Tonedeff
Encyclopedia
Tonedeff is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rapper, producer
Hip hop production
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...

, and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 from Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Known for his breathless vocal performances, rapid-fire delivery, which is alleged to be among the fastest in hip hop history, is said by critics as having "the best flows" of the current generation of emcees. Having developed a reputation as a self-sufficient artist who has been known to design his own album covers and edit his own videos
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

, he is also known to sing and play piano on his tracks, as well as self-produce
Hip hop production
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...

 them.

Tonedeff first gained national recognition on the underground hip hop scene after winning a string of distinguished rap battles (i.e. "Braggin Rites"), opening shows for Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....

, Rahzel
Rahzel
Rahzel M. Brown, also known as simply Rahzel, is an American musician and virtuoso beatboxer, formerly a member of The Roots.Nicknamed the "Godfather of Noyze," Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and his...

, The Beatnuts, Royce Da 5'9", and Brand Nubian
Brand Nubian
Brand Nubian is an American hip hop group from New Rochelle, New York, consisting of three MC's: Grand Puba , Sadat X and Lord Jamar , and two DJs: DJ Alamo and DJ Sincere...

. He also appeared as a guest artist on several 12" releases, including the controversial KRS-ONE
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

 diss track
Diss track
A diss track or diss song is a song primarily intended to disparage or insult another person or group. While musical parodies and attacks have always existed, the trend became increasingly common in the hip hop genre as part of the hip hop rivalry phenomenon...

 "Clear Em Out" criticizing Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...

.

He has appeared on most of the Cunninlynguists albums, including Will Rap For Food
Will Rap For Food
* All tracks produced by Kno, except for track 4 by Celph Titled and track 18 by Deacon and Kno....

, SouthernUnderground
SouthernUnderground
SouthernUnderground is the second album from American rap trio Cunninlynguists, released in 2003. As well as resident vocalist Deacon the Villain and DJ/vocalist Kno, the group employed Mr. SOS to accompany on vocals for much of the album...

, A Piece of Strange, Strange Journey Volume One
Strange Journey Volume One
Strange Journey Volume One is the third mixtape from Southern hip hop group CunninLynguists, released on March 24, 2009. The release features guest appearances from Killer Mike, Khujo of Goodie Mob, Skinny DeVille and Fish Scales of Nappy Roots, Slug of Atmosphere, Tonedeff, PackFM, Substantial,...

and Oneirology
Oneirology
Oneirology is the scientific study of dreams. Current research seeks correlations between dreaming and current knowledge about the functions of the brain, as well as understanding of how the brain works during dreaming as pertains to memory formation and mental disorders...

but he did not appear in Dirty Acres
Dirty Acres
Dirty Acres is the fourth album from rap group CunninLynguists, released on November 27, 2007 on APOS Music/Bad Taste Records. The album is entirely produced by Kno and features guest appearances from Devin the Dude, Phonte of Little Brother, and Witchdoctor of Dungeon Family...

. He appeared on Immortal Technique
Immortal Technique
Felipe Andres Coronel , better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics...

's "Peruvian Cocaine" (on the album Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2 is the second album released by rapper Immortal Technique and is a follow-up to his debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1.Revolutionary Vol...

), playing the role of an American drug distributor in an elaborate drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 conspiracy
Cabal
A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue...

. He has also provided comedic skits for artists such as Masta Ace
Masta Ace
Duval Clear , known better by his stage name Masta Ace, is a rapper from Brownsville, Brooklyn. He appeared on the classic 1988 Juice Crew posse cut "The Symphony"...

 and Pumpkinhead.

Tonedeff founded the QN5 Music
QN5 Music
QN5 Music is an independent hip-hop record label that was founded by the rapper Tonedeff. The label was originally launched on May 5, 1997 as a multi-genre label and the first release was Tonedeff's 'Monotone EP'. The label was relaunched in 2000 as one focusing on hip-hop with a small roster of...

 label in 1997 and releases music independently, with a roster that includes himself, CunninLynguists
Cunninlynguists
CunninLynguists are a hip hop trio from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti...

