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Meet Donald Prince

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Meet Donald Prince

November 21, 2022
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Sed ut perspiciatis unde.

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We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Donald Prince a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Donald, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’m currently working on the finishing touches to a project called please don’t sue us “Pls Don’t Suez” that should be released in November or December… it’s titled that way because it uses some risky samples that could possibly cause someone to want to sue, but it’s done in a tasteful way and I feel like the concept of the project is really cool and quirky and has a lot of layers and levels and it’s probably my best effort to date since maybe 10 years ago. It really all started from a one song that I actually wanted to write 20 years ago but a producer I was working with couldn’t get the song to stay on beat so I tried it with another producer later and it just sounded too pop sounding. I wanted it to sound like really deep hip Hop / boom bap which I feel like is in the homage to the creators of the institution that is rap today. The reason that that song is so meaningful is because I grew up playing piano in the church and this song utilizes a very old piano sample that has been out for a while but I’ve never heard any hip-hop artists actually use it on that song. So the producer that actually referred me to this blog was able to actually produce the beat and the song in a way that I always heard it in my head so I feel like it’s a really great concept song with a really great idea and a even better platform that is the beat that my producer Carvo made.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I initially got into the music and film industry, firstly because of music (which you can find any of my works if you google ThaRealDon_P) back in Chicago I grew up near my cousins who happened to be apart of a bunch of guys who were in a singing group with Donell Jones and they were always bringing me to the studio or having me perform at 4th of July backyard functions as a 15 and 16 year old. It was a bit intimidating and not going to lie scary but it was cool to actually just do impromptu things and give performances for people just because we had the talent to do it. I got into the film industry because inadvertently of music, I was going to perform at South by Southwest about 6 years ago and on the way I stopped in Atlanta to hang out with some of my cousins and I decided to just apply for random film background applications, which would essentially be the people that you see walking around behind the actors in a scene in a movie. And that was a cool experience initially for me so I kept coming back and I kept working and kept getting booked as different roles so I decided to move to Atlanta and live with my cousins for a few years and really pursue being a lead actor because every time that I got booked as background I always found myself hanging out with the crew members and lead actors and becoming cool with different people who weren’t just background / scenic actors. A few years later I would need someone from Chicago who cut my hair while I was back home in Chicago and he suggested I talked to his cousin who was a boss over at Tyler Perry studios. One day on another set I met another guy from Chicago who told me to drive home the point to my friend who was the barber in Chicago that I wanted to become a crew member in Atlanta, his cousin ended up giving me a shot as an electrician at Tyler Perry Studios and I work there for 3 to 6 months before I realized that while I love being a part of that overall great institution of great success and creativity my passions to be on set lied elsewhere so I had to decline the gracious opportunity to be an electrician there anymore and decided to do set deck / set decoration for a bit but didn’t pan out too much so I decided to get into the Covid team and for the past two years worked in that department while also working as a production assistant on a few random movies and TV shows, and also craft services on a few small budget films as well. I didn’t want to keep coming to set to just earn a paycheck so I got out of that department as well and I know it sounds like department jumping but I really didn’t know until this year that I wanted to write my own shows, and this year I ended up doing just that becoming the Creator and one of the writers for a television show that I just finished writing. So that was a very great experience because now comes the challenge of shooting it and being the lead actor of it but I’m up for the task so my next goal and my next turn of attention is to accrue a good amount of funding to film The Pilot idea that I have right now and shop it around to some networks for push to series. It’s just the next task and challenge in many respects to what I already do, thankfully the show that I created uses a lot of the music that I write as a musician so it kind of goes hand in hand because the show is about a musician and it really works out having come from that world because I can describe things in depth and detail that most people don’t know about or have an experienced or don’t know happened. I would say I provide the services of a person who can create a full immersive experience of film and music for an audience and for an artist that would like me to maybe craft or write something for them after having heard their story and very great depth and detail just because I’m learning that outside of writing songs and funny stories I can write fully developed scripts with help from some strong writers/a writing team. So that’s been an awesome journey because I never knew that it was something that I had inside me and now it’s another thing that I have on the table that I can offer up as a service outside of songwriting and producing songs for artists. Now I can write television shows for major networks which is an awesome honor and cool journey to take one’s self on.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Switching from the music industry to the film industry has been a wild ride because I did not ever for one second believe that I would become a working actor and I always wanted to strictly perform on stage as a musician but I did my first theater in Atlanta for years ago and while it was difficult it really taught me dexterity and how to work on the fly in the face of adversity. I did not have any idea of what to expect when I got into the film industry. I honestly just thought that I was going to come in and someone was going to see me and say you! Come stand in front of the camera and say words. And hilariously that is not how it happened and it’s cool because now that I have an agent and an audition for Big Time rolls on film and I’ve been on some smaller cable networks as lead roles with speaking lines honestly is a shock to my mom. But I felt like I could do this when I first stepped on set the first day in Atlanta 6 years ago so it’s great to see the rewards of my hard work paying off, I just need to work even harder to complete the pivot to complete success which would be crazy because I never thought that as an actor is the first time that I would be on national television. It’s a great honor and joy to be allowed to be a part of something that people watch in their home every day. I honestly really thought that music would be where I would make my bones on television as a performer and rapper but I really enjoy telling the story and becoming a character that I see meaning in. But yes that would so far have to be the biggest pivot is paying the bills via the film industry as opposed to being a starving rap artist in Chicago paying my bills throwing huge age-18+ loft and house parties in downtown and transitioning to throwing and performing in huge clubs like… Sub-T and Metro Chicago opening for Mos Def. I went from that to working behind the scenes in the film industry 70+ hrs a week, just to learn how to shoot and act in my own TV series that will ultimately feature my music. That my friend was and has been a huge pivot.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Let us/them cook and try to understand them more than criticize. I’ve seen too many people held back just because they were not allowed to reach their full potential due to what other people think of their art. We need more funding for artist infrastructure so that artist can be helped to reach a mature old age. I think the issue of American art and artist is we have way too many of our best dying early due to drug overdose or violence. We need to nurture our artist and have more artist developmental structures in place. The irony is that there seems to be less money given to the arts and that music and art class is not a thing in all schools. That’s not great for the creative type who needs time to develop the ideas or to stumble onto by chance… their calling.

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