Birmingham’s Lotto Boyzz drop the wavy new video for their remix of ‘No Don’ which features one of the UK’s hardest lyricists Chip, and artist Not3s who brings his singing touch to the track. ‘No Don’ has already been a smash across the rave, radio and festival circuit for the boys, and now the remix is only due to ramp the track up to a higher level.
Hardy Caprio – Super Soaker
After the success of ‘Unsigned,’ Hardy Caprio brings us ‘Super Soaker,’ a vibesy, fun-filled, summer track. The Croydon emcee is joined by his boys and lots of gal at a pool party having a drink up, he even puts henny in his super soaker. He spits some cheeky lyrics in this one which sees cameos from Young T & Bugsey and One Acen.
The Heavytrackerz – Control ft. JME, P Money, Donae’O and Kurt
Production outfit The Heavytrackerz made up of duo Tank and Tee bring to you their video for ‘Control’ taken from their debut album ‘Odyssey’ released this week. The video sees Grime royalty JME & P Money take control of the mic duties for the track and Donae’O come in powerfully singing about being victorious. It’s a commanding and authoritative track that makes you feel powerful after listening.
Jorja Smith x Preditah – On My Mind
British singer Jorja Smith joins forces with Birmingham producer Preditah for ‘On My Mind’ for a UKG banger which sees her effortlessly sings over the 2-step beat. The video shows Jorja bouncing to the music in a underground car park, with another setting in a tower block flat with mockumentary garage crew Kurupt FM.
Etta Bond – Addiction
Kick back and relax and zone out to the beautiful soul sound of Etta Bond’s new one ‘Addiction’. This is an intimate track, with the visuals matching the tone, showing Etta getting her head shaved and smoking a joint. It’s soothing, beautiful and calm, just like Etta herself.
“When I was young I had to prove I could stand by myself, that I’m the best at what I do and all that crap,” admits Donae’O, taking a break from a studio session to talk to Clash. “As I’ve got older I’ve realised that trying to be the best is nonsense, because you can be the best but if no one else sees it, it doesn’t matter.”
The North West Londoner is already a legend of the UK underground; from the days of Garage crew Bubbling to his freshly-inked deal with Island Records, his work as a producer, song-writer and vocalist has made an unforgettable mark on the scene.
While working on his long-awaited fourth album, the follow up to 2009’s ‘Party Hard’, Donae’O has simultaneously been self-improving; endeavouring to put the song first, rather than attempting to outshine others. “I had to get over my ego to accept that I’m not the star in the scenario,” he says. “For instance, I’m not the star of [‘Lock Doh’], Giggs is. My job was to make him the star. It made me understand getting rid of that ego, giving more eventually that will come back to me.”
He experienced this good karma while working with WSTRN on the follow up single to their massive breakthrough ‘In2’. “Trying to be the best might not be the best for the song,” he implores. “I [was working on] a song called ‘Come Down’ for WSTRN. I made the beat and Louie wrote the chorus, but the song wasn’t finished. I couldn’t work out what it needed, so we got [other producers in to add to it]. Throughout the whole process my percentage [of royalties] were going lower and lower, but I had to get rid of greed and ego so that the song could be the best it could be.”
In the end his ego-less approach would pay off. The song would climb Radio 1’s playlist and prove more financially rewarding than it might have had Donae’O been selfish: “I’ve learned not to be so self-destructive,” he laughs. “Everyone has limitations.”
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Over the past couple of years Donae’O has been travelling back and forth to the US, examining how contemporary rap music is created in its homeland. The experience has opened his eyes to bigger aspirations, and has interestingly drawn his attention to the importance of his clothing choices. “I started seeing that even underground artists can make millions,” he explains. “I saw that image was part of the artistry. Wearing clothes was just as artistic as writing a song. It had never been portrayed to me like that before.”
He began to embrace streetwear, naming US brands Supreme and Stüssy, as well as homegrown staples Trapstar and Benjart amongst his favourites. “I like clothes and style that have a story behind them,” he says. “Benjart’s from North West and he’s doing well and I identify with that. Trapstar, they’re guys from West London. I love Supreme’s culture, the exclusivity… if you’re into it you’re into it, it’s not for everyone, it’s more about the culture than the clothing. I associate with the story, which I didn’t know before.”
