When our friend Natascha P. of One Mother had the idea that we should talk to DonMonique, she didn‘t know that we were pumping “Pilates” since kindergarten. Yes, Don Dada is part of the TISSUE Lab office playlist from the moment we heard Thirst Trap, the Bronx-Brooklyn-raised MC’s first album from 2015. We met the 24-year-old rapper prior to her show at Kampnagel in a very good mood, enhanced by Hamburg’s finest herbs. Throwing buzzwords like „Kate Moss”, „rap” and „the Internet” at her, read what DonMonique threw back at us.

INTERVIEW: UWE BERMEITINGER, NINA MAIR
PHOTOGRAHY: TIM BRUENING

TISSUE: Zodiac Sign
DonMonique: Lion

Hobbies
I just like to relax, smoke (laughs). It’s definitely a hobby. When you smoke in New York it’s like running around the city all the time to get the herbs.

Public transportation in Hamburg
It’s just like New York: the trains are geniously bombed [Graffiti], you see homeless people, … It’s not too fancy, easy to understand, takes you everywhere. I feel like I’m home.

Life in Bronx/Brooklyn (NYC)
It’s cool, it’s hectic. There are so many people. I like it. I feel like I can never move out of New York. It’s home. It’s what I know. I know everything. The buildings are tall and I’m not scared of height. I love it. New York inspires me the most. Just living a fast life. Never slow down, because you need to make money to move on.

“I’m not really on the internet, telling my business.”

Rap
Rap is everything to me. It’s my form of expression. I’m not really on the internet, telling my business. I put it all in the music. It’s really all I have right now, it’s all I own. I was born in this shit.

Kate Moss
I relate to Kate Moss in my own way: She was shorter than the other models, just always chilling, having a low cigarette, was not friends with everybody. She was just different. And I feel different. I don’t really do the whole chitty chat with these girls. I’m just smoking my blunts, making my business – like Kate Moss.

Freedom
Fuck that, I do whatever I want. I always wanted to make that type of grimy hip-hop, this in-your-face tough music. But people around me were like ”no, that’s too much”. So I broke up with my management. That was the minute I felt free to do my own creative thing.

“Fuck that, I do whatever I want.”

Stage fright
I’m not nervous about myself before my shows. I’ll be nervous about all the other people doing their jobs right.

Lifegoals
Just to be the best. The best I can be, the best ever to do it. After music I wanna get into acting, I’m already having auditions, but I’m not getting the roles. I think about taking some classes, I’m not good yet.

Internet
I feel like I’m very low-key. My business is not on the internet. I don‘t put every little piece of my life on the internet. It’s cool for people to know about me, but I don’t want everybody to know me. Once you get too caught up in the internet or social media, you just forget about making music. It’s just the best to focus on your work, because in 5–10 years the only thing that’s gonna be relevant is your output, not likes or followers.

Family
I’m the first one in my family that gets into this whole music thing. My family does not really understand what I’m doing. They still think I’m in Paris … (laughs).

Visitez:
www.thadondada.com
www.instagram.com/donmonique