Donnie Propa - 10 Questions
Introducing English DJ, and Mixtape Specialist Donnie Propa. Straight off the back of his Legendary drop for tape Kingz. Donnie originally from Heavy Links with his brother Habitat has been churning out some big tapes in recent years, some involving Buckwild, Kool Herc, and noteably his tape with Masta Ace. We look forward to seeing what comes next!
We got Lieu to pick his brain for a Wordplay Magazine 10 Q's…
1. Who are you?
I’m Donnie Propa…..a hip hop DJ who makes mixtapes in the traditional sense from my record collection. Im also the DJ in Heavy Links and use to promote events back in the day.
2. What was your first introduction to hip hop?
My earliest memories of hip hop are from when I was 9 or 10 and started hearing acts like Cypress Hill, Snoop Doggy Dogg, ONYX, NWA and that sort of stuff. I also remember liking K7 - come baby come and Kriss Kross - Jump when I was a little kid seeing the videos on MTV. The first big act I saw was Ice T at a festival that my dad took us to when I was 12. I remember going into the tent where he was on and him saying something about “if I ask you what O.G. stands for and you don’t know you better get out this fuckin tent” and me being nervous because I had no idea what he was on about! I presume he then went into that song ha ha
3. When did you start getting involved in music/DJ’ing?
Hip hop has always been my choice of music. From first ever hearing it I’ve been hooked and my obsession has only grown over the years. I started buying hip hop CDs when I was 12. Wu Tang Forever was the first CD I ever owned. I started DJing when I was 16. My girlfriend at the time had an older brother who had decks but he was into hard house. He use to let me play on his decks and explained beat matching and that to me. My first set up was a direct drive deck that I bought from some dodgy shop that sold a lot of nicked stuff, with a numark mixer and my dads old record player, one of them ones where the arm moved across itself. So I use to play a record on my dads deck then try do stuff on the other deck. Once I realised I wanted to take it serious I was advised to just get some 1210s as they were the best and would last. I worked in a skate shop at the time and asked my mum and dad to buy me a set up that I’d seen in a magazine. It was a grand for 2 technics decks and a vestax mixer. They agreed and I paid them back a bit each month. I started buying records then and it’s never stopped!
4. You're a part of Heavy Links, how did that all begin?
Habitat is my older brother and we use to share a bedroom as kids so we grew up listening to hip hop. He liked other stuff as well and would play metal or whatever but I was always just obsessed with hip hop. I started DJing out and then a few of our mates rapped, eventually Habitat and El Tel started doing it and were by far the best out of everyone so we just started making our own stuff. We met El Tel when I was 15 when he came to our school for sixth form. Him and Habitat are the same age and we all use to skate together. We use to go to hip hop nights all over the place and were all into the same stuff. Heavy Links was originally the name of a night me, Habitat and a few mates started running in 2004. My man DJ Peer Pressure came up with the name. We were listening to a lot of P Brothers at the time and they had Heavy Bronx, so we took inspiration from that. We originally recorded a few tracks that our other mate Exclusive Ramone produced, 3 of which we released as a cd in 2010 as the first Heavy Links material. We followed that with another ep on his beats before Tel suddenly made a load of dope instrumentals from out of nowhere! His beats were definitely ’our sound’ so we recorded another ep, The Essence, and put that out on record in 2012. Since then we’ve released various albums and eps on record and 7 inch singles. We’ve made tracks with loads of U.K. acts that we grew up listening to which is dope and have played at some really good events and festivals and opened up for some legendary acts.
5. How did the tapes come about?
When I first got decks I was always more into making sets and figuring out what tracks went well together and mixing than I was scratching. I absolutely love scratching and am massively jealous of these DJs that can do all the techniques but that was never my thing. I never wanted to enter the DMCs or anything but loved watching them and admire the DJs that do all that but that wasn’t my path .In 2006 I made a cd of blends, U.K. acapellas over American instrumentals. Then in 2010 I was really into U.K. hip hop and had loads of rare records. Rather than them just being in my room not doing anything I decided to start doing tribute mixes. The first one I did was a dedication to Scor-zay-zee as he was one of my favourite mcs. I remember recording it then being really nervous about putting it out. I didn’t know Scorz back then and had never met him but I put it up for free download on some forum pages and that. That literally took me from no one knowing me, to suddenly at shows people would talk to me about that mixtape. That then gave me the confidence to start doing more, and the next ones were all official mixtapes with cappo, Lee Ramsay and Son records. I always loved Notts hip hop so it all meant a lot to me. Then I met Masta Ace at a show and spoke to him about my mixtapes. I asked if I could do one of him and send it over. He said that was cool but if he didn’t like it then it is what it is sort of thing. I sent it over one day and he responded saying he was about to get on a flight so would listen while travelling. I got another message a few hours later from him saying how good he thought it was and what did I want to do with it. He then recorded an intro while stood in the airport and sent it over. I think I did 100 tapes just to see what the response would be and they flew out! Then we did another run….then another. That’s when I realised I was onto something so I started my series, Straight From The Crate Cave. My studio is called the crate cave and my mixtapes are 100% vinyl, recorded straight from there. I know some people couldn’t care less if they’re vinyl or not but it’s important to me and I think my tapes can be a bit of an educational tool at times, as I’ve had loads of people ask me about tracks I’ve used or say they didn’t know they were ever released on record etc.
