T.O.N.E-z
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Emmy nominated T.O.N.E-z
Every once in a great while I am awed by an artist more than others. Somewhere in their creativity, presence, delivery, etc. they have mystified me, touched a chord not commonly touched. We all have these standout artists in our electronic device lives. One of these artists I had the fortune to open up for while he was in Louisville, Kentucky. But fate wouldn’t have me really get into his personality until recently. His name is T.O.N.E-z and he was nominated for an Emmy for the FX show titled “Justified.”
Although music is T.O.N.E-z’s life his good fortune has struck a chord with most of the people on the show which scored him a chance to be in a couple episodes. Whether this was created due to any experiences in his life or not, we will see.
He’s also a lyrical genius as far as setting a mood, in my opinion. I’m not a fan of freestyle because it’s mostly recycled within a limited mind set but T.O.N.E-z pulls it off well, one of only few I can say that about. His bluegrass style of Hip Hop isn’t his only style even though it is the style that got him noticed for Justified. We will find out more about this amazing artist in this interview. For more bio details and amazing things about him you can check out the website. He even has several full length albums available as free downloads and honestly, they’re worth money. He’s just kind like that. Truly!
THE INTERVIEW
Daniel/HRM: Please introduce yourself and tell me if you truly ever believed that Lucky Charms brought someone luck.
T.O.N.E-z: (laughs) Alright man. I am Emmy nominated hip hop artist Tonez , however way you want to pronounce it, and if I what? If I believe that Lucky Charms what?
Daniel /HRM: If the Lucky Charms cereal ever really brought somebody luck!
T.O.N.E-z: (laughs) Hell no. They might have brought somebody a couple stomach aches, but I don’t know about no luck.
Daniel/HRM: (laughs) It seems odd to me that they would even consider a red balloon to be lucky. Usually, when I see movies or read of stories where a kid was kidnapped he was always holding a red balloon, you know?
Tonez: Yep.
Daniel/HRM I don’t even get it. But this interview isn’t about Lucky Charms really.
Tonez: I hope not! Cause this will be a very short interview.
Daniel/HRM: (laughs)This is a real treat. You are an example, in my opinion, of the Law of Attraction at full force and that's what I want to talk to you about. Before that, though, I want to get into your character on Justified. Not only were you nominated for an Emmy for Justified's theme song you also appeared as a character, "Barnes". Describe that character briefly.
T.O.N.E-z: Barnes is a character in development, that’s why the scenes I did are not real long scenes. First of all, they wanted to see if I had any presence on the screen and Graham Yost and all the writers got together and was trying to figure it out. But Michael T Williamson who plays Limehouse, that’s my homie. We are working on some things outside of Justified as well. He thought I was a natural on screen. So it’s sort of like I’m one of his henchman. Hopefully, in season five, you’ll see a lot more of me. I’m just like his right hand man. He had a right hand man in season three but he ain’t around no more, he’s dead. So it was one of those things where they are trying to figure out where to put me. I’m still gonna be in there but they are just trying to figure out where to place me, if they are gonna place me at all. I'm sure season five hopefully will have more of me in there .
Daniel/HRM: I saw a tease on your website that he is coming again, if I understood it correctly. Can you tell us when and how often Barnes will be a part of the show?
T.O.N.E-z: The season ended last Tuesday. (April – ed) The episode I was on was episode 12, season four and that was my episode, it had already aired.
Daniel/HRM: So you are just hoping that they will bring your character back?
T.O.N.E-z: Oh, I’m sure they will. Limehouse said I’ll be there but even if not, it's not like I can’t play another character. You know what I mean? So it’s not like I’m a fixture as Barnes yet.
I'm cool with everybody. We all stay in contact even after the show. Everyone on the set is cool.
Daniel/HRM: Do any of them also do music too? As a hobby?
T.O.N.E-z: Actually, Michael T. Williamson, is talented and a real good dude. He actually works with some musicians now. we're gonna work on some projects together. He's really in to music. I didn't realize how much he really is into it. He wasn't just nodding his head. He was really getting in to it, like that man could really play something. (laughs) We talked yesterday. We have stuff working. As far as anyone else, I don't know if they have anything musical going on, as far as actors go.
Daniel/HRM: Is there one art form you like better than the other? Music over acting? Or acting over doing music?
