31. december 2009– Today we’re going to have a talk with producer and Baltimore resident Shaquan D.O.N. If you’re not familiar with the name he’s the man behind the famous Breakin’ Thru 4 Delf ep and the 2000 D.O.M.E.S.W.E.L.L.A.S. 12”
When I called Shaquan for the first time he was very excited that someone from Switzerland knows about his work and even more excited when I told him that he (or the Domeswellas) have fans not only in Switzerland but also in other parts of Europe, Japan and of course the US.
hanDJob: Shaquan, please introduce yourself to the readers. Meaning where you’re from, what you’ve done and of course what you’re up to these days.
Shaquan: Shaquan Don from Baltimore, founder of the Domeswellas which back then was me Shaquan Don, Infinite & Nic. Our debut was the Breakin Thru 4 Delf ep back in ’95. From then on and later with the “Indian Summer” 12” we had radio airplay on like college radios, Music Monthly, 92Q Rap Attack etc. We were also featured on mixtapes like the ones from DJ Concrete (Annexx Click). Back in ’99 i produced a song on the Architects Street Soldiers Compilation. D.O.M.E.S.W.E.L.L.A.S. was featured on D.J. TIGHTEN MIX TAPES.
hanDJob: Concerning vinyl releases how come there was such a large gap in between Breakin Thru and the ’00 Indian Summer 12”?
Shaquan: Well, we always loved the artform, the vinyl, but there was no real business with that. Besides we were not really focusing on getting it out, we just recorded. Back then I was still in college and had a lot of other issues to take care of as well.
The people that contacted us because of record deals etc. didn’t have the expertise; we had deals offered but they didn’t look good. Most of those deals would’ve made us lost creative control plus their way to handle the marketing didn’t seem right to us.
These days I’m running different businesses but I’m still doing music. I got a live band called S.D.G.E. Experience (Surreal Dramatical Groundbreaking Experience) plus I’m still producing. I'm planning on releasing unreleased material From the D.O.M.E.S.W.E.L.L.A.S 90's music at its finnest.
hanDJob: It’s a common question but I’m still wondering what or who got you into hiphop?
Shaquan: Drums! I Couldn’t even remember what exactly got me into it but it was mostly artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, Stetsasonic, LL Cool J., Big Daddy Kane, Beasty Boys, NWA, Eazy-E…
hanDJob: Since a lot of our visitors are fans of that mid 90ies Baltimore rap, please tell us a bit about the scene in Baltimore back then.
Shaquan: It wasn’t really a productive scene. Plus technically we weren’t as prominent as today, we didn’t have the infrastructure to grow. Most of us were following New York, not really creating something new. Same with like the radio stations around here, if it didn’t sound like coming from NYC there was no airplay.
hanDJob: Who were your influences when you started producing? On the phone you mentioned Jay Dee a few times.
Shaquan: It was mostly people like Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Quincy Jones, Rick Rubin etc. As for Jay Dilla, back then I didn’t even know that was him producing The Pharcyde, ATCQ etc. it took me a minute to put the pieces together.
hanDJob: How did that Breakin Thru 4 Delf project come together?
Shaquan: We (The Domeswellas) got approached by this certain person who wanted me to do the beats, put together the whole project and I was young and believed pretty much everything he said. He wanted to have an overall control and I wrote the songs and did the hooks. It took me some time to realize that he was lying and pretending to be someone he’s not. As a fact one night on a party I called him out in front of everybody. As a result I ended up doing the whole project on my own. I got the Emcees together which happened to be people I was down with. Back then I think I started to realize that I don’t need anyone else to make my music happen; I can make it work myself.
hanDJob: How many copies did you press up btw?
Shaquan: I can’t remember exactly but probably not more than 200.
hanDJob: Besides the artists on that ep who else have you worked with during these years?
Shaquan: I did production for Kevin Mack (Annexx Click), New Testament, Kwabeni, Big Cat, Other of Snow, also mixed with Jay Funk… too many to remember. Most of it was done for radio shows, mixtapes etc. but never came out on vinyl.
hanDJob: What’s your opinion on hiphop these days? Are you still listening to rap and if so who are you feeling?
Shaquan: I listen to everything whether it’s coming from the East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South you name it. I’m open minded and not one of those people who get upset about music.
hanDJob: Earlier ago you told me about a lot of unreleased Domeswellas (and other) material. Do you have plans to release any of that stuff? Maybe even on vinyl?
Shaquan: As for the States I doubt it that a lot of people would care but if there’s an overseas market I’d definitely like to make it happen; taking it global. I don’t want to put time and money into something that’s not going to work but if there’s enough people interested I’m definitely down to make it happen.
hanDjob: To finish this, what are your future goals and plans?
Shaquan: I want to run a successful company, going global with my music. Hopefully within 6 months. I thought to myself that if you’d produce music like we did back in the 90ies (mostly the heavy drums) you can still be successful, you just have to aim at a specific market; people who still care how the music sounded (over) a decade ago.
hanDJob: Thanks for taking the time to make this happen! I’m sure the readers will appreciate it as much as I do.
If you want to get in contact with Shaquan you can reach him at:
shaquandon@yahoo.com or just use the comment section to contribute.
first of all i want to introduce my man mister hanDJob. he's helping me out with interviews in the future. this section will simply be called "hanDJob talks to...".
BREAKIN' THRU 4 DELF EP '95
D.O.M.E.S.W.E.L.L.A.S. 12" '00 (courtesy of hanDJob) 
BREAKIN' THRU 4 DELF EP '95
D.O.M.E.S.W.E.L.L.A.S. 12" '00 (courtesy of hanDJob) 
