“The Diary Of An ATL Brave” came as a mixtape from the Atlanta-based rapper Donnis in summer 2009. You get the artist backed by Mick Boogie and DJ Benzi, who host, as he comes through with some material that is designed to move away from the general sounds of the Dirty South and the Hip Hop that is based in Gangsta Rap as he does things in the Hipster Rap format (and so can be likened to the fellow Georgian Bobby Ray (formerly known as B.o.B.).
1. “Beginnings” (Intro)
2. “Underdog”
As he gets down to things here with the first proper cut on the mixtape, here you find that he comes in with a heavy joint that gets him ridging some funky beats (the kind of things that seem to have been neglected from the Southern Rap scene for some time) as he shows how he can bring Hip hop back with this kind of thing and does well to show this through the way that he rides the grooves in a fluid manner, but raps as he is fighting against lots of disadvantages.
**Four Stars**
3. “Country Cool”
Here he shows that although he doesn’t seem to fit in with conventions of the Hip Hop in this area, he still represents the south well by coming through with a track such as this one where he rhymes about how they still
remain based in their country ways, and this is helped by the guest appearance of UGK’s Bun B to give it that extra help (although I still find myself wanting more from it in spite of all this).
**Four Stars**
4. “Gone”
Coming off some buck chants that you always tend o expect in the club-based raps of southern Hip Hop material, you see that here he makes more of an attempt to ft in, but still shows that he doesn’t fit the typical mould of most from the area (especially as he is a complete opposite to the Trap-Rap acts of the city) as here he gets on some screw and does some typical brags, but doesn’t come with mindless gun raps.
**Four Stars**
5. “Over Do It”
Here you see that he goes in for a track that you see is much more like a track to push through his alternative sound, but I couldn’t help but feel tha he was unsuccessful in this attempt here as here he promote his ‘Real Rap Music’ but goes on beats which simply didn’t do it for me and so although he made come up with some decent flows, they aren’t backed by engaging beats that allow you to feel it all.
**Three Stars**
6. “I Am Me”
Here you see that he attempts to express more of his originality wit this one. Personally I felt that he had, as the last track’s title says, over-done it really and so as you get this one you see that he comes out with one tha has him rapping more about how he is the next big thing, but I felt that although it take son that mould, not much o what he says actually has that much substance to it and he can’t really back up his claims yet.
Here you finally get an improvement to the production here as you see that here he gets on beats which enable him to do his whole unique thing, but tame it to a place to where it actually is able to find itself into the mix of the current popular Hip Hop scene well. I felt that it sounded like him rhymes felt much more impressive here too as a result to make for a heavy tune that takes the themes of the last one and makes them much more impressive to hear.
**Four Stars**
8. “Sexytime”
After claiming that he knows that he will make it big in the future, you see that with this one he takes from the phrase that Sacha Baren-Cohen popularised as Borat, and Kanye West later used in ne of his joints, and you see that Donnis makes more out of it here as he raps about how he treats his groupies as he takes it to the clubs and makes for a tune that seems to do it all and stands as one of his best.
**Five Stars**
9. “The Way You Are”
Here he comes through with more fell-good material, designed to create a massive contrast to the material of many of the others in the Hip Hop game of the time and you see that in this one you get a track that has him flowing about the way that he tends to treat his special girl (as opposed to the girls that didn’t mean as much to him in the last one). It is a pretty lifeless one, but I expect others will find more in it.
**Three Stars**
10. “Song For Every Ex”
Here you get an interesting on form him as you see that flowing a hook that gets a guest R&B singer leading the way, you see that he comes out with a low-paced affair that has him expressing his feelings for each and every ex that he has had over the years. It is a gentle one, and although the concept sounds exciting at first, it doesn’t really go anywhere and I felt that it didn’t have much going for it.
**Two Stars**
11. “Ticket To The Moon”
Taking things out of Earth as most futuristic artist (who don’t see themselves as a part of the current Hip Hop world, such as Drake, Lil’ Wayne, XV, Charles Hamilton and so many others) you see that here he comes in with his version of this kind of material where he takes things forward on some electronic production. It is a bit simplistic for his claims, but I felt that it was able to grow with time.
**Three Stars**
12. “Pop Them Thangs”
The album ends with him sampling Chicago Juke Music’s song of the same name and I felt that it was a great direction to take things as he lifts the mood with a little Hip House influence and is and to increase the pace to show where he is at as he comes with a flowing style that actually its the way that many of the other ATL artist comes out with for a fresh final burst of energy to top it off nicely.
**Five Stars**
When you compare his work to the numerous others working as ‘Hipster Rap’ artists, I have to say that there are many more that out-do what he does significantly. I expect to see him advance in the future as his rhymes improve, but here it is far too inconsistent to come out with anything that really shows that he’s anywhere near where he needs to be at this point.
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