Introducing DJ Donnie Dee

Hey friendlies, I hope you all had fab weekends and a good start to this gloriously dismal week. The weather in Boston is currently abysmal, I'm in the middle of finals, and some of my friends have shipped out to sea and won't be back until OCTOBER. It's seriously rough times up here for me.

Luckily, I had a bright spot in the week that came when I interviewed my friend Dizzle (pretty sure I'm the only one who calls him that) about his upcoming CD release! Here's a photo of him being rugged:
To give you some background, Dizzle (who goes by DJ Donnie Dee) grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, went to NMH for high school, and then spent four years at UMass Amherst, where he met the guys with whom he would eventually start Fortune Infinite Enterprises. Since graduating, he's been splitting his time between Paterson and Springfield, MA, where he an his boys have been working around the clock to write, rap, and produce some sick music.I met Donnie a few years ago, during a Career Discovery Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. I was studying Architecture, he was studying Urban Planning, and one night we bonded over our mutual struggles with insomnia and obvious thuggery. Donnie is, hands down, one of the realest and best people I know, and he's definitely going places with his music, which is why I felt the need to bring it to all of you phenomenal readers! You can check out his video for, "We Feelin' It," here, and then read the interview below. The intro is awesome, and the actual song starts about at about 1:00 in.


Alright, here goes the interview:

