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Donaeo has been on the underground music circuit for many years and he’s always managed to stay relevant to the different times and scenes. From garage, to the sound that is currently taking over, otherwise known as UK funky, Donaeo has stayed on top of his game. “When I was six my dad put a rap cassette tape in his car that had people like KRSOne, Run DMC and Cool Mo Dee on it and I just thought this what I’m wanted to do for the rest of my life,” says Donaeo. “The funny thing is that I thought I’d be making hip-hop forever, I never thought I’d be making dance music and that dance would be the main genre of music that I make, life is a funny thing. I knew I could sing when I found out I could produce and rap. I was influenced by people like Jay Z and Onyx, but then I listened to Jodeci and Boyz II Men and singing their songs on a sly for practice,” explains Donaeo. “I rapped first because I wasn’t as confident with the singing as I was with rap and to be honest I probably enjoyed rap more, where as now I enjoy singing more. I thought I’d be a rapper forever and once again life has a funny way of flipping the script on you.”

When grime music popped up on the scene in 2003/2004 it was one of the most exciting sounds to ever come from the underground music scene since Punk and Donaeo had a helping hand in making some of the biggest grime tunes. But the ‘Party Hard’ star didn’t start off in grime as many people might think, “I started of in jungle, but I was too young to get involved. Then I released a garage track called Falling produced by Dem 2 and then I released Bounce at the end of the garage era. At the begging of the grime era I made more of a name for myself, some people think I started with funky house [Laughs], but I have made almost every form of British urban dance music. I’ve got like five tracks in the baseline scene and I’ll probably make whatever comes next,” Donaeo says. “Like I said before I’ve always made different forms of music and a lot of UK urban dance music has a similar formula, they all have a link, but just with a new twist. From acid to jungle, to garage, grime, bassline and dubstep and now we have funky. They’re all family in a sense, first and second cousins [Laughs]. Like for instance, funky is a mix between house, afro-beat and grime, with a touch of R&B and garage and I’ve made all of those, so I’ve got no problem with mix and matching. To be honest that is what makes England so great, the fact that we are always creating new forms of music and constantly evolving. It’s exciting and it keeps me on my toes.”

When it comes to UK funky and MCs there has always been talks on whether the two actually work together and even though there have been a few catchy ones to come from the collaboration, the older generation of funky house ravers haven’t seemed to taken to the grime-y alternatives. Certain rave MCs have started to make actual tracks with videos to match, but the question is, does it work? “I’m a fan of anything that sounds good and I’m not trying to avoid the question by saying that. I do like MCs on funky, but I like MCs in general whatever the music is, I just think that there should be value in everything that you are doing, as it’s a form of entertainment. Look at ‘Migraine Skank’ and ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, when those tracks come on people copy the dances or skanks and it adds value to their night. I do the Migraine Skank, it’s fun and ‘Are You Gonna Bang’ is jokes because as a man you tease your friend, that’s just what we do and that is something that I would say to my friend like if he is boasting about getting a chicks number, I’m like “but wait are you gonna bang though?” before the track even came out, so that adds value and a bit more of a personal touch and the Apple beat is just amazing so that’s just a recipe for success.“

Sunday 27th September was a date that will never be forgotten in the UK funky calendar, reason being because it was the night UK funky went LIVE! It was the first time that UK funky acts all got together under one roof for a one off concert with a full live band, held at Wembley arena, it was something epic and Donaeo was definitely one of the most anticipated acts everyone wanted to see. “I felt honoured to be a part of that concert, it was a good look as nothing like that has ever been done before and I think it was a success. I think more underground concerts should happen, but with artist from the grime, bassline, dubstep and others, let’s say 3 or 4 artists were to perform a full set, that would be banging. For me that would definitely be the next step if they could do a concert with just funky house artist imagine what would happen across the board.”

With funky doing the rounds, can we see this genre have a lasting affect like grime? Or will we see it die off in the next 6 months? “I don’t know to be honest; I think it will just keep growing like all the other scenes have. There is a foundation there we just have to work on making it stronger because at the end of the day everything has its time and we just have to make sure that the time lasts as long as it needs to be. I would like for the scene to grow more on the underground in the clubs, because club land is a very powerful marketing tool, I mean if a track blows on the underground and becomes a strong club hit 9 times out of 10 it will get signed by a major. Look at Heartbroken by T2, that was a club smash across the board and was signed to a major a year after it was released on the underground, then went to number 2 in the national charts. So the moral of the story is to make dance music for club land and club land will make it a mainstream hit and that is what we are aiming for!”

If you appreciate a good beat with a bit of bounce and an amazing vocal and you haven’t heard of Donaeo sometime in the next 6 months, then you will have definitely been in some form of hibernation in the countryside with the sheep’s, or something…

Donaeo’s Ones To Watch!

Princess Nyah
She is going to be doing a lot next year. Her songs are innovative and original and she has a clear plan of what she wants to achieve. Her image is strong and I think that she will appeal to the female market across the board. She has already taken the bull by the horns and is capitalising on the success of ‘Frontline’ by releasing her EP/ Album ‘Diary Of A Princess’, which is out now on all digital networks.
www.myspace.com/nyahprincess

Ill Blu
I love these guys beats, hard and straight to the point but then on the other hand (like on the Diary of a Princess EP) their beats are soulful like with ‘Butterflies’. Another thing I like about these guy’s is their consistency, they are clearly no ‘One Hit Wonders’ with tracks like ‘Frontline’ and Big Boys by Princess Nyah, ‘ Ryder’ by Hoodzee, Say Yes and Get Low by up and coming artist Shannique, their latest release ‘Blue Magic’ (instrumental) and numerous remixes Ill Blu are set to make even more noise in 2010.
www.myspace.com/illblu

Footsteps
This guy is a heavy up and coming producer from London. I feel he brings a new flavour to the Funky House movement, he follows his own flow in regards to producing music he has soul edge but he can also bring that heaviness that club tracks need. His debut ‘Tell Me’ is smashing right and I’m sure his new release ‘Rewind’ will do just as well. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what Footsteps has to offer in the 2010.
www.myspace.com/profoot
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www.donaeo.co.uk

Words: Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson

Photography: Chantelle Fiddy (Dubplate Drama)

A version of this appears in iDJ Magazine