Tonedeff

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Tonedeff
Background information
Birth name	Tony Rojas
Origin	Birthplace: Newport News, Virginia, United States Ethnicity: Cuban / Colombian
Genre(s)	Hip Hop / Singer-Songwriter / Electronica
Occupation(s)	Rapper, Producer, Label Founder, Visual Artist
Instrument(s)	Vocals / Piano
Years active	1993 – Present
Label(s)	QN5 Music
Associated acts	CunninLynguists, PackFM, Extended Famm, Immortal Technique
Website	Official Tonedeff Website

Tonedeff (born Tony Rojas) is an American rapper / producer / singer-songwriter of Cuban/Colombian descent, based out of Queens, New York City.

Known for his breathless vocal performances, witty lyricism and rapid-fire delivery - which is alleged to be among the fastest in hip-hop history at 13.5 syllables per second - he is often cited by many critics as having "the best flow" 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, he has also been known to sing and play piano on his tracks, as well as self-produce many of them. With a musically defiant nature and influences ranging from Common to Björk, he has proven to be highly versatile artistic voice in the burgeoning indie Hip Hop community.

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, Rahzel, The Beatnuts, Royce Da 5'9", Brand Nubian as well as appearing as a guest artist on several 12" releases, including the controversial Nelly dis-record "Clear Em Out" featuring KRS-ONE.

He has appeared on each of the Cunninlynguists albums, including Will Rap For Food, SouthernUnderground and A Piece of Strange. He appeared on Immortal Technique's "Peruvian Cocaine" (on the album Revolutionary Vol. 2), playing the role of a CIA agent in an elaborate drug trade conspiracy. He has also provided comedic skits for artists such as Masta Ace and Pumpkinhead.

Tonedeff founded the QN5 Music Label in 1997 and currently releases music independently, with a roster that includes CunninLynguists, PackFM, and Extended Famm as well as a production roster that includes Kno, Domingo, Deacon The Villain & Elite. He continues to perform and release music internationally today.

1 Biography
2 Albums
- 2.1 Singles (12" Vinyl)
3 Releases
4 Extended Information

[edit] Biography

Born to Cuban mother and Colombian father in Newport News, Virginia, Tonedeff was off to an early start in entertainment. Writing his first songs at the age of 9, he formed a group named "The RBM Crew" in 1989 with three schoolmates shortly after relocating to Miami, Florida, from Chicago 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 and began recording the ultimately uncompleted Calligraphy album until subsequently disbanding when the label folded in 1995.

[edit] Arsenio Hall Show

At the age of 16, Tonedeff appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show 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" - which touches on his seemingly unrelenting quest for stardom - by singing "Whatever happened to Mr. Arsenio Hall?".

After fielding offers from several major labels, Tonedeff decided instead to pursue a college degree in illustration and multimedia - taking a break from his music career until taking up recording of his debut solo project The Monotone EP during his time at Full Center for the Recording Arts in Orlando, Florida.

[edit] QN5 Music

Upon moving to New York City, Tonedeff founded the record label QN5 Music in 1997 as a multi-genre outlet for a variety of different artists. After a rocky start with the release of The Monotone EP the label was put on hold for several years until later being refocused as a Hip Hop specialty imprint in 2001 - recruiting artists such as CunninLynguists & PackFM as well as a production team which boasted the talents of acclaimed Hip Hop Producers Domingo & Elite.

In 2005, Tonedeff's QN5 Music was the first hip-hop label to release (publishing its first show March 5, 2005) its own podcast. It claims to be the first record-label podcast ever, but there is some debate as to if major label Virgin beat them to the punch. The show, called WQN5 radio featured commentary from label artists Session, PackFM, Substantial and Tonedeff as well as guest appearances by the likes of Wordsworth.

[edit] 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-themed "Line Drop" to bad cellphone connections in "Celly". This album laid the foundation for the innovative spirit and comedic overtones normally associated with early QN5 Music releases.

Off of the success of the Happy F*ck You Songs, he made his first appearance in The Source Magazine with Extended Famm in 2003 and appeared in a commercial for Hip Hop Week on MTV. He has also been featured in magazines such as Mugshot, RIME and Scratch.

[edit] Archetype

After nearly six years of false-starts and botched distribution deals, Tonedeff's debut LP Archetype was finally released in April 2005. The album apparently contains influence by many non-Hip-Hop artists, such as Enya, Tori Amos and Björk. The anticipation for the album was perhaps its biggest downfall - especially after many years of build up and missed release dates. Tonedeff's ambitious opus was met with polarized reviews, with many critics expecting an album more akin to his previous efforts with Extended famm than the musically challenging and melancholy songs that permeated the record.

Although rooted in traditional East Coast-style boom-bap, many of the album's songs take on atypical time-signatures, heavy instrumentation and entirely-sung piano ballads with string quartet arrangements . This seeming disregard for the underground Hip Hop genre's stylistic conventions is attributed to "The New Hip Hop" movement instigated by the QN5 Artists in 2005.

Archetype was shipped in a double-CD case which included a self-produced and edited DVD documentary entitled Archetexture, which featured live performance and behind the scenes footage of the creation of the album as well as interviews with underground luminaries such as Wordsworth, DJ JS-1, PackFM & Immortal Technique.

[edit] Lollapalooza

Tonedeff received national recognition while selected to perform at the August 2006 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. 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 4 rounds of celebrity-panel judging (which included Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction) and a live-performance round. Other performers at the event were Common, Kanye West and Gnarls Barkley.

Stalwart music journalist, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote about Tonedeff's performance at Lollapalooza in his coverage of the festival, 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."

[edit] Chico & The Man

Tonedeff's next project is rumored to be a joint-collaboration with the Hip Hop producer Kno (of CunninLynguists) tentatively 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 supposedly a dedication to a friend of both artists who was murdered in a store robbery in 2004 in Lexington, Kentucky. The duo released their second official song, "My Lady", on the Asterisk:Four mixtape in March 2007.

There is no word as to the theme of this project, and the only hint of a release date is the year 2007.

[edit] Albums

Album cover	Album information
	The Monotone EP Released: 1997 Label: QN5 Music
	Hyphen [EP] Released: August 15, 2001 Label: QN5 Music / Yosumi Records
	*Extended F@mm - Happy Fck You Songs** Released: November 24, 2002 Label: QN5 Music / Freshchest Records
	Underscore [EP] Released: July 16, 2003 Label: QN5 Music / Freshchest Records
	Archetype Released: April 5, 2005 Label: QN5 Music / Freshchest Records
	Chico & The Man Released: TBA 2007 Label: QN5 Music