He’s won a string of distinguished battles, though he’s far from just a battle rapper. He’s garnered a rep for his signature, rapid-fire delivery, yet he’s considerably more than just a fast rapper. He sings and produces-though not quite a singer nor producer-and is the founder of QN5 Music, though you wouldn’t just call him a label head. He’s the artist you can’t quite categorize. Perhaps most impressive is that he does all of these things, and well. With a background as colorful as his talents, Tonedeff grew up in Chicago, IL, before moving to Miami, FL, for the remainder of his adolescence. While it was in Miami that he began recording and performing, it wasn’t until relocating to Queens, NY at 21 that the well-traveled emcee really began making noise. He won a string of battles, including the Braggin’ Rites MC Battle and NYC’s notorious Da Cypha battles, to name a few. At the same time, he built a name for himself by opening for esteemed acts such as the Common, Royce Da 5’9, Blackalicious, Beatnuts, Brand Nubian and Rahzel.
Where most up-and-comers hit a stalemate, however, Tonedeff had only just begun. After forming the independent label QN5 Music in 2000, he released a series of work including the enhanced Hyphen EP, Happy F*ck You Songs with Extended F@mm (along with PackFM, Substantial, and Session), the now-infamous “Clear ‘Em Out” 12” single with KRS-One, and countless guest spots for artists such as Masta Ace, DJ JS-1, CunninLynguists and Immortal Technique. 2003 saw him grace the pages of The Source Magazine, MTV airwaves in a commercial for Hip Hop Week and the release of his Underscore EP. In 2005, Tonedeff released his critically acclaimed Archetype album which further cemented his place as one of Hip Hop’s truly daring boundary pushers and visionaries. Fresh off the QN5 Spring Cleaning National Tour in In 2006, he took the grand prize in Lollapalooza’s Last Band Standing competition, beating out over 2,000 bands of all genres from all over the world.
Combining beauty, talent and artistic innovation, Tonedeff shatters the mold of conventional hip-hop, bringing it to levels that others only speak of. Influenced by a diverse range of artists – Common, Fresh Prince, Enya, Tori Amos and Bjork, for example-his own style is reflective of such, a melting pot of styles and sounds. Following the QN5 mantra of “the New Hip-Hop,” the multi-talented artist breathes new life into a dwindling art form, taking the reigns in the pursuit of new ideals as the originator, the new standard, the archetype.
