DOMO GUDDA: LA'S GOLDEN GOOSE
I first met 25-year-old Rapper Dominique Goodman, stage name Domo Gudda/Golden Goose, in the summer of 2017 outside of 2 Chainz' pop-up shop on Fairfax for the PretyGirlsLikeTrapMusic album release. Within minutes of speaking to Domo, I was immediately taken by his abundant energy and humble, yet overtly confident aura. It was both fascinating and refreshing to see an artist as passionate as he was about his music who also embodied the true human condition. No 'Hollywood' bullshit.
Over the past eight months since our first meeting, Domo and I have kept in contact with each other and he has continued to support our platform here at #DROPSMEDIA by continuously providing us with the first opportunity to cover and promote his music every time he drops. In fact, his 2017 mixtape Hot Boy Gudda was one of the first projects we posted on DROPS.
Now with the release of his new cinematic visual for his breakout single "Rodeo" Domo and I decided it would be the perfect time to share the story of how a young Dominique Goodman navigated the struggles and perils of South Central LA to become the beacon of hope and original artistry he represents as Domo Gudda the artist. Our conversation covers all fronts from his humble beginnings as a student of the game to his worldwide approach as an artist. However, if there is one thing that you should take from this interview, it's this; the fact that Domo Gudda will not quit until he is your favorite artist and puts LA back on the map as the mecca of real Rap.
How did you start making music?
Domo Gudda: Well, I discovered I could rap in like the fourth grade, it was like a freak accident. I always liked music, my mom always played music around me and I always liked hip hop and one day I just started rapping. And I’m like literally in the fourth grade rapping about school things and it became something that I got interested in and I had a teacher named Mr. sung I’ll never forget him — Fourth grade teacher Mr. Sung and he heard me like writing down some things and he was a rapper believe it or not and he was like, ‘Yo Dominique I think that you know that you are pretty tight for you age maybe I can help you out with your writing.’ So I would stay after school with him for maybe two hours or so and we would just write things — Things that I thought about, talking about my homework or talking about my dog or talking about how my mom was putting me on punishment Because I did something wrong in school and it just kind of grew from there.
How did you transition into Domo Gudda?
Domo Gudda: My name is Dominique so I just came with the Domo and the Gudda comes from like, just living in harsh situations like living in the gudda living in South Central LA. I think all of LA is considered like a gudda because you have gang members you got muh' fuckas pressing you all day, you got shootings, you got robberies, you got all types of stuff so I just took that into consideration like ‘Damn I live in the gudda, like a gudda environment so let me use that to my advantage.”
Many of your tracks have different vibes, from R&B to gritty, traditional Hip Hop. How do you approach each record you create?
Domo Gudda: I never really think about what I am going to write I just start writing to it — I just get a beat and I start writing and past experiences and stuff I’m going through right now, I just put it all into the music and I just come up with these songs — And these songs be tight (chuckles.) I don’t know how they come about but I just start writing and I just put myself sometimes in different shoes or different perspectives and then — I am a creator I just create things. I’m very unique and I just come up with these songs, I can’t explain how I just come up with them and they come from the heart.
What does all of this mean to you?
Domo Gudda: When I was younger when I used to be rapping in the house my mom would always be like, ‘Shut up I don’t want to hear that, shut up I don’t wanna hear that.’ So that kind of motivated me to be like, ‘Well I’m going to keep doing that because it irritates you and one day you’re going to appreciate it.’ So that’s where I get some of my motivation from with past experiences with my mom like that — I just wanna reach out to people and let them know that LA really got some real rappers out here like - It’s not all about niggas looking good or having a cult following — It’s like, niggas out here can rap and I’m one of those niggas that can really rap. It’s not a lot of LA artists that really rap, like the last good artist out of LA was probably Ice Cube, IDK but we don’t really have any good rappers out here and everybody is trying to follow the south, like fuck the South, I mean not fuck the south but that sound is their sound like get back to the core of Hip Hop.
Domo Gudda: Like LA is known for gangster rap, LA is known for niggas that got bars, niggas that got punchlines. Like think of Snoop Dogg, that’s what LA is known to be about — Look at Ice Cube, look at Dr. Dre, like they rap they not talking that mumbo jumbo — And I’m not hating on the mumbo jumbo or Mumble Rap but it’s just getting played out. Niggas need to get back to Hip Hop, spitting them bars and that’s what LA is known for.
Would you say that your main goal is to bring 'Real Rap' back to LA?