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Me wearing black is the physical representation of me changing…
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In a similar way, the story behind a track brings context that helps reach listeners on a deeper level. To Donae’O, his single ‘Black’ – which features Grime heavyweights Jme and Dizzee Rascal – represents him coming to terms with letting go. “Me wearing black is the physical representation of me changing,” he clarifies. “It’s made me a better person.”
The track initially began life two years ago, around the time that Donae’O was shooting a video for his track ‘Mami No Like’ with director and Jme-collaborator Matt Walker. “Jme was going mad about the record, so I reached out to him and said thank you for screaming about it – because it helped it a lot,” he remembers. The pair soon began discussing ideas for collaboration, and Donae’O would send Jme an early version of ‘Black’. “I was chilling in Nandos when I got the verse,” Donae’O laughs. “I was like: what the fuck am I going to do with this, I’ve got a Jme verse!”
He’d also been in touch with Dizzee Rascal about a potential collaboration, and decided to send ‘Black’ over to him on the off chance that he might be able to bring a dream collaboration together. “Dizzee sent me his verse back in about four days!” recalls Donae’O, still with a hint of disbelief. “I was like: fuck what am I going to do with that!? I put it away for a bit and the rest is history.”
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Train yourself to solve problems and you will always be successful.
Putting in more work last year than any of the other fifteen that he’s been in the music industry has paid off. In 2016 he had three tracks in circulation on the Radio 1 playlist – ‘Come Down’, ’Lock Doh’ and ‘Black’ – as well as underground hits ‘My Circle’ and ‘Polo’.
This prompted the the decision to let go of his previous control-freak approach, allowing others to handle business while he puts his all into the music. “I don’t need to be the businessman anymore, no-one’s gonna fuck me over and if they do I can walk away,” he explains. “I thought, let me put the business side away because I’m good at it, but I’m great at making music. I’m going to put my energy into just making a banging tune.”
Donae’o’s freshly inked deal with Island Records gives him the balance of creative freedom and business support that he needs to move forward. “They want me to make the music I want to make,” he says. “They’ve given me a label to release my own music. I understand the underground. If you ask me to market a record in that world I can do that, but I’ve never really gone mainstream before.”
“I feel like ‘Black’ has crossed over into another world, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that. Island understand me and understand how to get it to that point.”
As he puts the final touches on his new album, Donae’o reflects on his journey so far, admitting that the position he’s found himself in, was never one that he envisioned. “You can plan as much as you want and I think planning is excellent, but your never going to land where you think you will,” he says, sagely, as our conversation draws to a close.
“The key in life is that nothing stays the same, the only thing you can do is trust that you’re intelligent: everyone is smart, they just have different things they are smart at. Train yourself to solve problems and you will always be successful.”
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*Published on Clash Magazine 20/03/2017 http://www.clashmusic.com/features/ego-is-the-enemy-clash-meets-donaeo
Dice Recording artist Izzie Gibbs gives us another straight-fire riddim ‘Chillin’ produced by Maniac which features Donae’o on the hook. The track and visuals show how they like to Netflix and Chill with Izzie’s flow fast and manic and his lyrics a bit naughty. Izzie told SBTV, “Maniac blessed me with the fire riddim I knew it was SICK but when I sent it to Donae’O and he sent the chorus back in like 20 mins, that fully gassed me and I banged it out straight away.”
Tizzy Gang – Old School Roadman Jacket
Tizzy Gang’s Tre Mission and Merky Ace release the first visual off of their forthcoming mixtape, ‘Opps Next Door’. The record represents the transatlantic spread of grime with Tre Mission also being hailed as the first international grime emcee. Both emcees lay down greezy lyrics over a sinister beat that is sure to get a wheel up in every grime rave.