, Substantial
Substantial (rapper)
Substantial, , is an African-American MC from Prince George's County, Maryland. He released his debut album, To This Union A Sun Was Born, in 2001 as a collaboration with Japanese producer Nujabes...

, PackFM, Mr. SOS, Kokayi, and Extended Famm as well as a production roster that includes himself, Kno
Kno
Kno, Inc. is a software company in Silicon Valley that sells into the education market. The company is working with major academic publishers including McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Pearson, and Cengage Learning to make their textbooks available to Kno users.- History:Kno was founded in May of...

, Domingo
Domingo (producer)
Domingo Padilla, better known as Domingo, is a producer from New York of Latin origin. He has produced for some of hip hop's most respected and well-known artists.-Albums:*Domingo Presents—Behind the Doors of the 13th Floor compilation...

, Deacon The Villain and Kokayi. He continues to perform and release music internationally today.

Early life

Born to a Cuban mother and a Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n father in Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...

, Tonedeff wrote his first songs at the age of nine. He formed a group named "The RBM Crew" in 1989 with three schoolmates shortly after relocating to Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

, from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and began recording and performing locally at talent shows and showcases. In 1993, The RBM Crew was offered a development deal by Warner Black Music
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 and began recording the ultimately uncompleted Calligraphy. They disbanded when the label folded in 1995.

Arsenio Hall Show

At the age of sixteen, Tonedeff appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American variety/talk show that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall.- Background :...

as a performer, taking the grand prize of the show's national talent search called "Flava of the Future". He alludes to this event in his song "Morethanthis".

After fielding offers from several major labels, Tonedeff decided instead to pursue a college degree in illustration and multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 - taking a break from his music career until taking up recording of his debut solo project The Monotone EP during his time at Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts
Full Sail Real World Education
Full Sail University is a for profit trade school located in Winter Park, Florida, and founded in 1979 in Dayton, Ohio, as Full Sail Recording Workshop. Full Sail relocated to Florida in 1980, adding video production and film production courses and, with the move in 1989 to its current campus,...

 in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

.

QN5 Music

Upon moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Tonedeff founded the record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 QN5 Music
QN5 Music
QN5 Music is an independent hip-hop record label that was founded by the rapper Tonedeff. The label was originally launched on May 5, 1997 as a multi-genre label and the first release was Tonedeff's 'Monotone EP'. The label was relaunched in 2000 as one focusing on hip-hop with a small roster of...

 in 1997 as a multi-genre outlet for different artists. After a rocky start with the release of The Monotone EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, the label was put on hold for several years until refocusing as a hip hop specialty imprint in 2001 by recruiting artists such as CunninLynguists
Cunninlynguists
CunninLynguists are a hip hop trio from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti...

 and PackFM and production teams, which boasted the talents of hip hop producers Domingo & Elite.

On March 5, 2005, Tonedeff's QN5 Music was the first hip hop label to release its own podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

. It claims to be the first record label podcast ever, but there is some debate as to if major label Virgin
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 beat them to the punch. The show, called WQN5, featured commentary from label artists Session, PackFM, Substantial and Tonedeff as well as guest appearances by Wordsworth.

Extended F@mm

In 2002, Tonedeff joined with QN5 artists Substantial, PackFM, and Session to form Extended F@mm, which released the album Happy Fuck You Songs. The group described the album as an exercise in "conceptual posse cuts" with songs ranging from the Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...

-themed "Line Drop" to bad cell phone connections in "Celly".

On the success of the Happy Fuck You Songs, he made his first appearance in The Source
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...

with Extended Famm in 2003 and appeared in a commercial for Hip Hop Week on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. He has also been featured in magazines such as Mugshot, Rime and Scratch
Scratch (magazine)
Scratch was a magazine about the art of creating hip-hop. It featured articles regarding producers, musicians and DJs that make beats for rap records, and details the secret methods, stories, partnerships, philosophies and equipment behind the music...

