Donny Goines - The Non Fiction EP

1) Call To Arms (Produced by P.C.P. Muzik)

Nice lyricism, but a lot of the lines which he clearly is trying to pretend are amazing aren’t that clever (“You spit fire? I must be a dragon with flames” and “The flow’s like fine wine, better music each year”). There's a nice swagger to his lyrics but the verses are really average. The “chorus” is just a sample saying “oh yeah,” and is pretty pointless. Still, it was a decent track, and an OK intro to the EP.

2) Do You Know (Produced by Tone Def)

Donny tells a few stories. Its pretty good, nice storytelling. Him talking on the chorus (which is a sample) is pretty corny, and I wasn’t really liking it (the chorus) that much. I feel like the lead-up to the chorus –- “Now do you like the things life is showing you” – is his attempt of being insightful or making this song seem really heartfelt, but it doesn’t really have any personality to it. Still, a decent track.

3) The Ghetto Life (Produced by The Graduates)

For a track about the ghetto, a concept that has seriously been done over a million times now, this track is pretty good. Wasn’t feeling the chorus, the beat was OK though. Though the idea is unoriginal and the lyrics are really generic, some of them are OK – “This is reality, other places we’d rather be/Cause bullets keep flying rapidly, picking us off gradually”

4) Held It Down (Produced by Quincy Tones)

An OK REALLY CLICHE track, talking about his journey in the game. I sorta liked the chorus, it felt like he didn’t want to do it, but it was good. Again, the lyrics are really generic. All about hustling hard, and sacrificing, etc. I liked the instrumental though. Overall a very average, decent track.

5) Weather The Storm (Produced by Tecknowledgy)

Decent sampling, nice beat. Another track about overcoming adversity and all that. It’s a bit clever though, he brings in weather to the whole thing to create a decent analogy. Its pretty good, one of the few tracks on the EP that I may play again.

6) Present Future (Produced by Metro Beats)

Nice beat, wasn’t feeling the chorus (its got a real, “Oh look, I can spell my name!” feel). Decent lyricism, but all the lines are really forgettable. He says something about making us remember him…sorry, but you’ve got a long way to go. I guess this track’s OK though…decent flow.

7) Play Out In The Rain (Produced by Remot)

Another sample... pretty good beat. An OK track, standard lyrics for the most part, though about nothing special. He tries being nostalgic…it doesn’t seem legit, but it doesn’t sound too forced, just like a nice job of bullshitting. Still, it’s decent, albeit a bit short.

8) The Light (Produced by Danger Beats)

What’s up with this guy trying so hard to be an inspiration or something? The intro to this track is mmmmmmmmmmadddddddddd corny, this whole song is almost laughable. “Everyday I was smoking weed and Newports (yes I was)” isn’t that bad, he’s delivering it like it’s a miracle that he’s alive. The chorus is also cheesy as fuck. I’m all for putting someone’s pain or feeling in their rhymes, but he doesn’t have one good reason that he is in such pain, and all of the rhymes are really generic and cliché. I really doubt any of that so called “agony” and “pain” is as big as he makes it seem. Real wack ending.

Overall, this EP is a disaster. Apparently, Donny Goines had a contest to let readers of hiphopdx.com produce the album, taking the best 8. The problem is, he can’t even do these 8 amateur producers any justice on their beats, with random generic lyrics. I’ve heard other shit from him, and I thought this would be good, but I was very disappointed. No songs are great, in fact they are decent at best. I doubt I'll listen to any tracks by him again.

Grade: D+

- DKE