Donnis: “I’m Not Going to Lady Gaga It”

By Souleo Not everyone wants to dress like Lady Gaga and that includes rising hip-hop artist, Donnis. His style is a far cry from Lady Gaga and one marked by comfort, splashes of bright colors and trademark glasses and hats. Donnis, a formerly active member of the United States Air Force is buzzing in the industry after several notable highlights including opening for the likes of T.I. and Erykah Badu, securing a spot on the coveted Freshman 2010 cover of XXL Magazine and receiving praise for his Fashionably Late EP. The EP features his versatile rhymes that are playful one minute and brutally honest and emotional the next. It's matched up against equally dexterous beats that range from club ready southern anthems to top 40 jams.

We picked Donnis' fashion brain and discovered the one outfit that turned girls off, a bad case of yellow pants fashion disaster, why he refuses to go the way of Lady Gaga and more.

On how bad fashion sense prevented him from getting girls:

When I was super young I used to go to the skating rink and I used to wear the same outfit there every time. I used to wear these baggy cross-colored shorts and I used to think it was the coolest s*** ever. I used to wonder why aren't girls talking to me? It was because I was wearing the same damn outfit every Friday. So they probably thought I had no clothes. So now I like to switch up the outfits.

On how he almost ruined his fashion game:

About a year and a half ago I went back to the colored pants. I wore some mustard yellow pants I copped from American Apparel and I shouldn't have did that. I'm back on my regular jean game now.

On why you'll never catch him rocking anything Lady Gaga might wear:

I like to be comfortable with everything that I wear. I like my style to be very classic and traditional. I might go throwback a little bit but nothing too crazy. I'm not going to Lady Gaga it.

On how Jay-Z inspired him to get a Hawaiian shirt:

I was definitely the hip-hop kid with the extra baggy pants. I remember wanting to be fashionable when Jay-Z released the "Big Pimpin'" video. I saw him on that boat and I was like "Yo! I gotta get a Hawaiian shirt. What the hell am I doing ? I'm not cool, Jay-Z is the coolest." So I went from that to finding my own personal style. Now I try to be a trendsetter with my accessories.

On shopping at jimmy Jazz:

When I first moved to New York, Jimmy Jazz was one of the first stores I went to. I had a girlfriend who lived on 104^th St. & Amsterdam Avenue so I used to walk my ass right up to Harlem and get me some Jimmy Jazz stuff. I used to run in there and get my kicks because they always have good deals on the kicks. That was when I was a big sneaker head.

Check out Donnis’ performance of his single, “I Made It,” here: