DonMonique sounds like Lil' Kim. DonMonique sounds like Foxy Brown. DonMonique sounds like DonMonique and she can rap, make hits, has crossover appeal, and as she says, "Can take a good picture."
She first popped off when her song "Pilates" took a slow burn all the way to Kylie Jenner's Snapchat and Alexander Wang's runway. "Pilates" like "Drown" (which made it to an episode of Insecure) is only one part of her overall game. Don can also bring more traditional New York rap sounds out of her bag on songs like "Selfish" and the one we're premiering today, "Black Kate Moss."
With her distinct, deep New York accent, she switches flows and talks crazy as she owns tracks like Foxy and Kim used to. The Don Dada is what we should all start calling her because she's on her way to becoming a force to be reckoned with in not only the New York rap scene, but in the game as a whole. Check out "Black Kate Moss" and our convo with her below.
So this is the lead single for... what's going to be the name of the project?
Thirst Trap 2 for now. I don't know, I might change it to something else, but everyone wants a sequel to the first EP. I might just give them that and get it over with. I feel like the people that's been following me since I first came out, when they listen to this can def tell the difference in my sound. I produced the beat for "Black Kate Moss" with BMC actually. We made it from scratch and I've been holding onto that beat since about February.
You're clearly influenced by Foxy and Lil' Kim, and it really sticks out on this song. You're talking greazy.
When we were making the beat I told BMC that I wanted something grimy, something that I could go off on and show off New York a little bit. I had to let people know. There's a lot of people that got me fucked up. I deserve to stunt on niggas, I deserve to stunt on bitches. [Laughs.] I'm just telling it like it is. There's still no one that sounds like me or looks like me.
Why name the song "Black Kate Moss"?
The name kinda came about because the last couple years there's been a lot of stuff going on with my music in the fashion world. "Black Kate Moss" is me coming into my own more. I feel like that's a very grown title. Women in fashion, heels on, when I hear Kate Moss that's what I think of. She was girly, but every time you seen her, she was chillin' with her cigarette. That's how I feel about myself because some of these girls be out here doing the most, and I just be in the cut with my blunt chillin'. [Laughs.] I'm the black Kate Moss.
"Pilates" was the song that put you on the map. Since you're an independent artist, talk about how that song popped off. Did you just put it on SoundCloud and called it a day?
That was the breakout song, the song that got everything started. One day I put it on SoundCloud and originally I wanted to put the video out once the song got to 10K plays, but then my manager got a hold of the vid and got Noisey to premiere it. Then about a year after, Kylie posted a Snapchat of her rapping to it and Alexander Wang played "Pilates" during one of his fashion shows and I performed at the afterparty. I've just been doing a lot of things in fashion. I don't wanna give myself that model stamp just yet, but I do take a good picture [Laughs.]
You have songs like "Drown" and "Pilates" but then you go the "real" rap route on songs like "Selfish" and "Black Kate Moss" pretty effortlessly. You don't allow yourself to be pigeon-holed.
I feel like that's a good and a bad thing. I wish I had a sound, I wish when people hear something, they be like, "Yo, Don should be on this." Every song that I put out is way different from the last. But then it's a good thing because there's no limit to the type of music I could do.
You have crossover appeal. You could take that Rocky lane, be a good rapper and also be on the cover of Vogue Italia.
That's where I wanna take it. But first I wanna get this music shit down pat then we going to the fashion world and all that. I feel like my music is a good way to ease into that.
How did "Drown" end up on Insecure?
It's crazy because I made "Drown" two day before Thirst Trap came out. It was supposed to be a throwaway song and it ended up being the biggest song on the project. I'm not sure how it got to the people that do the music for Insecure, but I do know they feature a lot of female artists on the show, so that's probably why. I just got hit up like, "We wanna use your song," and that was about it.
Is this next project going to be an EP? Is it going to be an album?
It's definitely going to be another EP. I feel like I have to put out a couple more EPs before the album. Just because I took a break for a minute, so I need to come back, show my face, drop a couple videos, and let people know I'm not playing.
