Do Over Don't Presents: "By Any Means Necessary"

Do Over Don’t has been putting on for the culture in Massachusetts. In fact, their team has been working on a plethora of creative projects that have been advancing arts and culture across New England. More recently, DOD executive produced a Collaborative 18-track album that sheds light on some of the best up and coming talent across the state from Fall River, to Dorchester to Hingham and Danvers, We were fortunate to speak with Gabriel Gomes, CEO and Founder of DOD. In this Exclusive Q&A, Gabriel discusses his goals, vision for DOD, ambition, childhood and why he wants to make Massachusetts the next hot spot for artists!

Boston Culture: Where did you grow up? How was that like? Do Over Don't: My name is Gabriel Gomes and I grew up in Braintree Massachusetts. Growing up in Braintree was pretty cool, but it was weird being different there. I knew a good amount of people in the town, but I always felt like an outcast. I was into Jordan’s and Polo while everyone around me was wearing Vineyard Vines, and I was bumping Illmatic while everyone was listening to Uzi. Wether it’s your hobbies, race, style, if you aren’t like everyone else people won’t like you in Braintree, and you’ll feel it. All the creatives in the town are people who aren’t from Braintree, but end up in Braintree. Those creatives are the people that gave me inspiration early on, so I thank Braintree for linking me with them. I wanted to do more for them because I saw the talent they held within. Many of those artists are on this project, and I’ve seen many of them grow tremendously since we started. I hope what we’ve been doing will not only shift the culture/mindset in Boston to be more accepting and supportive, but also in my hometown. With what we’re doing with DOD and artists like Trumayne and the collective Duffel Bag Gang, I think we’re on the right track to change both.

Track 10 off the project - “2Techz” @lani3x_ @dbg.queezy Directed by Sam M

Make sure to tap in! Dozens of artists, producers, & engineers came together to create "By Any Means Necessary".

Boston Culture: Talk to us about DOD!

Do Over Don't: DOD was an idea I originally came up with when I was in 8th grade (I’m 19 now) but we didn’t actually get to doing it until February of 2020. Before covid I was saving up money and messing around with a couple of business ideas, I felt like the other ideas I was working on I wasn’t as passionate about. So I decided on the DOD idea in January. I networked and planned for about a month. I then had my longtime friend LongLiveHShawn post a story asking for people to be in my group chat to receive feedback. That spread like wild fire. Before we knew it we had multiple group chats for music, art, photographers, you name it! Pj and Ken were the first 2 team members, and after the first month of groupchats, we officially launched our Instagram March 2nd 2020 with 0 followers. Fast forward a little, we uploaded our first YouTube video May 27th 2020 with 0 subscribers. Our first year on the scene we released about 30 on camera interviews, around 20 vlogs, started a podcast, sold out merch. We ended 2020 with about 1400 followers on Instagram, close to 300 subscribers on YouTube, and an amazing album to start off 2021. We did a lot our first year, and none of it would be possible without my team. We lift each other up, keep each other motivated, and we all Do Over Don’t. We each do something different, even though being a producer, photographer and journalist are all different. We’re all alike. We share the same vision, I love the fact that I’m able to help them get closer to their dreams and mine at the same time. It took months, and there’s been people who lasted on the team and didn’t. We’ve had our ups and downs, there’s been moments where we wanted to give up on DOD. Our fans motivate us not to, and we motivate each other not to also. With all the speed bumps we've hit behind the scenes, I can confidently say we have the perfect team going into 2021.

