BIOGRAPHY
When people hear the term 'conscious rapper' clever metaphors wrapped around thoughts of living in a world with positive images and hope for better days comes to mind. But what happens when your conscience is shaped by living in the crime infested streets of San Francisco’s Fillmore District and your role models are drug dealers, pimps, addicts, prostitutes and worst of all, your mother is one them? You can either become a victim of it or rise above it…and rising above it is just what legendary rapper Rondo has done. Rondo returns with 10 powerful tracks on his comeback CD, "The Antidote" on his own label, Crucial Records. Painting picture's of the shattered family perspective & song's filled with heartbreaking stories of pain and suffering, "The Antidote" reads like an open book of the tumultuous life of the lyrical king. Like the mythical phoenix rising out the ashes, so has Rondo. Laying down his "Pain" over live instrumentation, this CD serves as a musical cautionary tale to save others from the mental, spiritual and physical despair that they may go through from being afflicted by their oppressor. This "Pain" from his childhood drips from the auto-graphical tales of "The Antidote"
After going through so much God has been Rondo’s saving grace in his life. That relationship with God has been the catalyst that has kept him going through those dark times. “I felt I was my only light and that has to be God. Growing, understanding, developing and obtaining some kind of consciousness through the teachings of Minister Farrakhan,” says Rondo. “When you grow older you start realizing when you aren’t doing the right things. Once I got that initial thought I knew it was time to change. Most people don’t, but I decided to listen to that inner light in me and change,” recalls Rondo. Wanting to be remembered beyond the rap game, Rondo is challenging other rappers to stand for something more than the materialistic trappings of entertainment industry.
“Floss Your Charity” is the battle cry for artists to ‘floss’ all the big things they are doing for Humanity. Instead of bragging about their ‘rented’ extravagant
lifestyles, why not give back to the communities that got you where you are. Rondo is a street soldier on a mission to speak for those without a voice. “I am a conscience dude that cares about my people, particularly black folks. Not a racist thing, it is what it is. Black folks have been done the most wrong. I come from the same fucked up environment and rose above it…in spite of it; so who better to speak for the meek and voiceless than me,” says Rondo. Because he
has been through it all, Rondo wants to give the masses guidelines to get through the hardships in life. Giving hope that they can rise above their circumstances is Rondo’s mission as the voice of the streets.
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