Welsh/Indian hip-hop beatmaker Don Leisure favors a worldwide outlook when shaping his tracks, scouring crates at every opportunity to assemble discs from distant locales and extract samples without restriction. Prolonged accumulation of fragments culminated in his first album-length project, Shaboo, issued in 2017; the collection spotlighted both versatility and range while honoring his deceased uncle Nassar "Shaboo" Bharwani.
Prior to settling on the Don Leisure moniker, he had already spent multiple years crafting productions, initially operating under the name Jamal as a drum-and-bass artist, then collaborating with Earl Jeffers as Darkhouse Family. Seeking to focus strictly on instrumental hip-hop, he devised the Don Leisure identity and channeled it into an album commemorating his uncle—the individual who first urged him toward music by declaring it ran through his veins. Stirred by that conviction and enthusiasm, Leisure acquired early sequencing software and began constructing beats. Much later he unveiled Shaboo as a tribute to Bharwani, drawing from the elder’s migration out of Kenya into London, his appearances in Bollywood films, and the lasting influence he exerted on Leisure’s own path.
