If you're a Chicagoan you likely remember in early 2018 when your Facebook timeline was being flooded with videos titled #BlackChicagoBeLike. These skits were only the beginning stages of Donovan E. Price Jr’s rise to popularity.
Today we all know him as Korporate, a name he came up with in 2005 while attending Central State University, which he only attended for two years. He adopted the name because he had always been about his “Bidness.”
“I overindulged in the newfound freedom [in college] and nearly flunked out. I came back home and eventually made Brazile my oldest daughter and I didn’t go back. I got a job and started working to make sure I was prepared for when my Brazile came.”
He began to work at CitiBank as a teller. Korporate always managed to keep a job and stay on his grind no matter the circumstances. The last position he held was at the United States Postal Service in 2017 before resigning from his last 9-to-5.
“When I was working at the post office, there was a supervisor who treated me like shit for real. He use to talk to me as if I was less of a fucking man and I felt like the only reason he was doing that because I was doing great things on the other side of those doors.”
Prior to him beginning to upload videos to the internet in 2015, he always had an interest in the arts. He discovered spoken word his junior year of high school, which transitioned to a love for rap.
In 2016 the concept for #BlackChicagoBeLike was created and he began to rack up views and followers all over social media. The most significant growth for Korporate came in early 2018 after releasing #BlackChicagoBeLike44. In this skit, he narrates his very first fight as a kid, as he got even against his bully. All his videos end with a moral to the story and his notable “On Gaude.”
“He comes up with the vision for the videos in his head. Nothing is ever written down or like scripted we run and gun most of the time.”
Photographer/Videographer
#BlackChicagoBeLike was created to showcase, “how eccentric black Chicago culture is. It appeals to different ethnicities who can relate to #BlackChicagoBeLike. The black side of Chicago is the side outside of the bean, outside of Michigan Avenue, you know what I’m saying.”
In February of 2019 he created #BlackChicagoBeLikeTheSeries, which is an 11 episode series focusing around stopping the cycle of violence in the streets of Chicago.
Beyond storytelling in skits, he also tells real stories through his music. “Real Tears” is a single he released in Oct. 2019 in which he raps about what’s going on around the environment he is surrounded by and the hope he has for a better tomorrow. The song features his daughter Brazile in the outro which, he believes is the most significant part in the song.
“I’m not really communicative. Music is therapeutic to me. I do a lot of communicating through my music. I get to share a lot of my thoughts. People may see the videos and then listen to the raps like, ‘is this the same person?’ I feel like that song could’ve saved someone's life.”
That is exactly what his music has done for his audience. There has been many instances in which people have reached out, saying his content influenced them to reevaluate decisions that would have hurt someone.
Korporate is still out there on his never-ending grind, motivating and changing people's lives.
“Monday through Friday is daddy duty, heavy daddy duty. My work week starts Friday, from Friday to Sunday, constantly recording there is no such thing as a free day. I will never ever ever have a free weekend.”
Last year Korporate had the opportunity to be one of the headlining faces of AT&T’s codes of culture campaign alongside SABA and Chance The Rapper’s non-profit organization SocialWorks.
This campaign featured a skit that revolves around a career day speech which Korporate is delivering to his daughters class. Having 100% full creative control of the skit he felt really blessed being part of the project and says it was one of the highlights of his career as an entertainer.
In the skit he is seen wearing a shirt that says, “It’s not chiraq It’s Chicago… Goofy.” That t-shirt was part of his first ever drop of his clothing line called Advanced Placement Clothing Co. and focuses on elevating people through life lessons.
He is currently working on releasing more singles in order to become better established as a rapper before dropping a full length project.
He is also currently working on season two of #BlackChicagoBeLikeTheSeries as it was left with many cliffhangers the fans want answered. Alongside that he is working on an #BlackChicagoBeLike full length movie which will be independently filmed with his team.
“Eliminate the excuses,” is what Korporate advises people who are trying to follow their dreams.
“Generate your own power. Looking for handouts and all that shit, I found that out early that shit is not the wave. I had to realize instead of looking for the plug. I had to become the plug.”
