dontaye pearce

It wasn't an easy beginning for a young man named Dontaye Pearce. Being born in Detroit, MI, one of the well known toughest cities in America, Dontaye was placed in an environment where he was already at a disadvantage. Being the youngest of two he saw the way the world was going to treat him through the experiences of his brother. His brother was older by six years and spent most of his teen years and early twenties in and out of jail. In Dontaye's mind he had two options, go to jail or get out of Detroit.

Raised by his mother and grandmother, Dontaye had troubles of his own growing up and was often suspended in school or forced to do community service to pay fines for misdemenor charges of petty theft or vandalism. His father was involved in his life, but his parents simply couldn't make it work well enough for the family to stay together and while his father tried to be the best man he could be, he was often absent for reasons unknown to Dontaye and his brother Jamir.

During a brief period of time when Jamir was not in jail and his father was present, the older men introduced the young man to a music style called hip-hop which became Dontaye's first addiction and his first love. By the age of thirteen he had started writing his own rhymes and freestyling over beats played on the radio. Freestyling turned into rap battling and when he was sixteen he was overheard battling a friend outside of a community basketball court by a DJ on a local hip-hop station. The DJ invited him to participate on a weekly competition they held which showcased young local rap artists in freestyle battles. Dontaye quickly became a favorite and champion earning him the penname of The Don.

After a few years doing battles and finishing school, Dontaye decided to make music his fulltime job and saw it as his only way to get out of the city that felt like a death sentence to young men like him. In 2005 it finally all started to change. During a battle he was introduced to the legend himself, Kanye West. Kanye wasn't too interested in listening to another young man looking to come up, but he gave Dontaye a shot which he took with sixteen bars of pure fire. Dontaye left his mixtape and considered it a win, but it wasn't over until he was a signed man making music and he continued to shop his sound around.

It took two years of writing rhymes and making mixtapes, he found himself dealing drugs in the meantime to support his passion, but he gave it all up in 2007 when he received a phonecall telling him to fly to New York. He left New york signed to GOOD music, Roc Nation, and Def Jam records. The Don was about to have his dreams come true.

The Don spent four years working on his debut album. As much as he wanted to put out something right away, he often found himself in and out of trouble still. During the four years that he was working on his album he had been arrested twice, once in 2008 for posession of illegal narcotics, driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer. He did his time and once released he got right back to work. He wasn't able to get too much done though because while out with his brother in 2010 he was arrested again for being in possession of a weapon which was a violation of his three year probation

In 2011 his first album dropped and since then he's being riding an intense high of music, tours, drugs, women, and money. He's released two studio albums and two mixtapes and is preparing to release his third. It still hasn't been an easy ride, dealing with the issues of a highly publicized relationship, followed constantly, drug use, The Don has had to struggle every step of the way.

studio albums (sounds like: big sean)

dark sky paradise ... 2015
hall of fame... 2013
finally famous... 2011

mixtapes

detroit... 2012
finally famous vol. 3... 2010
finally famous vol. 2: UKNOWTHEDON... 2009
finally famous: the mixtape... 2007

full discography