American rapper
Rene Francisco Sotomayor, better known by the stage name T-Bone, is a Christian rapper. His father was Nicaraguan and his mother is Salvadoran. His name came from being called 'Bones' as a youngster because he was very skinny. The 'T' was "added to give the name a little slang edge."
Music career.
According to published interview, he started rapping at the age of seven 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 1993, "Tha Life of a Hoodlum" in 1995 and "Tha Hoodlum's Testimony" in 1996 were released on the independent Metro One record label. All three albums were characterized by being gangsta rap albums, which was rare in the inspirational music scene at the time.
In 1997, he released "History of a Hoodlum", a compilation set of hits from his first three albums was released on the Metro One record label.
After a brief hiatus, T-Bone released his fourth album, and first on the Flicker Records music label, "Tha Last Street Preacha", in 2001, to critical acclaim. "Tha Last Street Preacha" was nominated for the Rock Gospel Album Grammy Award. and saw T-Bone break into the contemporary Christian music market. It was the first rap album to debut at No. 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, "Gospelalphamegafunkyboogiediscomusic". The album was characterized by the guest appearance of hip-hop legend "KRS-One" on the title track – returning the favor 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.
"Bone-Appétit: Servin' Up tha Hits", a compilation set of hits from his last three albums was released on September 25, 2007.
"Pa mi Dios y Pa mi Gente" ("For My God and For My People") was released on April 7, 2017 and "Broken English" was released on March 15, 2018.
Other works.
Film career.
T-Bone stars in the film "The Rally", co-starring Kenneth Copeland. It was released in late 2009 to early 2010.
T-Bone's first major film role was in 2003, playing the role of Briggs, a rapping prisoner in the comedy-romance motion picture "The Fighting Temptations", which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles. In the film, T-Bone performs the song "To da River" with secular artists Lil Zane and Montell Jordan.
T-Bone also co-starred in the 2006 Paramount/MTV film "All You've Got" which starred Ciara and Adrienne Bailon of The Cheetah Girls.
His other films include Carman and Stephen Yake's "R.I.O.T." and starred in "Black Rose" in 2003.
He appeared in the 2013 film "I'm in Love with a Church Girl".
Dove Awards.
2008:
2004:
2002:
1997:
1995:
1993:
References.
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