User:Katana da don/sandbox

Katana Da Don (born 1975), is an American music artist who was born in California and raised in Minnesota. She is a member of Hecatomb, lead by Carnage the Executioner. In 2016, she was chosen as the artist you "Need To Know" by the Local Current Blog 2016.[1]

Biography Katana Da Don was born in Pittsburg, California and was introduced to Salsa and Afro-Cuban rhythms at age three by her father. The youngest of her six siblings, she learned to be quiet and not be a tattle tell so that she could hang with the older kids. By age five she played the drums and cowbell alongside her father as accompanied musicians from all over the Bay Area including a group of brothers that lived up the street who later became known as Los Lobos. Katana's parents split up after they both took a deep dive into drug addiction. THis ended with her father moving to Berkeley and her mother's continued drug use. At age nine Katana's mom made the decision to move in with her older sister who lived in Minnesota to escape the temptation while she became sober. During their Greyhound hosted trek to Minnesota Katana Da Don and her mom stopped in Nebraska where her aunt and cousins lived. It was there that she was introduced to free styling while her cousin Lee made a beat on the table. Although she had already fell in love with the genre, knowing that being an emcee was a natural gift only solidified that love. By the time Katana and her mom were settled in Minnesota she was writing Hip Hop and R&B lyrics consistently. At age twelve she started taking Jazz/Gospel piano lessons and that gave her the knowledge and tools to compose her own music.

THere was a long time that Katana didn't believe her music was important enough to be heard. During these years she wrote and sharpened her skills so that one day they would be worth a spin. Unknowingly, this mentality was brought on by depression and PTSD that had developed and grown from her parents past drug use, sexual abuse and violent deaths in her family. Katana Da Don channeled all her pain and self assessment into her music and poetry. Katana released her first album Bad Habits on CDBaby.com. She wrote, produced and mixed the project out of necessity. This taught her what she did and didn't want to do with her next project.

Katana released her double album: Secret Weapon Vol. 1 (Hip Hop) and Secret Weapon Vol. 2 (R & B) in 2007 at Electric Fetus and CD Baby. The cd’s received good reviews from local dj’s, among her rap peers as well as the local Hip Hop/R & B audience. Her song “Lost” featuring St Paul Slim and produced by T – Lace, was listed as one of the best songs of the summer by Peter Scholtes of the City Pages.

Never afraid of testing her artistic boundaries, Katana Da Don branched out to flex her acting muscles playing a main character in local drama/comedy TH3M! The 5 episode series was showcased at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival in 2010. In 2011, she starred in the gospel play/musical The Devil Didn’t Raise You, where she sang an original song selected from her catalog by the play’s author. During this time, Katana had two surgeries and couldn't be as active so she began to focus on composing music. After getting a bootleg version of Fruity Loops 10, she began to learn how to cultivate her own sound as a producer. One of the first songs she produced was GRIM - a retro rock, industrial inspired track - about not letting the outside world control the way you feel about yourself. It was very true to where she was in her life. This was when Katana came to terms with her depression, suicidal thoughts, social anxiety disorder and PTSD. These moments of clarity were given light on her album Kut Throat. She even talked openly about suicide in her Soul Brotha - an ode to Kurt Cobain, one of her biggest influences. Kut Throat was given a review in the Local Current Blog under artists 'You Need To Know'. Katana also teamed up with "Snuff" director Paul von Stoetzel for three videos on the project that were all premiered on the City Pages Top '5 Must See Videos'.

Katana Da Don is a part of the HECATOMB crew led by veteran MCEE/entertainer Carnage The Executioner. Musically, she’s working on her next album and continuing to expand her production and audio engineering credits through her company Katastrofik Entertainment, LLC. with music from Back 2 Back, Lo Down and Soul Reflect. Katana Da Don is showing her range as an artist, dealing with her demons and molding herself into the first female music mogul.