Don Benjamin - The DOPE MAG Interview

With his smoldering green eyes, mass of tattoos, and chiseled physique, Don Benjamin – best known for competing in cycle 20 of “America’s Next Top Model” – is a man whose looks could easily melt the hearts of most women. However, growing up in Minnesota’s inner cities has created an aura of ambition, entrepreneurship, and level-headedness about Don that won’t allow him to simply rely on his looks. From a young kid hustling candy and soda, to a bold visionary striking out in pursuit of his first love (music), Don has had to learn firsthand about the pressures and pitfalls of “Lost Angeles,” the toils of gone-awry professional ventures with friends, and the wonderful rewards that can sometimes come with taking risks.

More than just a handsome face, Don is a man poised on the brink of success and self-realization, and he has multiple projects in the works – including an EP and a clothing line – to solidify his spot in today’s ever-evolving entertainment marketplace. Pure DOPE’s Brittany “Bella” Graham caught up with the young globe-trotter in Hollywood - on the set of his exclusive DOPE MAG cover shoot - and dug deep into the mind of the man behind the model composure. Read on to find out why Don Benjamin has the looks (and the mindset) to kill.

Written by Brittany “Bella” Graham

Creative Directed by Natalie Geday

Images by Ryan Cleveland

Read the Full Length Interview

(Brittany “Bella” Graham: Bella) Most people know you for being on America’s Next Top Model cycle 20, but before I ask you about your career and your professional accomplishments, I want to get a feel for who you are as a person; who Don Benjamin the man is, and what led you to be where you are today. You were raised in Minnesota by a single mom in not the best of neighborhoods, so how did growing up in that environment shape your early perception of life?

(Don Benjamin: Don) Oh, man. Growing up in the inner city, I think in general, just kind of automatically makes you feel like you have something to prove to the world. Because you’re already looked down upon. You don’t have much. And you’re in poverty. I think right away it kind of gave me that drive and that self-motivation, and just a strong work ethic, the motivation to work to get out of nothing. I started working as a… well, I was selling soda pop on the corner of my streets at the age of like 10. Me and one of my boys were trying to make money selling soda cans for a dollar a can, hustling. That’s where it started. That’s where the hustle started.

(Bella) So you were one of those kids that everybody knows. The ones that we would go to for candy in school or CD’s and whatever it was we needed at the time.

(Don) Yep. Buy a case for five dollars and sell each can for a dollar.

(Bella) How did being raised by a woman, a single mom, shape your idea of manhood?

(Don) Well, I learned pretty much everything I needed… I mean, my dad would call in from time to time but my mom pretty much taught me everything I needed to know. She worked, she had a couple of jobs, she made sure I had food on my table, so it automatically gave me respect for women and it showed me that women are queens and they’ve got to be treated very well, so I guess that was good. I saw my mom in and out of different relationships with men and they didn’t treat her the best, you know, but I couldn’t do much. I was a young kid. I definitely respect women that raise kids by themselves because it was not…it’s not easy at all, especially coming up when you don’t have that much money. Financially it’s a struggle, you’re job to job. So yeah, respect.

(Bella) I like that. Mom’s taught you right.

(Don) Yeah. My mom wasn’t very strict, she’d let me do my thing, let me learn my own lessons and so I would be out… you know I’d have to learn my own lessons. But luckily I never got into too much trouble. I took the sport’s route. I got into basketball so that kept me out of trouble. Instead of being in the streets all the time I’d be in the gym playing ball. So she didn’t give me a curfew, I didn’t have to be in by a certain time. She would kind of just say, “Make sure you’re in. If you’re going to be out late let me know where you’re going to be or give me a call.” She wasn’t like: “You have to be in at 10.” She didn’t beat my ass if I came in at 10:30. She wasn’t really strict so I feel like it could have been bad or could have been good, but it worked out better for me. I think I got to find myself, I guess, as a man.

(Bella) You have a very interesting look. What is your cultural heritage and ethnicity?

