Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Abu Da Don. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Abu, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
My optimism comes from the fact that I never wanted to pursue a music career. Music has always been something I enjoyed from a consumer aspect. I never considered the artist aspect let alone taking it serious. I was always an athlete. I played football and baseball my whole life. Every summer, fall, winter and spring were consumed with sports all the way up until my junior year in college when I finally decided to hang up my cleats. After that, I was just enjoying life. Traveling, finishing up school and then COVID happened. If you didn’t pick up a hobby during quarantine then I’m pretty sure you were bored that entire time haha. This is the time I ended up hopping in the booth and falling in love. See, for me, making music is therapeutic. I was the type of person who use to keep all of my emotions bottled in and then let all of them out once I couldn’t hold them in anymore. That is very unhealthy and dangerous. Now, once I was introduced to music I was able to turn a fun hobby into a therapy session. Not a intervention but a session where I can make some dope music that is relatable but it is also helping me cope through my issues. I never wanted to make music but God brought music into my life and I feel like everything happens for a reason and that’s why I keep going and I’m so optimistic.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
For those who don’t know me, I am Jeremias Elston, aka Abu Da Don. My whole life, I have been an athlete. Football and baseball were my two favorite sports growing up. I ended up playing college football for a little even though, I loved baseball more and actually was better at baseball than football. In high school, I picked up a hobby that I enjoyed, which was hosting or being a MC. This hobby followed me into my college days where I have hosted many concerts with some of the biggest acts in the music industry. Hosted some of the biggest arenas in the south and have made connections all of the the United States. It wasn’t until quarantine, in which I switched my focus from hosting to actually being an artist.
That’s where we are now. I have been making music ever since. I first started off making music just to have fun and pass the time. Then people actually told me that they liked some of the stuff and that I should put it out. With everything being easy to do on your own nowadays, I did just that.
Of course overtime, your style and sound changes. At the beginning I was more focused on making music and wanting people to love it. This lead to me trying to make music that was similar to the popular sounds. Now, as I have matured in my craft, my music is more of a therapy session for myself. I make music that helps me. The focus on music now is to make myself happy. I use music as my diary / stress reliever. I feel like my new music is way more personal and relatable because we are all human and face the same struggles in life but sometimes we feel like we are the only ones going through that type of hurt. It’s good to hear someone else open up and see that you are not alone, It helps fasho.
August 27th is my birthday. I decided to drop something new. A different sound, a different flow, just an overall fun song. It is called “Player” featuring JayMarino. I decided to make this song for one because I am surrounded by a lot of talented people but these talented people are not only in my fraternity but also in my chapter. I don’t see why we all shouldn’t come together and collab all of the time. I feel like Player is an up beat catchy song that everyone can vibe to.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I feel like my upbringing helped me out a lot. I bounced around to different schools but I learned a lot about how to deal with people. How to move. My fraternity helped me out a lot as well. Shoutout Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. The process of becoming a brother and the process afterwards and moving and networking all played apart in the success that I have had so far. I would say, one of the biggest things is to take your emotions out of it. I know thats hard but you have to. As artist we are extremely sensitive when it comes to our craft. Everyone isn’t going to like what you do. THAT’S OKAY! It’s ok to make mistakes, learn from them and move on. Truly have a reason for why you are doing your craft because money isn’t going to always be flowing in. So, if money is your only motivation then, you will lose that drive. Understand that, your word is your bond. If you tell someone that you will do something, then do it. This is a business, business comes first. Don’t miss business with pleasure, you will always ruin the business relationship up if you do.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
YES! I have been doing free features since I started! The reason why is because I do this because I love making music and I enjoy making music. I don’t need your money as an artist. Let’s use that money to get a video shot, lets get some flyers, lets get some promo. Most artist have a 9-5. Why would I take your hard earned money? That makes no sense to me because most artist don’t have a big enough budget to pay for a lot of features. I would much rather we get discovered off this song than to get a couple hundred dollars because money comes and goes. So, YES! I’m down to collab with any and everybody please reachout to me via instagram or email. LET’S WORK AND LET’S MAKE A HIT!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abudadon
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@topflightthebrand
Image Credits
ShotBySee WhatsSleepTV