Me: So, you have an album coming out soon? July 4th I believe? Tell me about it. Who were your major influences? What's the vibe? What's the message?
DJ Donnie Dee: July 4th is the release date. It’s called Fortune Infinite Presents: The Infinite Compilation Vol. 1. It’s an album style mixtape so we called it a compilation.
Me: Ahh, okay, gotcha.
DJ Donnie Dee: The vibe is just real dudes, real music, good production, good lyrics, all real life stuff, but not like all this tough guy shit out there and not like this pop type shit either. Just good music you can listen to. We aren’t trying to make club songs. If someone wants to play it in the club, then it’s because it’s good, not because we designed some bullshit track with a catchy hook, you know?
Me: Haha, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Is "We Feelin' It" on there?
DJ Donnie Dee: Yeah, it’s on there.
Me: Awesome, I love that one
DJ Donnie Dee: You’ll like the first song on there. It’s called, “For a Reason,” by my man A. Phatzz. He’s about 4 ft. tall, but his heart is bigger than his body.
Me: Like DJ LIttles, in Boston!
DJ Donnie Dee: He’s been shot multiple times.
Me: Okay, so NOT like DJ LIttles…
DJ Donnie Dee: He has mad kids. He’s lost a lot of friends, from the hood, all of that. “For a Reason,” is the story of one of his good friends setting him up to be shot and robbed. That happened recently.
Me: Oh my god do I feel sheltered.
DJ Donnie Dee: We all come from the hood though, but we don’t exploit our backgrounds. We use them to make good music and motivate brothers and sisters.
Me: What was the reason for the set-up?
DJ Donnie Dee: No reason at all, just hunger. In a hungry zoo, monkey see, monkey do. It’s just fucked up like that.
Me: Wow, rough. So what was your role on the compilation?
DJ Donnie Dee: I make all of the beats and do all the production. Phatzz is one of my business partners and artists. There are 5 of us. It’s Ali Phattz, Tee Bay, Tony Payroll, MicNificent and Me, DJ Donnie Dee. We’re all very close friends. They’re from Springfield.
Me: So do you know them from when you went to UMass?
DJ Donnie Dee: I met Tony Payroll at UMass and I know the others through him. I’ve known them for years now. We’re basically just a band of brothers that want to make music and inspire people that come from similar backgrounds and situations. We ain’t trying to be like anybody else in the game. Just tryin to make the music we feel.
Me: Yeah, I can tell in the tracks you've sent me. Did you get any of your boys from Paterson in on it?
DJ Donnie Dee: Yeah, my man World P and Tha Money Murda. Those are my right hand men from Jersey, but we’ve also got other features from Warlock, Ready, Phil Nice, and my man WerdPlay.
Me: Wow, that's a lot of guest spots. Are you sure that they're not all just Lil Wayne in disguise haha.
DJ Donnie Dee: Nah, far from it. They are all people we fuck with. Real shit. They’re all talented artists themselves too and have their own things going on. Warlock was in prison for 10 years. He’s 30 yrs old and still chasin his dream.
Me: That's legit. What for?
DJ Donnie Dee: Drug and gun charges he caught in NY. I’ve got stories like that for all of us, but we don’t dwell on the negative. We’ve all just been through a lot, so we‘re trying to move forward and do what we love.
Me: Well, like you said, you use the past as a motivator for the future, so that’s positive.
DJ Donnie Dee: I still can't believe I did that Harvard shit sometimes. I feel blessed for that opportunity.
Me: Let's be real, you’re just happy you met me haha. Alright, my readers/friends will enjoy this. What did you think when you met me? Be honest!
DJ Donnie Dee: You were one of the only people with no stick up your ass
Me: Woohoo, ringing endorsement right there haha.
DJ Donnie Dee: I don’t judge people I don’t know, but you were cool as hell, gave me good vibes, so I was happy when we became friends. You made my summer there because you made it fun to be around and I remember you being funny as hell. You had no problems approaching me or anyone else. What else you wanna know?
Me: Wow, thanks, I was expecting the answer to be CRAZY. You were CRAZY, Christine.
DJ Donnie Dee: Well, the fact that you are absolutely nuts goes without sayin
Me: And this is why I love our friendship...
DJ Donnie Dee: You were always down to do something.
Me: Like see Hustle & Flow? I still say it’s a great movie.
DJ Donnie Dee: What was great is that we went and were laughing hysterically at it in the movies
Me: Haha yeah, and all of the other black people gave me weird looks since I went in the theater by myself, and then you came in and they were like oooooh, alright, we guess she’s okayyy…
DJ Donnie Dee: LMAO. Yeah, you know you good with me. When I get some real money I’m gonna take you out to some more movies. That can be our thing, movies that no one else wants to see but us.
Me: Yess! Or you can COME VISIT, and we can watch SOUL PLANE, because that’s legit my favorite hangover movie. I’ve seen is at least 15 times.
DJ Donnie Dee: LMAO. Anything else you wanna know?
Me: Yes, many things. Where the F are you living right now?
DJ Donnie Dee: I’m living between Springfield and Jerz. sleepin in the studio/office on the floor when we are workin on projects.
Me: I bet, you're crazy busy all the time, judging by your fb status updates. So, which track are you most proud of?
DJ Donnie Dee: I’m proud of all my music. I’ve been DJ’ing since I was 12, I prodce my own shit, I rap, I do it all. If I had to pick, I’d say that “We Feelin’ It” is my favorite solo joint. “For a Reason” is ill; so is “Product of the Streetz” and “Can’t Knock Me Down.”
Me: Are there any rappers/producers out there today who you'd like to emulate your career after?
DJ Donnie Dee: Nah, I’m trynna play my own lane. If I could make music with anyone it would be Alchemist, or Just Blaze, he’s from Paterson too.
Me: So not mainstream, but respected.
DJ Donnie Dee: I just like the ones who make the best music, the real stuff. Ain’t into the Scott Storches and the bullshit stuff like that.
Me: I saw your blog post about his being un-FORTUNATE, which is the best insult ever by the way.
DJ Donnie Dee: My boy Tony Payroll (Ant) does those. I do the video blogging and I manage the band pages on facebook and myspace.
Me: Nice, I like the whole blog set-up, it’s inviting. So, this is random, but I told this guy that I was going to interview you and he wants to know if your career gets you a lot of action. He just quit his job and is obviously considering a career in rap haha.
DJ Donnie Dee: LMAO. Tell him that anytime you do something, there will be some group of girls that are ready to bone you because of it. I’m not attracted to those girls though.
Me: Hahahahaha, so true. I love it. No groupie love for you?
DJ Donnie Dee: The groupie type? Hell no.
Me: That's good, I always saw you as being above that. So, where do you see yourself heading with this music thing?
DJ Donnie Dee: Well, our goal is to keep putting out music. Mass distribution. We’re not really concerned with record labels and shit like that, or radio play. We’re just trynna move as many of our own units as possible. It’s all mathematics. You sell a shitload of records, who WON’T notice you? And then if your music is good on top of that, you’re golden. We just wanna be know as some real niggas, who make some of the best music and have genuine fans who love us and our music. We don’t need gimmicks or special marketing to sell our shit, we’re just us.
Me: Yeah, I hear that. So where can my readers get your CD?
DJ Donnie Dee: They can contact me on facebook, the blog, or myspace, and they can purchase through paypal or through me directly. $10 a copy for 24 tracks – you don’t get better deals than that, but if they wanna pay more for it, they are more than welcome lol.
Me: So, if you could only do one thing (writing/producing/rapping), which would you pick?
DJ Donnie Dee: DJing. That’s where I started and that’s where my heart is. It also makes me great at all of the other things I do. I just know great music when I hear it, because of the DJ experience.
Me: Ahh gotcha. Where do you do most of your DJing? Bars? Clubs?
DJ Donnie Dee: I did most of my DJing before I even left jerz. I was spinnin in 18+ clubs before I was 21. When I got to college I was kinda bored with the college party scene, even the clubs and bars. That’s when I got really production heavy. But I spin anywhere. Clubs, parties, cookouts…I do most of my DJing in the studio when I’m incorporating it with my productions and my beats. I’ve been doing this forever, and everyone knows it.
Me: Sick. Alright, anything else you want my readers to know?
DJ Donnie Dee: Well, I’m heavy on community outreach too and bein involved in the communities I’m dealin with. Basically, I just want them to know that we’re REAL. We’ve had struggles, and set backs, and opportunities. We’re not trynna be anybody but ourselves, and hopefully they get that when they listen to our music. Oh, and THE ALBUM DROPS JULY FOURTH!

Well, there you have it, everything you ever wanted to know about Dizzle! The kid is crazy talented and you guys should definitely check him out on FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, and his crew's BLOG. If you want a copy of his upcoming album, just message him through any of those forums and he'll hook you up!

XOXO -Christine