T.O.N.E-z: Definitely music first! It's probably between the creating of music, which is a lot of fun, and...performing it...I can't really choose between those two. For acting, I'm just entering. I'm not one of those dudes that have a triple platinum album so just throw me alongside Bruce Willis and I can't really act. I stick to the small things. You know what I'm saying? I'm not 50 Cent. He has the kind of money that he can just buy Morgan Freeman and do a movie with. You know, he would be like, "Hey Morgan, here's four million dollars to come in and do a scene with me." Morgan would be like, "Hell yeah. I don't care if you can act or not. Give me four million dollars." I can't do that. I wouldn't want to. I'd rather start small and go up and develop the skill. Some are born with it and some aren't. If Michael says I'm good then that's awesome.
Daniel/HRM: You're one of the only few people I can relate to in a hip hop song. What I mean is, I can get into your songs and feel like I lived the experiences. That's rare for me.
T.O.N.E-z: Here's how I see it. Every song, the music is important, bottom line. To me the lyrics, the way you present them, vocal tones, delivery' they're like other instruments. It's not just a voice over a beat. It's adding more flavor to the music. When it comes from the heart, and I don't mean like you just went down the block and shot people, but when it's real. When people hear Hip Hop they might think, "Oh he really does go out and shoot people."
Daniel/HRM: (laughs)
T.O.N.E-z: That's not the kind of real I'm talking about. I'm talking about if I make a song how I got my heart broke, that really happened. People can tell something that is authentic. Whether it's solo or with the group, Gangster Grass Band, that's what made the theme song connect and other songs. Those guys are doing shows now. They have guys doing lyrics over those tracks. That's cool and all but it's not the same. The authenticity isn't there and the passion isn't there. When you capture something in a song, in a delivery, it's real. I don't do more than one take in a song. Like, "The Streets is All I Know", I did a lot of mistakes and things but you can't tell. You'd be like, "Oh snap! He nailed that verse!" There's errors in there but a lot of them only I can catch. I only do one take. I don't like doing more than one because you capture something in one take. You're hearing that in one take.
Daniel/HRM: Do you bring any of those experiences to your Barnes character?
T.O.N.E-z: The character hasn't been developed yet. But if they do then everything about the character would have me in it. I just won't be a character that just says lines. I have to be something authentic or what's the point? Like the words to the theme song, that's really about me. It just related to the story and Olyphant and the character. That's real. All of that is real stuff. That's why it resonated so much. It's for a TV show but it's also real!
Daniel/HRM: I understand. You got it! You just had another bluegrass type single, "Trapped".
T.O.N.E-z: Yes, that is from an EP called Hennessy and Moonshine" that I did with Kid French that does the music for the stuff I do with Gangstagrass. Gangstagrass is not an artist. I am the vocalist to that. It's like a movement, production, etc. Don't expect to see me up there. People probably wanna see me up there but there's more to it than that. All the music and songs that became popular happened to be the stuff I was on but there's more stuff. I wanna let people know he does stuff other than gangster. I want people to know that I'm not just going to sit around and do Bluegrass and Hip Hop forever. I want other people to know what he can do. We took it to a TV show and Emmy nomination. Now I want to show people what else we can do.
Daniel/HRM: That's pretty cool. Now, you were better known for your music. The bluegrass style you adopted as of late wasn't really something you touched base on at first, right? I checked out some of your tunes and were blown away by your lyrics. You seem to have made me feel like I experienced those trying times yet I haven't had those experiences. What do you feel is your personal magic formula for this amazing ability?
T.O.N.E-z: That actually started in 2005. I used to go to Brooklyn and just record. We did a bunch of stuff. He has a lot of my acapellas. He chopped some Bluegrass beats and made them into hip hop. Then we put out a mixtape. So that first initial stuff you hear from us is not the first things. There's another mixtape out and I'm about 85% on that. But the people at FX heard that. The song called "On the Run" is what they used on the commercial. Then the next one they used on the theme song. And a new song, "Give It Up" for another commercial.
Daniel/HRM: Did you have to to through a submission process to be on the show? How did that come about?
T.O.N.E-z: Hell no. We did nothing. (laughs) They found that on the internet in 2009. That was stuff we did back in 2005. They found it and heard it and said, "Hey, we can use this." We didn't know it was going to be an actual theme song. They said it themselves, it was something about my vocals over this music that entranced people. There's people that hate Hip Hop or Bluegrass but they say they listen to this.
Daniel/HRM: That's something I admire about you. Do you know much about the Law of Attraction?
T.O.N.E-z: No. I don't read any of that stuff. My Law of Attraction is basically about my life, what I go out and do and I get it from that.
Daniel/HRM: It seems to me that you have an ability to bring about things you enjoy and want. And share it with a lot of people. One of the big questions I'd like to know from you is that point in life where you decided that every day you were going to give it your all, this successful idea of yourself that you want to bring about. Tell me if you can pinpoint that time in your life where you said, "You know what? This is what I'm going to be and what I'm going to do and this is why."