Boston Culture: Talk to us about By Any Means Necessary

Do Over Don't: By Any Means Necessary is so much deeper than music, it’s a staple for Massachusetts music. I got the name from a Malcom X poster I have next to my bed. I placed that there so whenever I wake up, I read the code I abide by. Mass is always known for colliding heads. With many artists adapting the “mass hole” mentality when it comes to working with other artists, we were shocked at how smooth the project went. We had a little over 20 artist from the area stop by the sessions, and there wasn’t a single issue between anybody. This project was made to show the power we could have if we all came together. The creativity levels when everyone was together was through the roof, bringing that many creatives together was the proudest moment of my life. Creating this project was an eye opening experience to everyone involved. I had conversations with a lot of the artists about their experience that weekend, and majority of them said it was their favorite memory making music. It was a beautiful thing to say the least. Hearing the project done for the first time brought tears to my eyes, and it still boggles my mind we were able to record it in 3 days. The quality of everything is amazing, shoutout to KsullyMusic, MixedByNix, & Kz for the engineering! Majority of the project was produced by Ksully & Kz, but there are also 2 beats from Shorty on there. To anyone who hasn’t listened to the project yet, each song is a completely different vibe. My goal with this project was to showcase the uncut gem that Massachusetts is, and take the community to the next level, by any means necessary. I hope this project allows us to shine light on many, and I hope it encourages artists to support & collaborate with one another.

Boston Culture : Talk to us about your younger mentality to get to this level.

Do Over Don't: I made music in high school due to my family background/childhood. Growing up I took a lot of instrument lessons guitar, piano, saxophone, and a couple of other things, I dropped all of those hobbies in middle school. My dad and uncle ran a studio out of my grandmas apartment when I was younger, which was where I lived at the time on an air matress. My uncle used to be a producer and my dad used to manage artists. Plus my other grandma got married to a pretty well known singer from the 1980s, so I was always surrounded by music. I’ve also been blessed to meet a lot pretty big people in the industry when I was younger(Bill Cosby, Dr. Dre, Dj Khaled, Tyrese Gibson to name a few)which really opened my eyes at a young age. From middle school till freshman year I made gaming videos, and played call of duty competitively. I then dropped video games along with all my other hobbies for a year as I was in a weird spot mentally. I always talked about making music since I was young, but it never happened until back to back snow days my junior year. My friend Cubby invited me and my friend Sean over to make music during a snowstorm. We had 2 days off of school, recorded a song the first night and dropped it. It hit 500 first day. Recorded another song the next day, dropped it, and it hit 1k in a day. After that cubby kept making music, but I took a year off to write music and build ideas. I wanted to find a way to make us different from everyone, so I started a group. Flash forward a year later OSNS(Old School New School) was born. I put together a group with Ken, Cubby, and my friends, plus DBG Queezy along the way. We started making music 24/7 and dropping consistently, but the quality was terrible. We never went to a studio, we were making everything out of a basement with a blue yeti. This is also when I first met RexObn & LongLiveHShawn, little do most people know the early stages of their career we were always together. Rex for the most part, that’s my dawg till this day, we even have a couple songs together from back then. Eventually I figured out music wasn’t my forte, then OSNS fell apart shortly after. A couple months after that I graduated high school, and began working full time as a delivery driver for my dads company deciding not to go to college. While working I took the knowledge I gained watching my dad build his delivery business over the years, and started brain storming what I could build myself. I had a bunch of ideas and I didn’t know where I wanted to go, so I just started saving up money. I spent a lot of money on dumb stuff while figuring things out, but when it ultimately came down to DOD I was ready to fully invest myself into it, and that’s when my mission to change the culture began.

Boston Culture : What was the best advice you got early in your career? Do Over Don't: Be yourself and don’t give a fuck what anybody thinks. If I took that advice when I first heard it I’d be a lot further than where I am now. Nobody is cooler than you, so embrace you. That’s what’s gonna get you where you want, always stay true to yourself. Also that the world is yours. That was the first inspirational quote that stuck with me. My dad and I used to fall asleep watching Scarface every night when I was young. When I started my job after high school I started binge watching the movie every night after work, seeking inspiration. To anyone looking for inspiration I 100% recommend the movie.

Boston Culture : What do you dislike about the art world/music industry?

Do Over Don't: I hate the fact that everything is so cut throat, but it sorta has to be that way. If there wasn’t any competition, you wouldn’t wanna better yourself. Sometimes the creatives in the industry could be too harsh, and difficult to work with. I wish artists would support artists around them a lot more, that really bugs me. I think egos hold so many people back it’s uncountable. I could go on for days about how much I hate egos. Everyone thinks they can do it themselves, when in reality at one point everyone needs help.

