VITUHMINS VIP: Donn Robb

On this week's installment of Vituhmins VIP, we had the privilege of sitting down with Donn Robb, a multi platinum producer, engineer, and manager who has numerous plaques with the late and great Juice WRLD and current global pop star The Kid Laroi. We chose Robb because he has been a vocal supporter of our platform since its beginning, and because of the amazing influence he has had on Hip Hop’s production and composition over the past decade. It was an immense honor to get to speak with him!

Decker: “Thank you so much for joining us Robb, it’s super cool to be talking to you and to hear your story. Throughout your musical career, you have been killing it since day one. You’ve worked with a handful of some of the biggest stars in modern Hip Hop, and more than that, you’ve helped some of these folks find their sound. I'm super excited to hear about everything you have in the works, at least, the projects you're willing to tell me about, and to get to know more about you.”
Donn Robb: “Thank you for having me man, glad to be here and to be talking with you.”

Decker:  “So tell us, who do you currently work with?”

Donn Robb: “Music wise, I’ve been working with Peach Tree Rascals, and on The Kid Laroi’s new project. I’m honestly working on a ton of really cool projects, those are the two I’m able to publicly speak on, though.

I also have this pop project I'm working on. He's this new artist, a kid from Chicago, his story is crazy, he lives in the suburbs, from the same place where Juice is from, and he has the voice of an angel. Actually, I have this other kid, too, from the Northside, who also has the voice of an angel. I love great voices, it definitely makes the job more fun.”

Decker: “So awesome. So tell us a little bit about your journey, then; was it a straight path, or did you find yourself taking many twists and turns to get here?”

Donn Robb: “It wasn’t a straight path, definitely had bumps along the road. I went into one genre of music, drill, I was honestly one of the 5 founding producers of drill. “Free Crack”, “Ballin Like I'm Kobe'', that was me. I was trying to focus on samples, and on changing them into the way drill producers are doing now. That was my sound! Herb and Bibby are the DOGs, but they also do that storytelling rap, so it definitely needed the samples to help do that. I never would have thought that part of my career would later lead me to produce for pop stars and alternative artists.”

Decker: “I'm sure! Speaking on what you just mentioned, what’s your favorite sample you’ve worked with, so far?”

Donn Robb “My favorite sample I’ve worked with, hmm. This company I've been working with, they acquired a catalog that has given me the freedom to work with Bob Marley's samples, from the albums with The Wailers. That's honestly been crazy.”

Decker: “Of course! Bob Marley is one of my favorites, too. What has been one of your favorite moments of your career so far?”

Donn Robb: “My first favorite moment was meeting Juice WRLD in my studio in Chicago, and he performed “Lucid Dreams' ' in front of me. Meeting him before all the fame, and just knowing that he was a star, yeah, that was for sure my favorite moment. 

My second favorite moment was working with The Kid Laroi, we worked so damn hard just so we could wake up and find out a track went platinum, regularly. You’d just wake up to good news, numerous times. It was crazy. “F*CK LOVE” was a ton of me. Without guys like me, there wouldn’t be these kinds of crazy big albums that sound the way they do, so having an impact on the development of that album was definitely a high point for me.”

Decker: “With all of the cool music projects you have in the works right now, which can you tell us about that you are excited for?”

Donn Robb: “Something I’m really excited about is to branch into alternative music, cause it's something I’ve never done before. I gotta thank 10k Projects for helping put that together for me. I'm also starting a label right now called Unknown Music, as well as a management and publishing company. For professional reasons, I can't even name the artists that I'm working with yet, but there's 4 of them, and I know they’re gonna be stars. I'm with Vic Mensa, I'm with Chance, I’m putting everything I've worked towards and everyone I’ve worked with together, and making something really cool.”

Decker: “Who is your personal hero in life?”

Donn Robb: “Personal hero in life: my mom, she's my business partner, she's my attorney, she's my business manager, and she's always there for me, taking care of me and taking care of my business. I was confident that I knew everything about the music industry, and then she came in and in a year she knew more than me. She knows the who’s who, she knows the label executives, she knows them by name and personally. She's the GOAT.”

Decker: “In 5-10 years, where do you hope to see yourself?”

Donn Robb: “In 5-10 years, I hope to see that the artists that I've signed to my label have success. I hope to see myself maybe transition from music to TV, movie, cartoons, fashion, really anything. I want the freedom to be a true creative , “The Trap Obama.” I want to change the game.”

Decker: “What changes do you wanna make in the music industry?”

Donn Robb: “I need smaller people, like songwriters and engineers, to be paid better and to have more of a share in the music they help make. I also want more people to start real record labels. Who’s the new Diddy, who’s the new RCA? It's the same dudes over and over again, starting new labels. It's never new faces. I want new faces. We need new CEOs. There's billions of dollars in the music industry, there's no way that we can't properly spit this bread up better. Start publishing companies! Don’t just be an artist! Don’t just be a producer! Learn the business on different levels, have a strong understanding of it all. I want people to know and feel change. I'm just a kid from Chicago.”

Decker: “What advice for kids trying to get into the music industry?”

Donn Robb: “When you're starting out, if you’re a producer, learn how to engineer, it’ll put you in the room. Learn how to engineer. If you're an artist, learn how to be a producer. Figure out a way to get into the room. The room opens way more doors than you think, the challenge is just getting in it.”

Donn Robb! Thank you so much for being our Vituhmins VIP this week, and for giving us you’re very valuable time and advice! We really appreciate it.