Donny Rajaun

WHO'S DONNY RAJAUN

Donny Rajaun born Brandon Tucker, is an up and coming star with focuses in the hip-hop, pop, and R&B genres. He’s Captivating audiences with his unique sound, thoughtfully placed background vocals mixed with witty and heartfelt lyrics. Born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 27, 1994 he has steadily made a name for himself through his charming personality, His chilling versatility as a songwriter, his business savvy, or even his efforts to bring light on mental health. There are plenty reasons why this new talent is taking the industry by storm.

  In 2015 Donny dropped his debut mixtape Donny’s Diaries, a r&b heavily influenced project, with tons on potential, and for his first project made a lot of noise is the Hampton roads areas. 2017, he followed up with his EP “Rated R” showcasing his growth as an artist and solidifying his place as an up and coming artist out of Virginia with his record “Leave It In” charting on independent digital radio. Now he’s back and better than ever, “ I had to take some time to really find myself, I felt like I was closing in on a brick wall in my personal life and my creativity was taking a hit in response.” Says Rajaun. “I took some time to love, lose love, lost friends and even some enemies, but now I can put it all into the art.”

  Growing up in Chesapeake, Virginia, Donny was surrounded by a rich history of musical influences. His mother and father both were lovers of music. “I remember my dad getting us McDonalds, and then taking us to the venues to watch my mother rehearse for her performances, or attending my grandparents church and watching my grandfather work that guitar like god himself built into his hands.” Of course Virgina has its own rich legacy in music, From artists like: Tommy Edward’s in the 50s with his chart topping single “It’s All In the game”  Or even the great Ella Fitzgerald to artists like the Clipse, The Neptunes, Missy Elliot, D’Angelo, Chris Brown, and even producers like Timbaland, Teddy Riley, or Bink for his works on Jay-Z’s “ The BluePrint” album. As you can see with the rich history surrounding Virginia in music, it’s not hard to see why Donny so passionately loved the art, it’s almost built into his DNA. “ I remember when Usher dropped 8701, that album was magical. I remember seeing the U Remind Me video for the first time. I was instantly captivated, the clothes, the swag, the story, and the record, it all worked.” Said Rajaun. “But it was the U Don’t Have To Call record that made me want to be him, The video to be exact. From beginning to the end everything about that record grabbed me. I remember getting in trouble at school for reciting the beginning of the record, I had no clue, I just knew it was my favorite song.”

Rajaun’s musical career began in 2011. “ It was my junior year in High School, and I had met AJ Fieldz, and he said he was a rapper. We went to Sam’s club after school one day and bought mad candy, and we hustled that candy everyday at school until we got the money to go to the studio and record, and it went like that for a year until I got my first job, then we where really in the game.” Says Rajaun. After high school He joined the United States Army and out of all places, gets sent to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. “I tried the military,” he laughs “ But I just couldn’t get with it, I was undoubtedly sent there for a purpose though, I met a man by the name of Moe Love, and he taught me about harmonies and completely shaped the way I did music at the time, over in Hawaii he made me somebody that the island searched for, may he Rest In Peace.” After leaving the military a year later he  had a hard drive full of unmixed records and was back home in Virginia. And that’s where he met an Engineer by the name of Joe Skeet. “Man, Joe Skeet, took me through a recording bootcamp. He showed me that recording music was like a science, How your distance from a mic and other little small factors like that, can completely change the outcome of how that vocal comes across when it comes to the mix.

He taught me how to punch in, instead of wasting time going back and doing the entire part over, Joe took what Moe started and made me a wizard simply put.” Joe took the songs that Moe recorded for me, and mixed them down and helped me package my first Mixtape: Donny’s Diaries