T.O.N.E-z: 5th or 6th grade. I was listening to Hip Hop music, sitting around the house all the time. My brothers were doing it. It was just one of those things. It's not even able to be put in words correctly, it wouldn't capture the meaning behind it. It's just a vibe and a feeling. Most of the rappers now, you can tell they don't have it. By the subject matter. You can tell it's just a means to an end or a means to get somewhere; like they're doing it because they have to feed their family. That's cool but that's the business side. But where's the artistry at? I felt like that early, like this is what I'm going to do. I didn't say that I'd do whatever it takes to get there. I said I was going to do what I feel to get there. Big difference.
Daniel/HRM: I totally get the difference. Now tell me about what you have going on in the near future. A tour schedule?
T.O.N.E-z: I'm working on that now. I've been building up the name, music, the vibe and I think it's about time to take what exactly we've been talking about on the road and let people get a chance to see exactly what it is and get to know me better. The best way to know anyone better is seeing them live. You get a whole other side. You get to hear the songs, the realness and me up close and personal. It's like a melting pot of music. When I put on a show you get the Bluegrass, the Underground and all that other stuff. I'm also working on some other music and film projects.
Daniel/HRM: Can you mention any of those other filmprojects or is that hush-hush?
T.O.N.E-z: I can't mention that.
Daniel/HRM: Ah man. Do you want to make something up?
T.O.N.E-z: Don't you hate it when that happens? (laughs)
Daniel/HRM: Damn you. (laughs) Well make something up. Let's pretend you are going to make up a video game about your life and your future. What kind of game is this going to be?
T.O.N.E-z: A video game?
Daniel/HRM: Yeah.
T.O.N.E-z: Resident Evil. (laughs) I'm dead serious. It'll be either that or like Mortal Kombat because I'm pretty much almost undefeated in Mortal Kombat. So it'll be like that and the first Resident Evil. Because it feels like I'm walking and getting challenged all the time. And the challenges are like different obstacles. Those zombies are like the demons in my past coming at me. I'm constantly freezing them with the Sub Zero and at the same time I got zombies coming at me so I gotta fight them until I can get to where I need to go.
Daniel/HRM: (laughs) People would love that man.
T.O.N.E-z: See. You thought I wasn't gonna answer that, right? "He's got an answer for everything." (laughs)
Daniel/HRM: (laughs)
T.O.N.E-z: Lucky Charms, video games, you can't stump this guy. (laughs)
Daniel/HRM: (Laughs) Unbeatable. Tell me where people can go for more about you?
T.O.N.E-z: One site and one site only, www.tone-z.com You can buy some music, get free music, wallpapers, all my links are there including music videos.
Daniel/HRM: It is pretty navigable. And the free music too, those free album downloads will definitely have something people can resonate to. Is there anything else you would like to add?
T.O.N.E-z: No, that's it. Just don't ask me to give any advice to some young artist. (laughs) I ain't got sh#t to tell them. (laughs) Be a doctor. Stay out of music. (laughs) How about this? Follow your dreams. There you go!
Daniel/HRM: Ok. My last question is: What advice do you have for young artists? (laughs) Just kidding.
T.O.N.E-z: (laughs)
Daniel/HRM: Here's the signature Last Question: Let's say you were riding along a trail on horseback. You were all by yourself. Suddenly, you had an unflinching desire to talk to a deceased person you admired for their success. This spirit manifested just because you wanted it to. The conversation began. Who would the person be, what would you talk about and what song of yours would best represent this situation?
T.O.N.E-z: Probably Michael Jackson. The question would be, "How did it feel to be a young prodigy?" And the song would be "Sins of the Father" since he had a lot of issues with his father.
Daniel/HRM: Wow.
T.O.N.E-z: Again! Look at that! You can't stop him! (laughs) Look at this guy. He's got the answers.
Daniel/HRM: Yes you do! I look forward to that Mortal Kombat Resident Evil game.
T.O.N.E-z: Yes. All the combinations. Watch somebody go and steal that idea. Let me go and patent that sh#t.
Daniel/HRM: Yeah, go do that. I'll wait on hold.
T.O.N.E-z: (laughs)
Daniel/HRM: What'd you think of the interview?
T.O.N.E-z: You did good!
Daniel/HRM: Thank you so much. I look forward for you in the future but more so, to see you continue your success and be that wonderful inspiration you are to dreamers everywhere. Take care!
T.O.N.E-z: Thank you!
Story and interview by
Daniel C. Morrison - Hip Rock Magazine