(Don) My mom is half-White, half-Native American. The white, I think, is Irish and then my dad is African-American. He’s Black, from Chicago. He’s not African or nothing.

(Bella) I only ask that because in researching Minnesota and the census for 2011, it’s close to 92 percent White. I wanted to know if being biracial in Minnesota when you were growing up was a challenging experience.

(Don) The majority of the time I grew up in the inner city, which was pretty much where all the Black people in Minnesota live. But I had my mom’s sister and they lived in a suburb outside of the city. At one point, we had to stay with them for like two years and it was all White people. Those two years were actually… You’d think they’d be better than living in the city, but it was actually worse because that’s when I dealt with the racism and White people calling me n!66er. You know what I’m saying? As a kid you don’t understand what that is, so it was confusing, but I guess it was an extra part of my life where I got to experience that; the racism part. Coming up, I definitely felt more accepted in the Black community even though I was of a mixed heritage so that kind of messed my mind up.

(Bella) Well, that’s good you didn’t experience direct racism for too long. It sounds like your mom is an amazing woman for being able to hold it together like she did.

(Don) My mom kept me… you know my pops was… he was in and out of prison. Like my dad’s side was like the bad side, some of my uncles were selling drugs and my pops was in and out of prison. But yeah, I tried to… I don’t know like… something in me just kept me focused on good stuff. I worked regular jobs – other than on the street hustling soda pop – but right when I turned 16 I got a job working at McDonald’s. I didn’t go out and sell drugs because I didn’t want to take the path I think my dad took. I saw him selling drugs. I saw him in and out of prison and I didn’t want to take that route, so I kind of went the opposite route.

(Bella) What about you wanting to be an NBA baller? Up until your first year of college you wanted to play professionally. What was it that made you just pick up and move to L.A. to pursue entertainment instead?

(Don) I didn’t have that good of grades in school so I had a couple of offers out of high school to play ball at some colleges, some division two schools, but they were like in small towns where I didn’t really want to go. So I kind of came to a crossroad where I was like, ‘am I going to really try to force this basketball stuff and go to these little schools or should I try to find something different in my life’. I never wanted to work a regular job so I went to the city college and I got into theater classes. I was thinking like - let me try out this acting stuff and then I liked it. Then, I was like, ‘Man, you know what, I’m about to move to California and just do entertainment full-time’. I was writing music at the time, I had a friend out here and we were kind of in a little music group. It was just me and him. And so I knew I had to move to LA, that’s where everything is and so I literally told my mom like, “I’m moving to LA.” I had a cousin that lived out in Long Beach who said I could stay with him for a little bit until I got a place. So I got up, packed my stuff, and I moved out here like six months into college.

(Bella) That’s a bold move but it obviously paid off for you.

(Don) The first five or six years were a struggle. I didn’t know what I was doing – like background work on shows – and I was trying to get a regular job and nobody would hire me. I remember waking up eating oatmeal crème pies for breakfast and ramen noodles for lunch, and it was a struggle. Something in me told me not to give up. A lot of people came out, I had friends that came out to L.A., and then they’d move back home – they couldn’t put up with it – but something in me was like you’re not a quitter. I wasn’t going to give up and I just stuck it out. I kept grinding, kept networking, and kept trying to get my face seen. That seventh year I had my break and it wasn’t through the music, it wasn’t through acting, it was actually through modeling, which was “America’s Next Top Model,” which at the time wasn’t even a focus of mine. So it’s crazy how God works.

(Bella) How did you even get involved with that show? Did you audition?

(Don) So, I’m literally chilling at my house the day before the audition period and I think at this time I was strictly music-focused so I was working on some music. One of my boys hit me up and said, “Fam, America’s Next Model is having guys on there this year and you need to go try out.” I was like… I had tried to do modeling up until this point – I went to agencies and got denied – so at this point I’m like, “I’m not a model.” In my head, I’m not a model. So I’m ready to pass. And he said, “bro you could get that, just go out for it”. I finally said alright, I don’t got nothing going on tomorrow, and so I get up and go down to the casting and there’s like thousands of people. I was like, I’m about to take my ass home, you know (Laughs!). I didn’t want to sit and deal with all those people. So something in me tells me like just stick it out, just do it and so I’m there all day at this casting. I finally get seen and then a couple days later they hit me up like, “We like your look. We want you to come back in and get seen again,” so I’m like ‘damn. Pretty much me getting up and sticking it out was the life changer.