Lethal Bizzle ft. Skepta – I Win
Although there has been a delay with Lethal Bizzle’s album ‘Lennox Rd,’ Bizzle is hitting us with an EP, ‘You’ll Never Make A Million From Grime,’ a title aimed at the haters. He gives us the first visual from the EP that features another grime king, Skepta who also produced the track along with adding a verse and hook. The two heavyweights of course have made a winning track and the video comes complete with some sick cars and bikes.
Reeko Squeeze ft. Donae’o – Beginning
A cold, cold tune track from Reeko Squeeze which features Donae’o who comes in first on the track with the hook which is a rather inspiring one talking about how he’s in it to win it! Reeko then comes in with some his inspirational bars and also mischievous lyrics about women. The visuals show both of them at night with views of London in the background.
Yellows – Cure Remix
North London rapper Yellows takes Fish Go Deep ‘The Cure & The Cause’ track remixing it for his track ‘Cure Remix.’ He talks about road life, stacking money and the video shows him and his girl arguing and her being at home trying to get hold of him and him locking calls off. This is a hard track with a very good remix of a house track that Yellows has absolutely killed. Props.
Scorcher ft. Mercston & Ghetts – 99 Riddim (My Ting)
Three of the original The Movement members unite for Scorchers new hard track ’99 Riddim’ (My Ting). Mercston & Ghetts join him and they all come together for the brand new visuals which adds to the nostalgic beat produced by Scholar, combining a retro feel with a fresh one.
Coco ft. Shola Ama & Deep Green – Waters Run Deep
Sheffield lyricist Coco has been dropping hit after hit this year and his newest one will show a completely different side to him from his other tracks. ‘Waters Run Deep’ features the beautiful vocals of Shola Ama and fellow Sheffield spitter Deep Green. It shows a warmer, deeper side to Coco and proves he can experiment with different styles and flavours, resulting in super cool tracks. He’ll be ending the year in style with his brand new mysterious, reality track that you will fall in love with.
Nottingham MC Snowy’s work rate is impeccable and for this track he joins up with Leicester producer Massappeals for ‘Do’s & Donts’ who creates Snowy a minimal but hard track. Its taken from their collaborative EP ‘Hater Behaviour’ which is out now. Listen to the bass heavy track linked with Snowy’s catchy, merky and provocative lyrics.
Donae’O – Black ft JME & Dizzee Rascal
What a tune! Donae’O drops his new one ‘Black’ featuring two heavyweight Grime MC’s JME & Dizzee Rascal where they all talk about why their favourite colour to wear is black.
Bugzy Malone – Mad
Ahead of Bugzy Malone’s two week tour, he has released a brand new single titled ‘Mad’ produced by Swifta Beater. Bugzy raps about his clothing line with JD sports, chart success and more.
Donae’o is about to revive funky house and this track featuring Mista Silva and Flirta D is just the beginning of what he has to come for us this year. Swear Down is as catchy as hell and is going to be a big one for the DJ’s on the radio and in the clubs…He says: “I will be making Uk Funky for the whole of 2015 and Swear Down is my first introduction coming back to a sound I love making. I will officially start my Funky campaign with a song called “Mummy No Like” at the beginning of March 2015″
Youngs Teflon held his first headline show on Monday (September 1) at Barfly in Camden where he performed tracks from his recently released mixtape ‘The Renaissance’ with a live band. The Wrap Up’s Shireen Fenner headed down there to watch Tefs and all of his special guests for this live night featuring some of the best UK rap had to offer.
Teflon hit the stage accompanied by just Docta Cosmic on the decks, with his special guests joining him afterwards. Released in March, ‘The Renaissance’ went to No.1 in the iTunes hip-hop chart and No.22 in the overall national album charts, proving the strength of homegrown music in the UK.
Tefs performed the ‘My Pattern Intro’ from the mixtape and a track called ‘Never Failed School’ produced by Carns Hill which was a kind of middle finger to his school and teachers who thought he would fail; we discovered that ultimately he had done very well and received 2 A*’s for his English GCSEs. ‘Survivor’s Story’ and ‘Django’ got really good crowd reaction and it seemed everyone in the crowd were true supporters, knowing every lyric of every song. One thing was clear, Youngs Teflon was not disappointing any of his fans tonight.
