T-Bone (rapper) - Music Career

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 gangsta rap record but, after changing his life, he opened for a noted rock group at that time which led him to getting signed to his first inspirational record deal that very night.

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 inspirational 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.