(Bella) That’s crazy. A spur of the moment life-changer.

(Don) Literally, like. The night before? If my boy wouldn’t have hit me up and told me about it? I wouldn’t even have known and I wouldn’t have gone.

(Bella) So now that you’re focusing on music again, has being on America’s Next Top Model and being a model in general had any drawbacks? Being in the rap industry is very masculine and its very braggadocio, so as a rapper have you felt any criticism due to your modeling experience?

(Don) Luckily on the show I talked about how I did music previously and they actually played a couple of my songs on the show, so that kind of helped promote my music career as well. Of course, I’m not a hardcore rapper for one, so it doesn’t really damage me. You know, if I was trying to talk about…

(Bella) … your street cred…

(Don) … exactly. If I was talking on some street stuff, they’d be like bro you’re a model, like calm down, but I’m kind of approaching rap with an R&B-smooth type feel. I do like storytelling – I tell real life stuff – and I’ve actually been through a lot, so I don’t feel like it really damages me. If anything I feel like it makes people more interested because they’re like this guy’s a model, let me see what he’s really about. Can he really spit lyrics? Can he really tell a story? Does he really sound good on a beat? You know, so I feel like it helps me.

(Bella) When you are writing songs, where do you draw inspiration from?

(Don) All the way from stuff I’ve dealt with in my life to stuff I feel like people may be doing within their own lives now. I like people to feel the story. I like people to paint a picture to the song like without even seeing a video to it. I want them to create a music video in their heads for the song. Usually, a lot of the stuff I’ve dealt with in my life, I feel like a lot of people have dealt with the same things. So I try to decide how I can tell it in a way where they’ll connect to it.

(Bella) Going back to when you first moved here to Los Angeles. A lot of people who are not from here say that when they move here, it takes them a while to adjust to the way people move and do business, as far as perception and everybody claiming to know someone goes. Did you go through a point of adjustment to the L.A. attitude?

(Don) Oh, yeah. For sure. Well, for one, when I moved away from home and relocated here to L.A., I was like, “I’m going to be ‘on’ in a year and if I’m not good in a year, I’m moving back home.” That year went by so fast I was like: “You know what, one more year, I’m on,” and then I stopped giving myself a time limit (Laughs!). But yeah, definitely. I’ve dealt with so many people who said they could do this and I got set back a lot messing with agencies that said they could put me on or with producers and other artists that were like, “Yo, let’s team up and we can do this.” Everybody feels like they’re something or that they know somebody – or that they can do something to help you – and it’s so funny dealing with it. I definitely learned quickly.

(Bella) (Laughs!) I call that phenomena - Lost Angeles. So for anyone that’s moving to L.A. and trying to pursue a craft out here, what advice would you give them?

(Don) I think the key is just not to lose yourself. Don’t lose yourself. You know, I always… no matter what I dealt with or people telling lies or trying to make themselves seem bigger than what they were, I would always stay true to myself. If I don’t have no money in my pocket, I’m going to say I don’t have no money in my pocket. I’m not going to act like I have a Bentley parked outside. You can’t get caught up in this Hollywood life and try to be something bigger than you are because you’re going to get lost and nobody’s going to take you seriously. I think people respect you more when you keep it real. I think that’s the main thing is keep it real, don’t get lost in the city. And network with the right people, weave through the bullsh!t real quick, don’t let nobody sell you no dreams and you’ll be good.

(Bella) So what happened with the group that you were in? You were in a rap group right?