One of the highlights for a lot of people was seeing Blade Brown and Corleone join Youngs Teflon for their collaborative track ‘Trap God’ which got everyone buzzing and Donae’o getting up on stage for their recent track ‘Oi Mate’ which set the internet alight – most people knew these two tracks word for word. Bonkaz, Stormzy and Swift also performed their cover of Krept & Konan’s ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ with the crowd getting more and more energetic with Stormzy also performing his HeavyTrackerz – produced song ‘Not That Deep’.
I loved how Docta Cosmic started mixing grime beats such as Rebound X’s ‘Rhythm N Gash’ into some of the tracks with Youngs Teflon and a lot of his guests, including Section Boyz on the stage in the middle of the show and them all spitting together, and then completely switching it over to grime. This was one of the most creative shows musically I’ve been to in a while and I hope to see more shows like this in the future.
* Published on 3rd Sep 2014 on www.mtv.co.uk/the-wrap-up
Donae’O has now unleashed the official visuals for his new single What Is Love. The visualsfind Donae’O in various London locations, including Oxford Street and the set of Skepta’s ‘That’s Not Me’ remix video shoot.
This is a wicked tune from Donae’o and Youngs Teflon who joined together to make a grime banger! Donaeo’o produced the beat and vocals along with Tefs rapping some seriously hard bars and wordplay to match. Oi Mate check this out below.
Donaeo is the UK’s underground kingpin, breaking onto the scene at the age of 16 when he made his debut with ‘My Philosophy (Bounce)’ in 2001. He is not only a singer and a rapper, but has to more qualities to add to the list as a producer and songwriter. His classic, notable tracks include ‘I’m Fly’, ‘Party Hard’, ‘Devil In A Blue Dress’, and ‘African Warrior’. Shireen Fenner headed down to catch Donaeo at his music video shoot to get to know more about the man who has sent the clubs crazy with his anthemic songs.
Your name means Gift from God. What do you think is the most important gift you have been given from God?
Oh wow. Them questions their yea, that’s a new one. Usually I’m prepared because everyone asks the same questions and I just kind of say the same thing and change it up a bit. My family and my friends, that is the best gift I’ve got before anything. They keep me sane and happy, otherwise I’d be miserable.
You were signed from 17, and then at the age of 23 decided to take a break from music. How did you feel during this period, and was it hard getting back into it?
I didn’t choose to get back into music, I was forced. I left music at 23, I went and got a job at Carphone Warehouse and worked my arse off. Then I was only making music because whilst I was working there, I started seeing a lot of good people doing a lot of bad things for money. I thought it was a bit of a liberty that I’ve got a talent and I’m not really using it, and there’s other people struggling out there. I worked at Carphone for 6-7 months, and then I worked at another place for a year, by the end of that ‘African Warrior’ blew up and I was forced to choose. Whilst I was working I had to take 2 or 3 days off to perform at Glastonbury for example, and I’m telling my work that I’m looking after my mum, there’s only so many times you can say I’m looking after my mum before the manager takes you in. It was affecting my job, and my job was affecting my music so I had to choose.
You have been making music since your teens. What do you feel is the most important quality to ensure longevity and success in the industry?
Hard work, and that’s it really. If your willing to work hard, then that’s really the basis for anything you do.
You have ADHD, how do you take your excess energy and channel it somewhere purposeful and productive?
I experience things a bit differently, if I’m happy I can be overly happy, or if I enjoy a tune I can overly enjoy it. I always search for that feeling. Even if I feel successful I feel it overly. It makes things a bit more extreme for me, my emotions and things like that. I use it as a positive instead of a negative.
You are known for being a producer, singer, rapper and songwriter. Which of these labels do you identify with the most?
All of them, its all one thing, to everyone else it’s four things, but for me I make a beat, write the song, sing on it and rap on it. I would say I prefer producing, but I like rapping, like we were in the car today, and I was bussing lyrics to them guys and they were laughing. I like that feeling. All of it is hard work, if you were to ask my do I like performing or being in the studio most, I’d say being in the studio. I prefer the creative side of making music; With performing after a while you have a structure whereas when your making new songs, even though there is some form of structure, your always creating something new and searching for something new.
