Interview: DinoTheDonDaDa and Donny Talk About Their New EP "How Far We Roam..."
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“For this project, I give all the credit to my nigga Donny. I was focused primarily on beat making, I haven’t spit a verse in years. Initially I was just trying to toss Don a few beats, then he mentioned, “ayo yo, me and you need to drop something, for real”.”
Congratulations on the completion and release of your new EP "How Far We Roam...". What exactly does the EP's title represent and how did the incredible cover artwork?
DinoTheDonDaDa (Dino): The title is a homage to the Alma Mater of NCCU. “What matters it how far we roam? Our thoughts will oft return to home”. We met undergrad when we were both in the intermediate stages of beat making. After me and Don graduated from Central, he bounced back up north, I went back to High Point, NC.
From there, life’s journey brought all kind of drama, obstacles, opportunities and struggles. By some crazy odds, I ended up moving from Miami back to the Raleigh-Durham area at the same time my nigga Don moved back. Title just seemed to fit, like, here we are again.
With the art, first off, thanks for the compliment. I’m not the best graphic artist, by far. I was inspired by the artist Ral Duke, who does a lot of abstract cover art for artist like Griselda.
On “How Far We Roam….”, bar wise, me and Donny were in a very imaginative creative zone, jumping from pop culture references, to history, fashion, sports, you name it. My goal was to pull images from all of the different bars throughout the project, and combine them to cast a reflection of how spontaneous each of the verses are.
Initially how did you two meet each other at NCCU, and was there a vibrant network of artists and producers on campus at the time?
Dino: I met Donny through a mutual homie and artist, Jerry Blackwell. We were both helping him on his debut project, “Reality Check”. As far as the NCCU in general, I wouldn’t describe it as a vibrant network of artist, more like a battle royale. A campus full of talented individuals trying to find their lane, but only a few really had the it factor.
Speaking for myself, I was still developing my craft and discovering my comfort zone. It was around 06-07, when Facebook was just starting to pop, no Soundcloud to really encourage collaboration. But there were definitely a lot of artists making moves at the time.
9th Wonder discovered Rhapsody, E Jones, and others, and started to build up JAMLA. A few other cats were making major moves. Talent shows felt like Apollo. Good times.
What are some things, people or places that inspire your creativity when working on new music?
DON: Movies and TV shows are a huge inspiration for me. I can watch some 90’s nostalgic show and lines start coming to me, so I jot down ideas from there. Real life is always easy to pull from but once I find a feeling I try to put that emotion in the beat or words…make sure you can feel exactly what I was going for when making it….
Dino: For this project, I give all the credit to my nigga Donny. I was focused primarily on beat making, I haven’t spit a verse in years. Initially I was just trying to toss Don a few beats, then he mentioned, “ayo yo, me and you need to drop something, for real”.
Might have been the 3rd time he asked (lol), but it finally clicked like, damn, I’d be selling myself short if I didn’t try to rap on at least one project. There’s a extra bit of motivation hearing that encouragement from a fellow producer/rapper. Also there is a slight element of competition. We went beat for beat, bar for bar, and neither want of us want to get outshined. The friendly sport throughout the process made the entire project enjoyable, almost therapeutic.
When crafting new beats, what software/hardware do you use?
DON: Maschine MK3 , Ableton and Numark turntable.
Dino: I typically use Reason and Pro Tools. For hardware, I use an old Novation Impulse.
With this "How Far We Roam" EP now released, what are some of your goals for the remainder of 2020, and for 2021?
DON: Pushing this project to a few more ears and I have a solo EP coming out called, “Elusive” with me handling most, if not all the production and me rhyming over it. Other than that I’m working on producing for about three other artists’ projects right now….. and should be dropping a new beat tape sooner than later.
Dino: Primarily, I’d like to keep promoting this album. I’m really proud of how well it came out, and I’d love for it to reach a few more ears. Would have been nice to do a few live performances as well, but of course Covid put a pause on all of that.
Besides that, I have 2-3 beat tapes I want to put out before the year is over. I have a goal of trying to have a beat catalogue as extensive as someone like Madlib, MF Doom, Dilla… you know, the legends.
Late October, I’m dropping by third beat tape, “Plague Dogs”, so be on the look out for that. Early 2021, I expect me and Don to start creating the follow up to “How Far We Roam…”. We set the bar kind of high, but we will definitely try to go harder.
Have you always had the aspiration to start rhyming over your own production? Also, who would you say is in your top 3 producers/rappers?
DON: I never liked rhyming over my beats when I first started but now I feel real comfortable flowing over my production and it helps me to match the emotion I put in to the beat to my rhymes.
My top 3 producers (NO ORDER) Dilla, Timbaland and Alchemist….RIP Prodigy they did so many classics… shit is crazy. BUT honestly it changes every week, it could be Pete Rock, Premier, Large Professor or Lord Finesse any week. My top 3 rappers gotta be Nas, Phonte and Jay-Z.
Dino: Personally, not really.
My favorite producer is The Alchemist, and I always wanted to play my role similar to him, not craving the spotlight but popping up here and there with a surprising verse. But if people start showing mad love, fuck it, I might turn into Kanye on ya’ll niggas haha.
But as far as top producers/rappers, with a heavy emphasis on the rapping, I got role with Big Krit. Ye has been on some wild shit as of recent, but his spot is definitely solidified as one of the best rapper/producers.
Lastly, I’ll give it up to Juicy J. Being from the south, I gotta salute Juice, plus his longevity, relevancy, and adaptability in the game is incredible.
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