Donnis may need more than Fool’s Gold to truly shine

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By Phillip Mlynar

Ask Donnis what makes him stand out from the swarming mass of rappers seeking a name for themselves, and the Atlanta-bred MC pauses to think before answering, “I tell my story, and my story’s totally different from anyone else’s story.”-

Listen to the range of material on his debut mixtape album, Diary of an ATL Brave, however, and you might struggle to pinpoint that difference.-

In rap, an artist’s backstory is often as important as the eventual byproduct. Part autobiography, part mythology, it fuels the fandom any artist must create if he intends to become a star. Most MCs use it to build up their street-cred. Before Eazy-E became a platinum-selling rapper (thanks to invaluable ghostwriting from Ice Cube), he was an ex-drug dealer who used the loot he earned in the streets of Compton, Calif., to finance his own label, Ruthless Records. Before 50 Cent dropped his multiplatinum debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, he was the Queens street salesman-turned-mixtape MC who got shot nine times by adversaries attempting to silence his mouthpiece for good. Before Lil Wayne became the self-proclaimed “best rapper alive,” he pretty much was a hip-hop prodigy who accidentally shot himself at age 12.-

Or so the stories go.

(Photo Courtesy Fool’s Gold)