.

Lollapalooza

Tonedeff received national recognition when selected to perform at the August 2006 Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...

 festival in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He earned his nomination by garnering some of the highest vote totals throughout the "Last Band Standing" competition and finally selected as the winner after four rounds of celebrity-panel judging (which included Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell is the frontman for the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction in 1991; it has since evolved into an annual destination festival. Farrell continues to produce Lollapalooza with partners William...

 of Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...

) and a live-performance round. Other performers at the event were Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....

, Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

, and Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley is an American soul duo comprising Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green. Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006; along with its first single "Crazy". Both single and album were a major commercial success and have been noted for their large sales by download...

.

Music journalist Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...

 of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

wrote about Tonedeff's performance at Lollapalooza, noting that Tonedeff "has so many variations of rhythm and tone that his songs are enjoyable even without a rewind button to find out what they meant."

Chico & The Man

Tonedeff's next project is a joint-collaboration with the hip hop producer Kno (of CunninLynguists) titled Chico & The Man. On this project, Kno is expected to handle the entirety of the production duties with Tonedeff to focus on the rapping portions.

The song "No Hope (f/ Deacon)" was released on the QN5 Music mixtape Asterisk:Three in 2004. The solemn track is a dedication to a friend of both artists who was murdered in a store robbery in 2004 in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

. The duo released their second official song, "My Lady", on the Asterisk:Four mixtape in March 2007.

Kno has said that the album has been pushed back to spring 2010 because of his participation in the CunninLynguists United States tour in late 2009 and because of paperwork for Tonedeff. At the QN5 Megashow 2011, Tonedeff announced that the album would come out on December 13, 2011; he also previewed the first video for the project.

On November 5, 2011, Kno announced on the QN5 forum that Chico & the Man would be pushed back to an indefinite date.

Albums

  • The Monotone (EP)
    • Released: 1997
    • Label: QN5 Music
      QN5 Music
      QN5 Music is an independent hip-hop record label that was founded by the rapper Tonedeff. The label was originally launched on May 5, 1997 as a multi-genre label and the first release was Tonedeff's 'Monotone EP'. The label was relaunched in 2000 as one focusing on hip-hop with a small roster of...


  • Hyphen
    • Released: August 15, 2001
    • Label: QN5 Music/Yosumi

  • Extended F@mm - Happy Fuck You Songs
    • Released: November 24, 2002
    • Label: QN5 Music/Freshchest

  • Underscore
    • Released: July 16, 2003
    • Label: QN5 Music/Freshchest

  • Archetype
    Archetype (Tonedeff album)
    Archetype is the debut album of American rapper Tonedeff, released April 5, 2005 on QN5 Music. - Track listing :...

    • Released: April 5, 2005
    • Label: QN5 Music/Freshchest

  • Cold.Killed.Collected. (2005-2010)
    • Released: June 1, 2011
    • Label: QN5 Music

  • Chico & The Man
    • Release Date: TBA
    • Label: QN5 Music

Singles

  • "Ridiculous"
    • Released: 2000
    • Label: Tru Criminal Records
    • B-Side: "Head's Up"

  • "Politics"
    • Released: 2005
    • Label: QN5 Music
      QN5 Music
      QN5 Music is an independent hip-hop record label that was founded by the rapper Tonedeff. The label was originally launched on May 5, 1997 as a multi-genre label and the first release was Tonedeff's 'Monotone EP'. The label was relaunched in 2000 as one focusing on hip-hop with a small roster of...

      /Freshchest
    • B-Side: "Disappointed"

  • "Bang"
    • Released: 2011
    • Label: QN5 Music

Awards

  • 2000: Braggin Rites MC Battle Champion
  • 2000: Hookt (aka Da Cypha) Battle Champion
  • 2001: The Source
    The Source (magazine)
    The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...

     Unsigned Hype Battle Finalist
  • 2006: Lollapalooza
    Lollapalooza
    Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...

    's Last Band Standing Winner

External links



Interviews
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