Donald Goines was born in the city of Detroit in the state of Michigan. He enlisted in the United States military. Instead of entering into his family's dry cleaning company, he joined the Air Force. He went on to a life of drug addiction and crime after his military duty. He earned seven prison terms totaling more than six years in prison.

Goines authored his first two novels, Dopefiend: The Tale of a Black Addict and Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp, while incarcerated. In 1974, Goines was assassinated.