What was the toughest ordeal you had to face when it came to getting your music heard?
Dealing with everyone. When your not successful you have an idea of what you want to do and you go for it. When you become successful and you start meeting people that you look up to, you get opinions from everyone and its hard to decipher what opinion is right and what opinion is wrong, to what opinion people are giving you for themselves. You have to go through that to understand that maybe your original opinion was right in the first place. It’s always good to listen, but when you become successful, there are so many different things you have to deal with, because everyone wants a piece of you. Then there’s the whole thing that you become a money cow, so you have to decipher whether people are working with you because they want to make money from you or because they want to make money with you, there two different things. Then there’s the whole manipulation because when you blow up, maybe two or three labels want to work with you, and you don’t know which one is right or wrong, but really all of them are the same.
What is the most notable song you have worked on for someone else to date?
I helped write ‘What You Talking About’ for Ms Dynamite and ‘Selecta’ for Mz Bratt, I helped write ‘On My Own’, and ‘Light Up The World’, for Yasmin, I think ‘Selecta’, for Mz Bratt you know. I’ve always had a lot of faith in Bratt, but a lot of people look at her and think she’s pretty so she’s not really heavy, when we did that song everyone changed their opinion. All the other songs, everyone believed in the artist already, but with Mz Bratt I had something to prove, and I think I did.
You’ve had a lot of recognisable hit songs that still get played in the clubs and radio now. Which one would you say is the most popular?
‘Party Hard.’ Worldwide ‘Party Hard’, is the biggest. In England ‘I’m Fly’, is bigger than ‘Party Hard.’ I can play ‘Party Hard’ and some places people are bored of it, I’m still getting responses from ‘I’m Fly’ now, but worldwide ‘Party Hard’ is my biggest song.
When you wrote ‘Party Hard’, ‘Devil In a Blue Dress’ and ‘African Warrior’ did you ever realise they would become classic club tracks?
Nah, I make music for myself, I want to know that my songs make me feel how a Snoop song make me feel or a Neptunes song, so when I made these songs, those songs gave me the same feeling that my favourite artists songs give me. That is basically all I do.
Where do you get your best ideas?
I like having my own space and walking around. Even when I was in primary school I used to walk home, my mum and dad used to give me money to get home, but I’d rather walk. I like being in my own thoughts, maybe that’s why.
You have worked with a lot of UK talent. Who would you say is really pushing the boundaries for the UK scene right now?
The young rap lot are pushing the scene like Squeeks, Yungen, Cashtastic, Joe Black, Ratlin, for me those guys right now are doing something that my generation couldn’t do. The younger generation identify with them when it comes to rap, my generation was about funky and grime, but everyone wanted to rap. Whereas these guys have found the way to identify with young British culture through rap, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens. Even Wretch 32 going to the charts with rap and Giggs getting signed, these guys are really doing well, and this is the first time England has been able to do that, and that within itself is a boundary that has been pushed, that has been tried to be pushed for so many years. It’s not mainstream they have a strong underground buzz. Chipmunk is signed to Grand Hustle, yet he’s coming back and doing tunes with Krept & Konan and Yungen and the tunes banging, it’s just very interesting to see what’s happening.
You have an album due for release this summer. What can we expect from it? Any collaborations we can look forward to?
On this album I’m going to have collaborations from Squeeks, Joe Black, Ratlin, Dru Blue, Lethal B, Artful (Artful Dodger), and Jakwob I’m hoping. The rest of the records are produced by me, and Mz Bratt is on there too. It will be banging. It’s going to have a lot more hip hop and r&b, there’s a want for it, so I can put it out.
Mz Bratt releases the video to Rocket Launcher, her latest Donae’o produced, dance floor smash. Filmed at this years LoveBox Festival & Charlie Sloth’s Fire On The Beach in Ayia Napa.
Due for release on iTunes on 06/08/12, the track has already gained support from Annie Mac, Toddla T, MistaJam and Trevor Nelson at Radio 1 as well as widespread support across BBC 1xtra and Choice FM. Make sure to watch out for the remix featuring D Double E.
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