By Odeisel
Many times when faced with tragedy, especially in the third person we affirm that but for the grace of God, it would be us. If we’re lucky, we find that one thing within our lives that gives us purpose and a focus away from a life of self destruction.
By the grace of God, Donny Goines found Hip-Hop, and left behind tragedy for triumph and married perseverence to progress. Listen to his tale of how the music brought him salvation and redemption.
Planet Ill: What does music mean to you?
Donny Goines: For me personally, I can’t really speak about everybody else, but music definitely has a savior kind of feeling for me. Long story short, before I got in to music, I used to be kind of wild with it. I used to run around getting in a lot of trouble. Drinking, smoking, bla bla bla, but music actually keeps me sober. It actually keeps me focused. So a lot of times I don’t even get in trouble, I haven’t been in any trouble unless it’s like music related. Honestly speaking, if it wasn’t for music, I don’t know where I would be right now.
Planet Ill: What obstacles have you overcome to remain in the music? Have there been any barriers to you continuing?
Donny Goines: There’s several barriers. First and foremost, the lack of a label or lack of any kind of support financially or whatever definitely has been a barrier. I had to break through inch by inch and I’m still doing that to this day. I really feel as if a lot of people don’t believe in the kind of music I make, you know, as far as the business end of it.
That’s been a hard obstacle to overcome, because when you’re trying to get into this realm, you have to compete with the artists at your level and you have to compete with the superstars; you’re all in the same realm or whatever. At the end of the day, I can’t really use it as an excuse, but it’s the truth, and what that does is give me motivation to work harder. I don’t really look at things as an excuse and I don’t really look at things from a pessimistic view, I just look at it as I just gotta overcome it.
Beyond that, a lot of barriers that I’ve met so far are like the trends, I believe. I feel like trends stop artists like myself. I’m not a trendy sort of person. I do what it is I want to do; I do what I feel comfortable doing and what happens is you get ostracized as an artist. A lot of times, you’re not in the same kinda outfit or you’re not making the same kind of music. People look at you as an outsider. I feel like that’s unfair because this culture was based on originality and based on who you are, not being what the next man is.
The last barrier is not really knowing people. When I first started, I didn’t know a soul. I was literally by myself. I started from that point on till today and that took a lot of m****r f****ing work. It didn’t happen overnight and I still have a long way to go.
Planet Ill: So with all these obstacles, why continue?
Donny Goines: If I don’t continue music, I think I might fall apart as a person. I take this thing very seriously. I think if people knew my past and they knew where I came from, they would understand it better, but being that they don’t, I try to share my life in the music, and make them understand why I do what I do. I could have easily come in this game and been one of those artists that follow trends and the times, and probably been a lot more successful. But I choose to be the person that I am. Although it’s a harder road to walk on, it’s just one that I’m meant to walk.
As far as why I do it? I love what I do. When you go through your life going through the motions, and you realize that you feel empty inside, doing things that you just don’t enjoy doing, when you DO find that thing that you feel you were born to do, you’re going to put 110% in it
Planet Ill: So where do you come from? What is your story?
Donny Goines: First of all, I’m a New Yorker. Doesn’t really matter what borough I live in, or where I’m at, I’m just a New Yorker. I grew up in Philly when I was much younger; I left Philly when I was about eight years old and came back to New York. I lived in the Bronx. It was the hood. I lived in a situation that wasn’t good.
My family had a lot of situations as far as my parents were concerned. My father was incarcerated; my mother was going through her situation, I stayed with my grandmother for a long time and basically when my mom got cleaned up I moved back with my moms like at 14. That’s actually when things started to go haywire.
I was getting in trouble left and right. I got arrested twice before I was 16, man. Serious charges. Armed robbery twice. I dropped out of high school. I was in the 9th grade for three years till I finally decided to drop out and get my GED. I was smoking and drinking every day. It was just crazy. We moved to Harlem with my mother’s fiancé at the time. We moved to Harlem to get away from the Bronx. It was a bad neighborhood over there. Here I am today, a decade later, still in Harlem.
Planet Ill: Do you see tragedy as an impediment, or an opportunity?
Donny Goines: I used to look at it as an impediment. For a long time, I was very negative. I would look at issues and situations and be like “woe is me, this sucks.” That’s why I’mma get drunk and fall out, and be somewhere laid out on the floor twisted. For a long time that’s how I was.
As I became a man and I grew up, I realized that you have to take these tragedies, and you have to put it within positives. I’ll tell you one of the biggest influences in that kind of logic was Disco D, God bless the dead. He was one of my best friends and a mentor. When my son died, during the time when I was being mentored by him [Disco D], I was about to fall apart. I didn’t know how to react to it. I never dealt with a situation like that; losing a child is crazy. He was like, “take that energy, and put it in the music.” He was like there’s nothing you can do about it. It sucks. It’s painful, but take that adversity and make it into a strength.
That’s exactly what I did. I’m not going to let the people see me fall apart. For a long time I didn’t even mention that situation in my music. This was like back in 2006. I kept it to myself and I kept it bottled in, until an appropriate time I felt to speak upon it, which I did on Minute After Midnight. From that point on I felt I had to be positive. I had to be a positive force within this realm and that just what I kept on doing.
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