Donnie Brasco

In Washington, DC, There is a sense that there is little to no respect shown by the music industry professionals, for the aspiring hip-hop artists in the metropolitan area. It has long been said that DC natives only embrace “Go-Go” music and that no true mainstream artist can come out of the area. With such artists as Ginuwine, Mya, and Amerie, the DC area has somewhat tarnished that image of a mainstream potential artist deficiency, but even though hip-hop artists are plentiful, none has truly scratched the surface of good fortune and due respect. Donnie Brasco, a.k.a. “DB:Z”, hopes to justify the arguments of DC natives and bring a whole new respect for the talent in the district.

Donnie Brasco (born Donavin Campbell), a Prince George’s County native who still lives in his hometown, learned how to appreciate and admire music through his father, Percy Campbell, a Philadelphia native, who used to play electric bass for such groups as Donald Bird and the Blackbirds, and Crown Heights Affair, while attending Howard University in the 70’s. "One of the most valuable things my father taught me was to have a great appreciation for music because music is universal, and can defy all race and culture barriers to give everyone a common medium by which we can all laugh, cry, or sing." As the oldest son in a family of five, he watched his mom and dad go through a brutal separation in which his mother was forced to raise three kids on her own with little money to spare. Money might have been tight for his mom and the family, but it fueled Donnie to become ultra-driven for success and made him extraordinarily responsible since he was the man of the house at the age of 11. Through this process, Donnie was encouraged to develop his musical gifts meanwhile playing and listening to classic artists such as Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind and Fire, Hall and Oates, Rolling Stones, and Pattie Labelle, who later influenced his creative direction.

After graduation from high school in Capitol Heights, MD., Donnie enrolled in Hampton University and studied Music Engineering Technology, which focuses on the production of music and the breakdown or the recording studio facilities and equipment. He also minored in Graphic Design. He attended Hampton for 3 years but could not finish due to financial difficulties. During this time, he elected to stay down in the Hampton area to continue to build upon the relationships he formed while attending school. "I would get depressed lots of times," he admits. "But, I realized that this was what my high school director warned me about, and that the same thing happened to many other people before me and many people were going through it at the same time I was”. Donnie continued to make music, using downtime at HU’s recording studios in the middle of the night along with Nick Bagg. "There were plenty of times where I didn’t sleep," laughs Donnie. “A lot of times, Nick Bagg would leave me in the studio at like 3:30 in the morning and I’d get back to the crib at 6:30-7:00 with two or three completed songs and he’d be like, damn kid, you’re a sick individual”.

After a disastrous string of bad luck in 1999, where Donnie was homeless and living with different friends, Donnie moved back to DC and got a job interning at a local recording studio, Horizon Sound Studios, where he furthered his education and knowledge of the music industry. Donnie gained the opportunity to sit in and assist with the recording projects of Mya, 504 Boyz, Ruff Endz, and Dru Hill among many others. “That’s when I really learned and borrowed ideas from other producers and learned how to create and mix songs”, reminisces Donnie.

Donnie soon began to seriously write and produce songs for other local artists, meanwhile writing and planning his own album. When Nick Bagg moved back home from Hampton in 2002, he immediately began writing and recording his album, in which Donnie produced several songs. The album, “The Evidence”, was released on Nitti Records, an independent label based in the DC area. Since that time, Donnie has gone on to manage, produce, and write songs for several artists in different genres of music and expanded his musical prowess, while co-founding Bully Music Group with Nick Bagg, and effectively studying and implementing marketing strategies and business plans.

In 2006, he joined Mid East Records, an independent label out of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. Donnie has been through quite a bit of adversity, but he feels that he has been through equally enough uplifting and positive situations that helps him and others around him. When he does reach the success by which he feels he deserves, one could look back at his past and empathize with his feelings as well. “Through all my years, I’ve strived to be just who I am, because I feel that I’m important enough to me to be me. I never tried to be something I’m not. Hopefully, people can see a little bit of th