6. Do you have a favourite tape?
My first tape with Masta Ace will forever be massively important to me just because of it being the first proper one and that he liked it. Years later he asked me to do another mix that he then got pressed up as a cd and it was given out at his 50th birthday party in New York which still blows my mind and is my proudest moment to date in hip hop. Out of all the tapes I’ve released so far I think my Big L one is my favourite just because he’s my favourite mc. I was unsure about doing a double cassette but when I dropped it they sold out in 3 minutes to people in about 13 countries! Then the represses sold out mad quick as well! For the last few years every tape I’ve released has sold out pretty much instantly and I’m posting them all over the world which I’m massively grateful for.
I’ve got to give a mention to my man Luuk for doing the covers for me and making them look dope, he kills it every time! Remulak from Village Live Records and Dreg from Planet Rock Graphics both did a few covers on the earlier releases so shout out to them two!
7. Is there any new artists you feeling atm?
Yeah as much as 90s boom bap will always be my favourite stuff I love loads of stuff that’s out at the minute. It’s impossible to keep up with everything but I try my best. It’s also dope to see new releases from mcs like Kurious and Jemini The Gifted One.
8. Tell us something we should know about you?
I’m a teacher at an SEN school working with 8-19 years olds with learning difficulties, autism and who display challenging behaviour. I also do DJ lessons with kids with various disabilities. Making mixtapes and records has always been about the fun for me. Obviously it would be nice to make a living off it but that was never the goal. I’ve also got the weakest back known to man from years of DJing, carry records and sound systems.
9. Your favourite song this year, last decade, and growing up?
I just heard a track by DJ Muggs with Freddie Gibbs and Scarface called Street Made that I think is fairly new….that was heavy!
I absolutely milked Torae - For The Record when that dropped, it’s classic Premo!
My favourite song as a kid was probably Streiht Up Menace by MC Eiht. He was my favourite mc and Menace To Society was my favourite film back then.
Gang Starr - Mass Appeal is possibly my favourite ever track…..or Pete Rock and CL Smooth TROY…….or Tribe Award Tour! Ha ha…Illmatic will forever be my favourite album.
10. What do you have coming up next?
The next tape I’m dropping is one that I’m ridiculously proud of and still can’t quite believe it’s actually happening…….i have done one for the legendary Tape Kingz. Anyone who knows anything about mixtapes in the 90s will know and understand just how big Tape Kingz were and they released loads of classic mixtapes by some legendary DJs as well as loads of dope vinyl releases. They have set up shop again and are releasing some really good records from some newer New York mcs like Red Inf, UFO Fev and Kool Taj The Gr8. I was lucky enough to be sent some test presses of these albums and have made the first Tape Kingz mixtape to be released in years!
The A side is underground 90s stuff with some Tape Kingz releases in there and the B side is all newer stuff featuring tracks from the artists I mentioned before. I think releasing this is up there with the Masta Ace mixtapes as my proudest moments and is one of those things I’d never have believed you if you’d told me years ago that it was going to happen. Big up Ian for that!
I have got loads of ideas for other mixtapes and they will all come out at some point.
I’ve released quite a few with DJ Cable where we have a side each, I’m sure we will do more. We also had the idea of choosing a topic and us two do a side each, along with DJ Fever and Shortee Blitz doing sides and release that as a double cassette. We all spoke about the idea so hopefully we can make that happen one day.
Im also currently recording 3 different ones for 3 different legendary U.K. acts, if they like what I do then you can expect to see them in 2024 as well!
Follow Donnie Propa on bandcamp.
Interview: Lieu