Diezzle Don

In an effort to keep her son away from the dangerous out-door life, D-Don's mother bought him music equipment. He started producing his own music but he gained the element of the hustle. The artiste D-Don was born in Atlantic , New Jersey . When his mother moved to the “ Brick City ” in Newark , New Jersey , D.Don acquired a reputation as the “Bonafide Playa” (Bonafide: Genuine, Real) on his own block. D Don had acquired his street knowledge while growing up in Atlantic City. His father, a construction worker, abandoned D.Don and four siblings early. As a result, growing up was tough. "The projects were full of hustler...pimps and numbers men. When I was little, I used to run errands for them to the grocery store, pick up their dry cleaning," remembers D-Don. Eventually he dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and went to work in the casino kitchens, winning a chef's scholarship from Local 54 Hotel and Restaurant Worker's Union.D-Don began his rap career at age 17, when he had a hit on the rap charts with a single called "Bust it." Since then, he has been building the foundation for his entertainment empire. Through this reputation he met future Brick City rap star Redman. D-Don and Redman shared the same musical taste and became buddies. In the early 1990's, both were living in Newark. D-Don and Redman made a pact that the first one to get on, would reach back and help the other one out. According to D-Don, Redman used to DJ for him in his crib and D-Don helped Redman make his first demo, which found it's way to Def Jam. Redman was signed and went on to become a major player in the rap scene. Redman kept faith with his friend, as he referred D-Don and his rhyme Gov-Mattic to a few of his industry affiliates. Redman took D-Don on tour with him and enlisted him for production word on his gold-selling album DARE IZ A DARK SIDE. He also featured D-Don on his 1998 album, DOC'S DA NAME 2000 .To D.Don, rap is the greatest poetry there is. Although this poet had some recognition in Europe with his two rap singles, "Thug Passion" (1990) and "Ghetto Red Hot" (1999 ) and an album with Newark rapper, The Governor, most of his notice comes from his association with Redman. D-Don and Gov-Mattic recorded music under the name of Diezzle Don and The Governor and one of their songs, called Once Again It's On, reach the hands of Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito, who were at that time underground radio personalities on 105.9 FM.The song was played on the show and the duo quickly built an industry buzz as one of Jersey 's finest. This success and Redman continuing cheering for them, guide led to a bidding war between notable labels at the time. The battle was won by Noo Trybe Records/Virgin Records as D-Don signed to them with his company Izzum Man Productions. D-Don met Luniz member Yukmouth, who was signed to Noo Trybe at the same time, in 1994 and introduced Yukmouth to Gov-Matic.Yukmouth and D-Don went solo and created the label Lockdown International. D-Don signed a deal with Ruff House Records/Contract recordings and Diezzle Don & The Govenor recorded their first LP entitled,”1995 Year of the Independent.” D-Don had to run his company from prison on a phone through his then music attorney Kevin Glickman. With D-Don being incarcerated and promotion budget yet to be recouped.D-Don paid off his debt to the label and left with all his returns, approximately 90,000 units.He again began searching for distributors for his label and with the help of his appearance in Redman's platinum album ”Doc's Da Name” he got a deal with Lightyear Entertainment. D-Don met producer Phil Rust and he released the single Thug Passion, produced by Rust, on Marcion Records with the song Hustler as a b-side ( I think this was in 1999).In 1999 he released the single Ghetto Red Hot together with Gov-Mattic and Redman. Under the name of D-Don, he released the single Ghetto Red Hot together with Gov-Mattic and Redman. Under the name D-Don, he released his first single, And You Know That featuring Redman, on August 8, 2000 off his solo album Bonafide: Portrait Of A Hustler which dropped on September 19, 2000 . He also released a second single, Smoke Wit Us. D-Don handled production himself and also executive produced the album. Besides Redman, Gov-Mattic made an appearance on the song What You Git. The album proves D-Don truly is BONAFIDE. In 2001 D-Don was featured on the track Bricks Two, off of Redman's album”Malpractise.” Recently (December 2002) we were told that D-Don and N.O.R.E. (formerly Noreaga) will be doing something independent soon.But before there was Diezzle Don, D-Don or Lockdown International, there was a small crew out of Atlantic City called the DBL ( Down By Law ) Crew made up of three rappers Donnie D, J Fresh and DJ Sport D (AKA D-Don). The single called Bust It which went on to become an all-time Hip Hop classic. The group spent $40 to produce this demo on a 2 track recording machine. The single was a play off of Otis Redding's legendary hit “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” At that time DJ Sport D was organizing neighborhood rap battles with local MC's in the Atlantic City and Newark areas of New Jersey . Local Hip-Hop DJ's like Red Alert and Chuck Chillout picked up on the new record and started a buzz in the underground club and radio scene.The single was picked up by Urban Rock Records an independent NY label who wanted to dabble in this new phenomenon called Hip-Hop. The DBL Crew signed to Urban Rock Records, which was operated by Neil Levine.The single immediately charted in the top 10 on all the black music radio charts. The urban music that was on the charts at the time was LL Cool J's My Radio, Run DMC's Tougher than Leather and Whistle's Only Bugging. For a 15 year old ghetto DJ from Atlantic City it was a dream come true. After the success of the Bust It single Urban Rock Records wanted to sign the DBL Crew on to do another single. The DBL Crew was unhappy with the royalty payouts after seeing their record at the top of the charts for so long and becoming increasingly aware that Urban Rock Records was getting rich off of there music. DJ Sport D decided not to take the new offer to record a new single while unbeknownst to him his partners where cutting a side deal with Urban Rock Records to record a new without DJ Sport D.