Boston Culture : Did the pandemic affect any plans you had?

Do Over Don't: Definitely, originally I was gonna start investing in real estate which I still have plans to do. I was even enrolled in licensing courses and planning to be an agent, but when covid first hit I got discouraged about a lot of things and thought the world was ending. Before I was also starting a business in the marijuana industry, but decided to put my my funds in DOD instead. I flipped my energy around and started working on DOD as hard as I could during covid, and that’s where a lot of the growth of DOD came from. Covid also held back the earlier stages of DOD, because we couldn’t go out and do interviews. Boston Culture : Who are your biggest influences?

Do Over Don't: Throughout my life my father has been a huge inspiration to me, my entrepreneur spirit is the best thing he could’ve ever gifted me. He grew up in the projects in New Bedford. I’ll never forget a story he told me about the first time he went to Martha’s Vineyard on a school trip. All he could afford to bring home was a bouncy ball. He now has a successful delivery company, along with 2 houses, plus a Lotus Evora, but it wasn’t like that my whole life. I watched my dad firsthand upgrade our life year by year, putting in countless hours of work to give us a better life. It’s crazy how much growth I witnessed in my father through my lifetime, and he’s still at it knocking more goals off the list! That’s where I get my hustle from. Boston Culture : What do you think of the music scene in the State? Are there any other Boston producers or artists you'd potentially like to work with for the next project?

Do Over Don't: I think the scene is definitely headed in the right direction. It seems like people are coming together a lot more, and everyone is really starting to do things the right way. I’ve been finding new artists every single day, some of them might not be the greatest. But a lot of them are making extremely good quality music. Two things Boston hasn’t developed are infrastructure, and a sound. Once we develop those two key components, the scene will be a lot more polished. I think if everyone can keep the momentum we had in 2020, and add to it dramatically, 2021 is gonna be a great year for the state... and there are definitely a lot of artists& producers I wanna work with on the next project. I’m hoping we can gain access to some bigger artists next time around, plus some new ones that pop up this year. Millyz or some of the HSM boys would be pretty dope (free the gang). The Van Buren Boys were invited but they sadly were busy, hopefully they can be on the next project. As far as producers Ricky Felix and some more of Shorty would be dope, and I definitely wanna have Ksully and Kz again. I think the two of them are two extremely underrated producers and I’d love to give them the opportunity all over again.

Boston Culture : Tell us about your goals for 2021. Both personal and business.

Do Over Don't: My number 1 goal for this year is to make Massachusetts the hot spot. I want people traveling from Chicago, NY, LA, Miami, everywhere... coming to work in Massachusetts. I wanna show the world what were made of as a community, the side that’s hidden in the shade. I think there is a tremendous amount of talent and creativity in Massachusetts. So my goal this year is for everyone here, and outside of Massachusetts top appreciate that talent!

Boston Culture : What us how you went about in recording the project, getting the collabs in place, studio time, song writing, etc.

Do Over Don't: Getting everything organized was a long process to say the least. The idea came to me in February but back to me again in June when we interview Luke Bar$, talked about attending the Dreamville sessions, and that made me remember my idea but alter it. At first we were gonna have people send in stems due to covid, but hearing him talk about Dreamville made me realize it had to be recorded in person. We didn’t start really planning until September, I wanna give a huge thank you to Ksully for playing a major role in the planning process of the project. 2 weeks before the sessions we took a trip to NYC to visit Lil Sebby, and that’s when we officially booked the place. When it came to choosing a location to record we decided upon a camp in western Massachusetts, rented out for November 27th-29th. There were a couple no shows, but majority of the artists that were invited showed up. Everyone that was there did their thing. Everyone was interacting with each other, creating with each other, giving each other feedback. The creativity levels were through the roof. Boston has always been an underdog, so it felt like we were all coming together to become the campion. I think for everybody there it was dope for them to be around so many people like them, and together we were able to create a beautiful piece of art. The coolest part is we documented the whole thing, so there will be a documentary on the recording of the project dropping within the next couple weeks. Everyone in the building was doing something productive either it was making album covers, recording interviews, recording songs, writing, shooting music videos. There were 3 studios run by Kz, Ksully, and MixedByNix, each studio had a completely different vibe at all times. You could hear the heavy bass followed by rapid high hats from KZ’s room, but down the hall Nix and Tempo would be recording something melodic on one of KSully’s beats. We did interviews with majority of the artists at the sessions, so those will also be dropping on the Do Over Don't YouTube channel. We’ll also have multiple music videos come out the next couple months we already dropped one for 2Techz, along with merch drops, and a couple of other surprises. We’re most excited for the documentary, which is directed by our videographer Aaron Meighan, with some shots LoveDaysHateNights. You will all be able to see the documentary in the coming weeks, stay tuned... this is only the beginning of the album rollout. If shows are a thing this summer you could probably expect a concert this summer.