(Don) Yeah, I was in a rap group, me and another guy. After I moved and got established, we met a couple other artists – a singer and a rapper – so it was a rap group; three rappers, one singer. We thought we could have a Bone Thugs & Harmony type feel – something DOPE. Like we could bring that feel back. It was actually going pretty good, we were talking to a couple of independent labels, and then one of the dudes got beside himself, he got big headed and was like, “I need to do my solo thing”, and so it threw everything off and the music out of alignment. From there, I separated and we just went back to the original – just me and my boy that I started with – and we were pushing just us, starting to get good quality music that we liked, and then all of a sudden he comes at me and he’s says: “I don’t feel like you’re working as hard as me. I feel like I can do this without you and you’re not going to be sh!t without me.” I said: “If that’s how you feel bro, keep it pushing and I’ll be fine without you.” So after a year or two of us working on everything, we just came to a complete halt. And this was like my boy, like my best friend. We did everything together and the whole thing just ruined our whole friendship. We stopped talking. But it motivated me to prove him wrong and I just used that as fire to work even harder. It was almost like a race, like I’m about to be bigger than you and show your ass that you should’ve never left the group. So from then on out, I started my independent music stuff. I set the acting aside and I just really focused on my music.

(Bella) So will you ever do business with friends again?

(Don) I will, and I still do business with friends but I’m a lot more careful now. I try to really let sh!t be known like - we can’t get caught up in our feelings. There are just different ways to maneuver. We were young. We squashed everything, and we’re cool now – me and dude – but we were young and you learn lessons when you’re young.

(Bella) There’s a saying, you live and you learn, which basically means that your greatest wisdom sometimes comes at a great expense. So what’s one of the greatest lessons that you’ve learned that has come at an expense?

(Don) Honestly that’s probably one of them. When you’re on a journey to be something in life, you’re going to lose a lot of friends, you’re going to lose a lot of people close to you, you’re going to see people’s true colors and it’ll be one of the biggest things you learn in life. Because the people that you think have your back the most are really up against you. You know what they say… Keep your friends close…

(Bella) … and your enemies closer.

(Don) Yeah, because the people that you think are with you are really looking at you trying to figure out how they can beat you or how they can stop you. I learned that and I also learned that you can never keep everybody happy when you’re trying to make it to where you need to be. People are always going to want to hang out with you or they’re going to want you to put them on and you’re not even in a full position to put yourself on, so you’re never going to make nobody happy. As long as you’re happy and you’re doing your thing, I guess, that’s all you can really do.

(Bella) So what’s next music-wise for you?

(Don) I’m releasing my single this week, “Doin’ It Well”, featuring Elijah Blake. We shot an amazing video with Toroh Films. And MIDI Mafia and Fayo N’ Chill produced it. It’s crazy! I’m excited about that. I also have a single following that with Eric Bellinger. I’m trying to just – rather than focusing on a full album – I’m trying to just get a bunch of singles and have a project full of singles I guess. I have about three or four lined up.

(Bella) Like an EP?

(Don) Yeah. I want to drop an EP but I’m not like focused on a specific date. I’m more just focused on getting a bunch of singles together and then once I have like six or seven singles then I’ll be like, okay let’s package this up and go.

(Bella) And fashion-wise?

(Don) I want to start my own line and I kind of started something up but it seemed a little too much like street wear, and I want to stay away from street wear. Everybody’s doing street wear right now. I don’t want to just put out a t-shirt with graphics on it so I pumped the brakes, but I definitely want to have something real fashionable. Something new and fresh that’s different, but similar, to what people are doing. A line with its own niche. So I’m definitely working on that, working on a couple of basic t-shirt lines – just me and my stylist – because nobody has like really good quality basic t-shirts so I’m going to do that. And then I’m going to stay with my modeling as well, since it comes easy to me I guess. I feel like music and fashion, they go together. You have to have some kind of fashion as a musician, otherwise you’re not going to stand out as an artist, and music also inspires a lot of fashion.

(Bella) At the end of the day what comes first though, music or fashion… or modeling?

(Don) My music comes first to me. It’s always been like my main passion. I get tired of taking pictures honestly. I never get tired of stepping behind a microphone.