T-Bone (rapper)

T-Bone
Also known as Boney Bone Corleone, Bone Soprano, T
Born August 11, 1973 (1973-08-11) (age 38)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genres Christian hip hop
Occupations Rapper
Instruments Rapping, Beatboxing
Years active 1989 – present
Labels Metro One, Flicker/Boneyard Records, Sony Provident
Website http://www.houseoftbone.com

T-Bone (born Rene Sotomayor, August 11, 1973, in San Francisco, California) is a Christian rapper. His father is Nicaraguan and his mother is Salvadoran.[1] His name came from being called 'Bones' as a youngster because he was very skinny. The 'T' was "added to give the name a little slang edge, hence the name 'T-Bone' was born." Later on, he redefined the name to mean 'Talking Biblical ONE'.[2]

Contents

Music career

According to published interview, he started rapping at the age of 7 at parties and in rap battles. He was close to getting a secular record deal but, after coming to Christ, he opened for a noted rock group at that time and got signed to his first record deal that night.[2]

His first three albums: Redeemed Hoodlum in 1991, Tha Life of a Hoodlum in 1993 and Tha Hoodlum's Testimony in 1995 were released on the independent Metro One record label. All these 3 albums were characterised by being gangsta rap albums, which was rare in the Christian music scene at the time.

In 1997, he released a 3-disc compilation set of the hits from his first 3 albums titled History of a Hoodlum. This album was released on the Diamante record label.

After a brief hiatus, T-Bone released his fourth album (and first on the Flicker Records music label), The Last Street Preacha, in 2000, to critical acclaim. The Last Street Preacha was nominated for the Rock Gospel Album Grammy Award.[3] and saw T-Bone break into the Christian Contemporary Music market. It was the first rap album to debut at #7 on the Christian Contemporary Music charts.

2002 saw an increased exposure of T-Bone to both Christian and mainstream markets with the release of his fifth album, titled Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic. The album was characterised by the guest appearance of hip-hop legend KRS-One on the title track - returning the favour of the controversial guest spot T-Bone had made on KRS-One's Spiritual Minded album earlier in the year.[4]

2005 saw the release of his most controversial, and successful, album to date: Bone-A-Fide. Bone-A-Fide's album cover controversially featured T-Bone in an image evoking Che Guevara, leading to concerns that he was promoting communist ideologies - charges he denied.[5] Adding to the controversy were collaborations with two major secular rappers - Mack 10 and Chino XL.

Bone-A-Fide was his first album not to be produced by long-time collaborator Chase Dante and, perhaps deliberately, saw T-Bone move away from the previous West Coast sound of his earlier albums to a smoother, more East Coast sound.[6]

Also, in 2005, he was featured as Jairus in the rock opera !Hero, along with Michael Tait of Tait and dc Talk, Rebecca St. James, and Mark Stuart of Audio Adrenaline.

In 2007, he released a new Greatest Hits album titled Bone-Appetit! on September 25, 2007.[7]

Other works

Film career

T-Bone is currently filming "The Rally" co-starring Kenneth Copeland. It will be out in late 2009-2010.

T-Bone's first major film role was in 2003, playing the role of Briggs, a rapping prisoner in the comedy-romance motion picture The Fighting Temptations, which starred Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles. In the film, T-Bone performs the song "To Da River" with secular artists Lil' Zane and Montell Jordan.

T-Bone also co-starred in the 2004 Paramount/MTV film All You've Got which starred Ciara and Adrienne Bailon of The Cheetah Girls.

His other movies include Carman and Stephen Yake's "R.I.O.T." and starred in "Black Rose" in 2003.

T-Bone just finished his role as Martin De La Fuente in the upcoming faith-based film I'm in Love With a Church Girl to be released in 2012. He stars alongside Ja Rule, Adrienne Bailon, Stephen Baldwin, Michael Madson, and Vincent Pastore.

Books

TV shows

Works

Albums

Year Title Record label Producer
1993 Redeemed Hoodlum Metro One LA Posse
1995 Tha Life of a Hoodlum Metro One LA Posse
1997 Tha Hoodlum's Testimony Metro One LA Posse
1999 History of a Hoodlum Metro One LA Posse, Chase
2001 Tha Last Street Preacha Flicker/Boneyard Chase
2001 The Boneyard Box Set Metro One LA Posse
2002 Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic Flicker/Boneyard Chase
2005 Bone-A-Fide Flicker/Boneyard/Provident/Sony/BMG Louis “Buster” Brown, Rene F. Sotomayor
2007 Bone-Appetit! Boneyard/Provident-Integrity Distribution Rene F. Sotomayor
2012 Return of the Bionic Man Boneyard/Provident-Integrity Distribution

=Collaborative works

Music videos

Films

Other

Awards and nominations

Grammy Nominations

Visionary Award Nominations

Dove Awards

2008
  • Winner of Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year "Name-Droppin"
2004
  • Winner of special event album (!Hero, a rock opera)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Album (Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song (Raised in Harlem from !Hero)
2002
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Album, (Tha Last Street Preacha)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song (Ride Wit Me)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded (King of My Life)
1997
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip Hop Album (Tha Hoodlums Testimony)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song (Keep on Praising)
1995
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Album (Tha Life of A Hoodlum)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song” (Throwing Out Tha Wicked)
1993
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip Hop Album (Redeemed Hoodlum)
  • Nomination for Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song (Lyrical Assassin)

Collaborations

Songs

Soundtrack

Producers

Additional highlights

References

  1. ^ House of T-Bone
  2. ^ a b "Articles - Interview with T-Bone". GospelFlava.com. http://www.gospelflava.com/articles/tbone2.html. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 
  3. ^ "Complete list of Grammy nominations", The Seattle Times, January 4, 2002.
  4. ^ "T-Bone (gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic)". GospelFlava.com. http://www.gospelflava.com/reviews/tbonealpha.html. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 
  5. ^ "T-Bone Interview (2005) - Articles". GOSPELflava.com. http://www.gospelflava.com/articles/tboneinterview2005.html. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 
  6. ^ "T-Bone - Bone-A-Fide". Christianitytoday.com. http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2005/boneafide.html. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 
  7. ^ Rapzilla.com - New T-Bone Release Hot Off the Grill September 25
  8. ^ Rapzilla.com - T-Bone - Name Droppin'
  9. ^ Rapzilla.com - T-Bone “Can I Live”
  10. ^ Rapzilla.com - T-Bone “Ride Wit Me”
  11. ^ "The Christian Music Hall of Fame official web site". Hallmuseum.com. 2010-11-06. http://hallmuseum.com. Retrieved 2011-12-14. 

External links