Hip Hop meets the streets of CoCoCounty

Blessed with a talent for composing distinctive hip hop music, Tone’s melodic flows and lyrical substance are a testament to his passion and talent. A taste of his eclectic debut album, the forthcoming Education of a Felon, is delivered on his new promotional CD release featuring three tracks: Playaz, Gimme Some, and Education of a Felon.

Tone is a gifted storyteller, but all his tracks are as real as they come. Each song takes listeners on a trip into Tone’s world: a life of hard hustlin, hard partying, and honest introspection. Musically distinctive, topically diverse, and lyrically blessed, he delivers straight hip hop with original style.

How it all got Started

After hearing Rapper’s Delight for the first time, Tone fell in love with rap music. That was the beginning of his passion for hip-hop, and his love of rhyme. A Bay Area native, he was born in Oakland and raised in Richmond. Raised in the volatile environment of west Contra Costa County, Tone found rap music - and soon his own poetry - to be an escape from the rugged environment that was his daily reality. Influenced at a young age by artists like Too Short, Geto Boys, and Slick Rick, Tone soon picked up the mic himself, earning respect among the local hip hop heads. At the same time, Tone took to engaging in illicit activities to better his circumstances. As it turned out, those activities would later serve as a pool of resources for his lyrical content.

Run-ins with the law affected Tone profoundly. A felony assault charge during his senior year of high school culminated a string of bad luck that left Tone feeling desolate and hopeless. But with mounting attorney’s fees and continued legal woes, instead of giving up, Tone decided to step his game up, hitting the grind harder than ever.

All along, Tone never stopped writing, and life kept on. In 2000, after leaving the Bay Area to pursue his higher education at Long Beach State, the hustle caught up with Tone, when he caught his second felony, this time for intent to sell. Tone took his second felony as an awakening - he chose to leave the game and pursue his true passion: music.

Since that day, Tone has tapped into his deep reservoir of life experience and has independently released two well-received CDs. A Westside Story (2002) and Ballers Bounce Back (2003) have set the table for his forthcoming full-length album release, Education of a Felon (Fall 2004).

Tone is highly motivated, but he is not driven by the glamour or gluttony afforded by stardom, but rather on the potential to live his life pursuing his musical passion. With his days of hustling now a memory, Tone is devoted to the creation and promotion of his music. Compelled by his musical aspirations, Tone is determined to make a mark in hip-hop, musically and artistically.

As the owner of a vast music collection and tapping musical influences that run the gamut from Outkast and 2pac to Korn and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tone’s music exhibits a complex texture steeped in reality, but not bound by convention.