling like Donny posturepedic.
Never felt I’m entitled,
But I’m killin these records, the flow is so homicidal
No co-signs and nepotism,
Just blood sweat and tears, you can never diss em,
I am a man possessed, no exorcism,
the only way to stop me is death or prison.
But these dick riders too scared to get fired.
Charlie Chaplin niggas watch em get silent.
Either I dumb it down or its payola.
But I can’t paint pictures with crayola,
Cause I’m working on my Sistine Chapel,
So my sixteens baffle,
Stupid DJ’s who spin these channels.”

That “Donny posturepedic” line was pretty funny!

Keep an eye out for some viral promotions from Donny Goines and Rocksmith Tokyo coming soon, as the EP drops in February!  For more on Donny’s music, check out our feature interview.

Also, if you’re in the New York area this week, Donny will be performing alongside hip hop legend, KRS-One, Friday night in Brooklyn.  Details below:

Emilio Sparks’ Kicks, Chicks, & Porno Flicks dropped today, and contains original music from artists such as Donny Goines, Stalley, Outasight, 6th Sense, and Esso.

This hustle to make a name for himself was inspired by Jay-z’s Fade To Black movie, which he randomly decided to watch back in 2006.  Hov is a great man to model your hip hop career after!

Donny released his latest project, The Breakfast Club, as a free download in May.  This album served as the follow up to Minute After Midnight, and is the second installment of his three album trilogy.

Most recently, Donny Goines headlined a show which saw performances from J.Cole, Emilio Rojas, Rain, and Beyond Belief at New York’s Blender Theater.

After the show, Donny Goines spoke to HipHopAtLunch.com about his upcoming album, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, shared his views on Twitter, and explained why he choose to name himself after the author, Donald Goines.

I still can’t believe he organized the entire show and still had time to perform as the headliner, that’s crazy!

Connecting with fans through all possible outlets is something that Donny really tries to focus on, because as mentioned in the interview, these fans are the driving force behind his music.

Check out his stage presence as Donny ended the show on Monday night.

Donny Goines – “Bring It Forward.”

Donny Goines feels passionate about bringing New York hip hop back to  prominence.  However, instead of emulating the old sound, he wants emcees to represent the current state of New York.

He uses this track to try and unite the city with lyrics such as:

“The jeans saggin, the clean fashion with mean patterns,
The scene’s happenin, and we had it now we slackin…
I’m talking strickly to niggas in the 718,
917, 212, and not to mention upstate,
646, you know I’m reppin the place,
City been catching some z’s, hope I can get it awake.”

New York emcees need to stop worrying about bringing back past glory, and focus more on creating the “new” New York sound.  There are already a handful of NYC artists doing just that.

Donny Goines – These Times

Donny takes advantage of the slow, reflective beat on “These Times” to speak about how he’s not getting caught up in the game’s trends and fads like other emerging artists.

“Its no secret, we all know that rap sucks,
But that don’t mean I gotta rap over daft punk,
And mash up everything with live bands,
That’s just something I don’t do can you blame me…
My niggas know I aint stuck in the past,
But I aint changin up my flow to fill up buckets of cash,
Because the market’s so fickle and the budgets don’t last,
So, many can’t understand what I punch in my pad.”

Another stand out performance from Donny’s set was “Whatever It Is.”

That’s one of my favorite tracks off The Breakfast Club, and I love how he mixed in some Michael Jackson for the live performance!

Keep an eye out for the upcoming album, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, dropping in 2010.  With this project, Donny aims to combine the aspects seen in his first two albums and has the promise of being being his best work yet.

Big shout out to Rome for putting together a great photo recap of the night, including the photo used in this post!

HipHopAtLunch.com will be covering shows and interviewing all the talented artists whose path we cross.

Last night’s bill consisted of Termanology, Skyzoo, Statik Selektah Bekay, Emilio Rojas, Jon Hope, Shawn Chrystopher, Donny Goines, and JtheS, but we soon found out that anything can happen at CMJ.

Termanology and Shawn Chrystopher didn’t make it to Santos, however special guests Joe Scudda, Sha Stimuli, and Cormega put on a good show in their absence.

John Hope really got the crowd involved with his energetic stage presence.  He also came through with his Essence Music Group family to represent Providence for the night.

Check out Jon Hope performing “The Most Important Song Of My Life.”

That song is wonderfully produced and carries a great message of respect and love within the hip hop community.

After his set, Jon Hope took a minute to touch base with HipHopAtLunch.com, explaining his previous comments about Pill’s “Trap Going Ham” video, and talking about why he follows porn stars on Twitter!

Jon meant no disrespect when he recorded “Smartest,” inspired by Pill’s “Trap Goin Ham.”  Instead he decided to portray the change he would like to see in hip hop.  Jon took this interview as an opportunity to clear that up.  Also, if you’re a pornstar hit Jon up on Twitter:@JonHope and let him know what you thought of the interview!

Jon Hope’s upcoming project, A Work In Progress, should be interesting, as he stated that it will differ greatly from Some Kind of Wonderful.  If we can’t have Some Kind of Wonderful Part 2, I hope we see more tracks like Breathin’ which saw time on MTV.

Other standout performances from the night were Joe Scudda’s “Trunk Rattle.”

Joe Scudda has a great stage presence, delivery, his confidence really comes out in live performances.  I can’t wait to hear the album he’s working on with Statik Selektah!

Emilio Rojas performed “Bold & Arrogant.”

His upcoming mixtape, The Natural, with DJ Green Lantern is something to keep an eye out for.

Donny Goines performed “Bring It Forward.”

If you haven’t downloaded The Breakfast Club yet, I suggest you jump on that.

Bekay performed “I Am,” produced by The Alchemist.

That’s a dope track about hip hop.

Cormega performed “Journey,” produced by the Large Professor.

That opening line is sick, “Life is a journey/Before I went the rap route/I served niggas off the bench like Stackhouse/Going in with no intention to back down/My cocaine flow solidified/I spit crack now.”

My favorite performance of the night was Skyzoo’s “The Beautiful Decay.”

I like how Skyzoo started off performing Nas’ “The World Is Yours,” which he said inspired “The Beautiful Decay.”

Statik Selektah also blessed us with a first listen of his upcoming album’s radio record, “So Close, So Far,” featuring Bun B, Wale, and Colin Munroe.

Bun B, Colin Munroe, and Wale is one sick line up!

Sha Stimuli closed out the night.

If all of CMJ has as much talent as last night, my camera is in for a workout!

Before leaving Santos, we asked Jon Hope to speak on the origin of his name.  To much surprise, Young Jeezy had some major influence!

I didn’t realize Jon Hope had so much meaning behind his name, but it’s definitely a good thing he doesn’t call himself Jeezy anymore!

Big shout out to Statik Selektah, Brandon of Show Off Marketing, Matt of Coalmine Records, and everybody who came through or showed love!