Domo Gudda: Yeah my goal is to get traction back in LA like let niggas know it’s not bullshit rappers in LA. Because there are some bullshit rappers but I’m like a dinosaur — I’m like one of the last of a dying breed out here that can really rap, freestyle and write, and I have a whole look a whole persona about me. I feel like I can be one of the best, I really do feel that way and I am not just saying that because it’s me.
Describe your music.
Domo Gudda: I make music for the underdogs. I make music for the non believers - for niggas that think that they can do something that don’t know they can do, you can do it like — If a nigga hating on you, he hating on you, but guess what? He’s gonna have to respect your music, he gone have to respect you as a person, yeah you may not like me because I’m fly or whatever the case is but you gone respect my music and you gone respect and you gone be able to relate to my music because we live in same city we go through the same things, niggas press you everyday just like they press me, so I don’t see why niggas wouldn’t fuck with the music if I am talking about something that is relevant.
You recently took a trip to Portugal to promote your music. What was it like for you going overseas for the first time off the strength of your craft?
Domo Gudda: The first thing you notice over there — I was in portugal and barcelona spain — I spent 10 days over there 5 days in portugal and 5 days in spain — the first thing I noticed was that the scene of music wasn’t like LA, They weren't playing hip hop like that and the hip hop they were playing was people that are popping — like people that we know on a daily basis that we are going to hear, we can hear that song 6 or 7 times in a day and they are going to play it like maybe once or twice — So, I feel like In LA everything is watered down, but when you go overseas they appreciate you more because it’s more authentic — Like they haven’t heard about Domo Gudda in portugal until I went there I physically went there. Now, if I was to go there tomorrow, If I just happened to go there tomorrow, their going to show me more love because I came to the city, I came to their country and I showed them love as well as they showed me love.
Domo Gudda: And it’s just a humbling experience like — these people don’t know you from shit on a stick but they respect your music and they respect your grind and they respect who you are as an american and just to look and how you talk and how you sound and — I got my music played in maybe five or six different bars just because I walked up and was like, ‘Hey, I’m from LA and I Make music.’ And as soon as I said that they were like ‘What? You from LA you make music? Where can we find you at?’ — Out here you say that it’s like ‘Okay my grand momma make music, my uncle makes music what’re you talking about?’ They appreciate you more overseas.
I understand that your manager, Remy Franklin has been a big part of your journey as an artist. How did you two first link up and begin the process of crafting your career?
Domo Gudda: A guy that I used to work with he was like there is this rap event you should come my homie the hottest one there, I mean you tight but I think he’s better and you should come and just see what you can do. So being the asshole that I am I’m like, well I don’t give a fuck who it is he’s not better than me. So I went there and sure enough the top dog is standing here now, that’s just what it is — I went there and I was just like where this guy at and they pointed him out and I sized him up and I was just like ‘This guy is not near what I am.’
Domo Gudda: And after I showcased my talent like two days later Remy hit me up like ‘Yo who are you, what do you got going?’ and I’m just like ‘I’m just a local joe out here trying to get it in.’ And she was like ‘Let’s work, anything I can do to help you, I wanna help.’ And I was like Are you serious?’ Because the funny thing is I had already been asking the universe to send me somebody like here somebody that really wanna help me out because I wanna help myself and I wanna help somebody else and I understand it takes a Birdman to make a lil wayne I can’t just develop a Lil Wayne by myself and so I was looking for a Birdman and Instead of Birdman I found Birdwoman.
What Impresses you about him (Remy)?
Remy Franklin: His passion he is literally passionate about any and everything, If he loves french fries, he’ll make it sound like the best fries you’ve ever had and you have to have those fries — He feels the same way about himself and his music — So when I talked to him about it, you had no choice but to believe him and of course I believed him because I saw it for myself. He has a star quality that I really can’t explain. It was just there and I knew that he was somebody — So I hit him up like, ‘Yoo, is somebody managing you? Like what you got going on?’ And when he said No I was like I mean I will help you in any way that I can, not knowing that he would actually recruit me to be his manager — So yeah the rest is history.
What can we look forward to from Domo Gudda in 2018?
Domo Gudda: Well right now if you go to Soundcloud or go to my Instagram and click the link in my bio I got the Hot Boy Gudda, It’s four songs, it’s like an appetizer — I just came from overseas and over there they call it tapas, it’s just a small portion of different foods so that’s what I gave them, some tapas — it’s just something they can taste on until I give them The EP.
Watch the full visual of Domo Gudda's new single "Rodeo" featuring Bizkit below. More to come after the DROP.