The year is 1970 and Itadi Bonney was the most influential and most celebrated musicians in Togo. Heavily influenced in politics, he wrote a song by the name of Mayi Africa that criticized the president Gnassingbe Eyadema and his deadly tactics to in force democracy in his home country. Receiving multitudes of governmental backlash from the political song, Itadi, Wife Jo, and the teenaged Tabiabue’ Bonney fled first to Benin, then to France, and finally to Jo’s hometown, Washington DC. Because of his music career himself, Itadi and his wife stressed the rule that the young Tabi would not venture off into music. His parents wanted him to have his mind and energy no place else but on his school work; to which, his parents succeeded. Tabi Bonney went on to complete his educational career at Florida A&M in pre-med making his parents very proud. However, even with credentials and a job teaching biology to teenagers at an inner city Washington DC school, Tabi Bonney knew there was more for him in the music industry.
With a long family history of music behind him, and the world of potential in front of him, Tabi Bonney decided it was time he put his discipline that he attained in his rigorous academic work to the test. While in grad school he met his now close friend and mentor Haziq Ali, and together they formed the group and independent record label Organized Rhyme. The first album to come from Organized Rhyme was A Fly Guy’s Theme which was a huge hit in the DMV area due to Tabi’s use of popular colloquial terms like “Bamma” “The Pocket” And so on. The use of Go-Go music and other aspects of the Districts originality made this album a hit on the airwaves as well as with a lot of youth in Washington. Now with one record under his belt successfully, Tabi Bonney had the public’s attention, and nothing would be able to stop this driving force.
Bonney set out to make more moves independently. One of those moves was being the creator of a boutique fashion line by the name of Bonney Runway. Another huge venture that Bonney has succeeded in was creating his own production company called “Cool Kids Forever.” With Cool Kids he has produced videos for poplar artists in the DMV area such as Wale, Raheem Devaughn, and the popular Go-Go inspired group, Mambo Sauce. While momentarily doing things outside of the music industry, Organized Rhyme produced the sophomore album Dope in 2009. With one album under his belt, Dope was definitely an album of maturity in which he spoke more of Africa and bettering himself in the music industry. After the release of his sophomore album it seemed as though Tabi Bonney was here to stay in the rap game one way or another.
In 2010 the “big guns” were pulled out. In the album Fresh, Bonney takes a turn in his music which inevitably is welcomed as a positive change. In is Junior album, he works with a significant amount of heavy weight rap artists like G.O.O.D Music’s Pusha T, fellow DMV based artist Wale, Curren$y, old friend and still mentor Haziq Ali and he also brings back the smooth voice of R&B artist Raheem Devaughn. Although he has worked with some of these artists in the past, this is said to be one of the most diverse of all his other works. Tabi reached out to folk singer Lykke Li and the alternative party group Black Eyed Peas for assistance on the album. (Rockthevote.com/TabiBonney)
The senior and most recent album of Tabi Bonney’s is The Summer Years. The highly anticipated upon release album was a hit and has kept Bonney’s career afloat. Another reason why this album was so loved is because the person that has influenced him so much and the reason why he was exposed to music initially, his father, blessed a song called Parachute with his sage musical influence. Summer Years was heavily produced by Ski Beats; a connection that Bonney made through former Rocafella CEO Dame Dash. Against his interest not to work with big time producers and being independent musically, Tabi Bonney has worked with Dame Dash and it has proved to be beneficial for his rap career.
The West African, Washington DC based rap star Tabi Bonney is an extremely influential person on all levels. His educational background gave him the stamina and sense of longevity to pursue his true passion which is music. With 4 albums and 3 mixtapes under his belt, an independent record label, a production company, a clothing long and 5th album on its way by the title of Endless summer– a continuation of Summer Years– one can assume that there is no was that the driving force that is Tabi Bonney can ever be stopped; he would never allow it!