Tony Yayo
Tony Yayo (born Marvin Bernard on March 31, 1978 in Queens, New York) is an American rapper who is signed as an artist to popular rap group G-Unit.
Biography
Tony Yayo is the original member of G-Unit. While touring through New York, the rapper was arrested for an outstanding warrant on weapons charges and was sentenced to a year and few days in prison. While he was in prison in 2003, he became a father to a little girl. The imprisoned rapper was recording with G-Unit, even though he only appears twice on the debut album Beg For Mercy. When he was initially released from prison he was arrested again the following day for possessing a forged passport. The incident forced Yayo to spend six months in prison. After release, the rapper began preparing for his debut album. While out of prison, Yayo modestly brags about the time spent in prison and usually mentions about being on probation and ankle bracelet that he had to wear.
Tony Yayo has been featured on many of his fellow G-Unit solo debuts, preparing himself for his own release. His features included 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and The Game. Outside of G-Unit, Yayo has also recorded with such hip-hop artists as Lil' Flip, Paul Wall, Obie Trice, Eminem and Dr. Dre. His album Thoughts Of A Predicate Felon was released in late August 2005, the same week as Kanye West's Late Registration and sold hardly nothing.
Free Yayo
Free Yayo is a movement initiated by G-Unit with the intention of creating a support network for the imprisoned Tony Yayo. For instance, on the G-Unit track Stunt 101 fellow rapper Young Buck says "free yayo"; the video for that same track features "free Yayo" graffiti. The movement got to be much larger than any member of G-unit had predicted, even with such seasoned artists such as Eminem wearing a "Free Yayo" T-Shirt at an MTV award ceremony. And also resulted in the sale of clothing and accessories with writing 'Free Yayo' on them. The movement was responsible for the excitement and anticipation created for the release of the imprisoned G-Unit member. As another result, Tony Yayo's appearances on underground mixtapes greatly boosted sales of DJs such as DJ Clue and DJ Whoo Kid.
Discography
Album
- Thoughts Of A Predicate Felon (2005) US #2 less then 500,000
Mixtapes/Other
- Big Mike: Big Boy Game
- DJ Whoo Kid: G-Unit Radio 11- Tony's Home
- DJ Whoo Kid: G-Unit Radio- 50 Cent & G-Unit International Ballers
- Shade45: House Arrest With Tony Yayo- Radio Show featuring G-Unit and playing the newest singles from artists from G-Unit.
Singles
Featured Songs/Other Songs
- Bonafide Hustler - Young Buck featuring 50 Cent and Tony Yayo
- My Toy Soldier - 50 Cent featuring Tony Yayo
- I Run New York - 50 Cent And Tony Yayo
- Hate It or Love It (G Unit Remix) - 50 Cent featuring Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, The Game And Tony Yayo
- Bump Heads - 50 Cent, Eminem, Lloyd Banks, And Tony Yayo
- Runnin - The Game featuring Tony Yayo
- Like My Style - 50 Cent featuring Tony Yayo
External links
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
| US Hot 100 | US R&B/Hip-Hop | US Rap | UK Singles Chart | |||
| 2005 | "So Seductive" (feat. 50 Cent) | #48 | #7 | #12 | #28 | Thoughts of a Predicate Felon |
| 2005 | "Curious" (feat. Joe) | - | #85 | - | - | Thoughts of a Predicate Felon |
| 2005 | "Pimpin" | - | #66 | - | - | Thoughts of a Predicate Felon |
| 2005 | "I Know You Don't Love Me" (feat. 50 Cent, Young Buck, & Lloyd Banks) | - | - | - | - | Thoughts of a Predicate Felon |
| 2005 | "Drama Setter" (feat. Eminem & Obie Trice) | - | - | - | - | Thoughts of a Predicate Felon' |