Boston Culture : How do you seek out opportunities?

Do Over Don't: I’m always looking for opportunities, you should always be looking for more. I’m not scared of working with other people. When presented with an opportunity I’ll always weigh the risk and reward, if the reward is worth the risk I’ll take it. Losses are lessons, so if I take an opportunity and it doesn’t go my way I look at it as a lesson. You still gain knowledge from a loss. I’m constantly trying to grow, I’m always looking for more. No matter what I do I will never feel accomplished with my growth , I always strive for more no matter what. Never settle, that’s what keeps me motivated. I look at what all the people I know are doing, and I take what works and scrap what doesn’t, then mix it with my thinking. I’m never scared to ask for help and I think that’s one of my strengths, a big realization people need to have in this industry is you can’t do anything alone. I am beyond thankful to be blessed with an amazing team that I call my family, and they help me get closer to my mission day by day. They do this because we share the same mission. Boston Culture : Who's your favorite producer and artist? Mainstream and local.

Do Over Don't: My favorite producer would probably have to be Dr. Dre, I grew up listening to 90s hip hop and I’ve always had a liking for his beats. My favorite mainstream artists are Nas, Raekwon, Jay Z, Kanye West, and The Weeknd. I can’t pick one, I also listened to a lot of XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, and Lil peep. For local artists my top 2 would have to be Stickz and tenTempo. I’ve seen the development of Stickz over the past year, and he has grown tremendously. He’s been working on his debut album perfecting his sound, I can’t wait for everyone to see his versatility. Stickz abouta be the goat of Boston mark my works, shoutout to Noski, Fellz, and Lil Mass too. As far as tenTempo I never met him until the first day of the album, but I liked what I heard so much I decided to manage him a week later. He has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, and he could literally flow on anything. He makes pop, rap, hyper pop, drill, the kid can hit every genre and he’s only 16. With tenTempo and Stickz they bang out songs at an insanely rapid rate, and all of them are fire. My favorite producers hands down are Kz and Ksully, I’m a little biased because they’re my friends. But both of them are amazing in their own ways. They both are very versatile, and both pack the work ethic needed in this industry. They also both contribute to bringing the community together. Those are two main favorites, but here’s a couple other honorable mentions: Duffel Bag Gang, Trumayne, Van Burren Records, LongLiveHShawn & RexObn, Bri-C, Doctrine, St4rchild, 7981kal and G fredo.

Boston Culture : What brands should sponsor the next project?

Do Over Don't: It'd be dope to work with a brand like Brain Child or DaReales. I love both those brands for what they are. I’m not entirely sure what they’d be able to do for the project, a merch colab would be dope. Maybe even an album cover from brainchild. Boston Culture :Anything else we missed you want to tell your fans?

Do Over Don't: I wanna give a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us. Massachusetts isn’t known for giving support, and the amount of love we've received these past couple months is outrageous. Thank you all of you, seriously. You’re all helping us get closer to our dreams, and you’re also keeping us motivated by consuming our content and coming back for more! We have a lot coming this year for fans/creatives alike. We’ll be offering different services in the coming months to help arts gain the materials, and connections they need. I’d like to end it off on this. If you’re trying to do something, just Do Over Don’t. The meaning behind everything we do, is in our name.