Fat Tony (rapper)

Fat Tony (rapper)

Anthony Obi (born March 24, 1988) is a Nigerian-American rapper from Houston, Texas known as Fat Tony.

Fat Tony released Double Dragon on June 1, 2012; a collaborative free album with producer Tom Cruz through Young One Records. Double Dragon features Fat Tony and Tom Cruz performing as a duo and is entirely produced by Tom Cruz. The album is a precursor to Fat Tony's forthcoming sophomore album Smart Ass Black Boy which will be released June 11, 2013 through Young One Records. In November 2012, Fat Tony released the first single from Smart Ass Black Boy entitled "BKNY". In March 2013, Vice Magazine announced the Smart Ass Black Boy album release date and premiered the second single entitled "Hood Party" featuring Kool A.D. and Despot.

Fat Tony's debut album RABDARGAB was released October 19, 2010 and featured production entirely from Tom Cruz (Shaka Girvan) formerly of Atlanta based rap group Supreeme. The album features appearances by Murs, Negashi Armada aka Blunt Fang from Supreeme, Charly East, Bo. P, Kam Franklin, and Tom Cruz.

RABDARGAB is a reference to a late 1990s Houston Independent School District campaign aimed at elementary school students to promote literacy by offering $1 to students in exchange for book reports. The acronym stands for "Read a Book – Do A Report – Get a Buck." With the release of this album, Fat Tony ran a promotion entitled LISDARGAB (Listen, Do a Review, Get a Buck) where Fat Tony undertook to send anyone who emailed him a review for RABDARGAB a dollar bill in the mail.

On March 24, 2011 he released a remix album entitled SCREWDARGAB. It was a "chopped-up, not slopped up" version of his debut album RABDARGAB remixed by Swishahouse co-founder DJ OG RON C.

The album RABDARGAB was preceded by a mixtape release entitled RABDARGAB: The EPreview mixed by Fat Tony's DJ iPod Ammo. The mix tape featured collaborations with Das Racist, Juiceboxxx, HOSPITAL, Jade <3, Tecla, Smash Bro, and more.

Fat Tony won the 2010, 2009 and 2008 Houston Press Music Awards' Best Underground Hip Hop award, and has been recognized in URB's "Next 1000", a list of emerging new artists anticipated to breakthrough. He won the Houston Press "Best Underground Rapper" award three times, as of 2011.

In 2008 Fat Tony participated in a charity concert to raise money for prevention and treatment of HIV.