Hello my name is…
Donovan Strain. I’m psyched, Donovan means “dark knight”…I was born already gangsta!

Aka…
Brokilla, Donzilla, Buttery.

I was raised in…
Camarillo, California. Ramier Street. Let me put it this way: you know those Toys for Tots foundations y’all drop those five dolla toys in so you get a discount into a theme park? Toys for Tots came to my hood and dropped off a toy for every kid on my block. Poverty is tight sometimes like that.

The reason that you’re reading about me is…
I’m pretty much the Bob Villa of hustlin’. I got a weekly show on theberrics.com called Buttery-Ass Mondays, tryin’ to show these kids an’ grown ups alike how to hustle an’ get up out tha struggle. You got bills to pay? I’ll show you how to flip up stuff at tha pawnshop or whateva it may be.

I work for…
theberrics.com and I also work at Skatelab’s skateshop, grippin’ decks an’ trash talkin’ to kids on the clock. I guess if I put a name on it, my job title is professional hustlah an’ shit talker.

Right now I’m workin’ on…
Gettin’ the coins out the bottom of a fountain with a fat magnet strapped to a pipe. Collectin’ coins like Mario, son.

But I’d rather be…
Callin’ a taxi, havin’ it arrive somewhere that Mike Mo and I can ambush it with eggs. I’m 22 and spend my weekends like I’m 12, holla.

My most prized possesions are…
My skateboard. It’s my boo, we been friends with benefits since seventh grade, homie!

My mama always said…
“Oh boy, yo father’s gonna whup yo monkey-ass when I tell him what you did in school today!” I got tired of that, so I dropped out.

I love it when people…
Put just a little effort into helping other people for once.

I can’t stand when people…
Waste food. I’m hungry!

The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is…
This li’l goddess Sugarmoan I be hollerin’ at on the regular.

The ugliest thing I’ve ever seen is…
Photos of segregation back in the day between blacks and whites…I can’t believe only a couple dec-ades ago people lived so ignorant. It amazes me.

I am what I drive, which is…
The city bus! Y’all suckers can pay $5 a gallon. I pay $1.25 an’ I getta ride the bus all day aroun’ town. I own a 1970 Lincoln Continental, too, aka the Dontinental, but I ain’t got no insurance so you know how that trifelin’ biz goes…

My most notable run-in with the law…
Went for my usual 3 am walk through my hood an’ this Crown Vic wit’ red an’ blue rolls up on me. Said there was a witness in the back who saw a robbery done by a guy like me. They wanted to keep her identity secret so they had me stand in front the car in a halfway-through-a-jumpin’-jack position. Fool with tha badge tells me to take off my shirt to look for tattoos. Then it’s up to this chick. If she says “Yeah, that’s him,” I woulda been in holdin’ till trial. Straight heart-stopper, yo. I got lucky with that but otha brothas be locked up for nothin’, fuck tha cops.

I lose control when…
I hear there’s free catering at some event. Dude, I’ll do whatever to get up in that function an’ go to town on a buffet!

The last time I swore I’d never drink again was after a night of…
Finishing an entire bottle of Crown Royal to myself inside of Taco Bell and throwin’ up five bean an’ cheese burritos. But then I went to SD an’ Preebz showed me drinkin’ is fun if you’re responsible by goin’ to a stripclub in Claremont instead of a Taco Bell.

Future projects and plans…
Always workin’ on new hustles for my videos and gettin’ tricks to throw in for the SK8MAFIA video droppin’ aroun’ September, I think.

And before I leave I’d like to give a shout to…
Sk8mafia, JSLV, theberrics.com, Berra, Mike Mo and Vince, Preebz, Jay, DC24, Nick, Erndawg, Alaska, Amrit, Todd, Tony, Jerry and everyone else at Skatelab. Thanks muhfuckahz, holla at me in tha streets.

[Editor’s note: I’m sorry, I edited this a bit for grammar and spelling, but you get the idea.]