NORI TONE

Male

Houston, TX

Muzik, Networking, Business ventures, Success, etc.

Artist

Nori Tone is born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Nori is the oldest of three siblings raised by their single mother. As a result of his parents’ split at an early age, Nori took it upon himself to step up and provide for his family by any means. During this time, he also began to look up to older role models in his neighborhood, who introduced him to the life of hustling and fast money. After looking at the material gains of the fast life, including the classic cars, clothes and popularity, Nori decided that he wanted those same things.

As a teenager, he was always interested in having his own independence, living in his own apartment as early as 17 years old. During this time, he also left Tennessee to try to reconnect with his father, and returned after finding that there was no real relationship to foster. After graduating from high school and attempting a semester of college, Nori decided that he needed to drop out and continue making money the way he best knew how.
Since a child, Nori was inspired by hip-hop artists in the South, likes of Cash Money, Hot Boys, Lil Wayne, Big Tymers, Master P, No Limit, Silkk the Shocker, C-Murder, Mystikal, Outkast, Goodie Mob, the Dungeon Family and others. At the turn of the century, Nelly’s influence on pop culture had Nori printing out song lyrics in order to learn all of the words to his favorite songs, and the emergence of T.I. soon after changed his entire perspective on hip-hop in general.

Nori had first started rapping at 10 years old, taping over his favorite songs on cassette tapes to hear himself on record. Later in high school, the young rapper would record demos and later started pressing singles to give to family and friends. While hustling was his main job, Nori passion for music was slowly cultivating on the side as he focused on paying his bills. Throughout this period, however, music always gave him a sense of calmness, happiness and positivity in the wake of the hardships of everyday street life.

At the age of 21, Nori released his first official mixtape, Hater Proof. When this happened, a group of DJs around Chattanooga wanted to make a multi-regional movement and used him as their first artist to promote, featuring the rapper in shows around Tennessee. Eventually, Nori started getting more recognition around his area, started putting records on radio and had people calling in to keep them in rotation. After dropping his first mixtape, Nori met a lot of people who were branching into the music industry and wanted to work with him as a fresh artist as well. After traveling around Tennessee, Texas, and Atlanta to promote his music and build his brand, the rapper realized that he wasn’t going anywhere with others and needed to regroup and build his brand on his own.

In 2012, Nori relocated to Houston, Texas to meet new people and get a new scene. His next project, 2012’s Walkin Lick, had him posting videos on WorldStarHipHop, putting singles on radio and more, all while overcoming the lack of support from Houston natives who wanted him to take the harder route to making it in the city as a transplant. Eventually, Nori started to receive support from others in Houston and began branching out even further, using the initial push as motivation to keep at it and never give up. It was around this time that the artist started to think of music as something he could pursue as a career.

After going back to get his degree in Petroleum Engineering at Houston community college Nori realized that he needed to put all of his eggs in one basket and take a leap of faith. During this time, he started networking in the industry, working with various producers and marketing himself in more creative ways in order to be taken more seriously as an artist. Nori also pushed singles in order to build his buzz, performed at SXSW in Austin (which he now returns to every year); Nori branched out to build his own fan base in ATL and was eventually interviewed by DJ Smallz.

In 2016, the artist released his newest EP, Live, Free, Die, Muzik. His most comprehensive project to date, the EP speaks on personal revelations and topics in his life with a more mature feel to it as opposed to his earlier work as a young adult. Since his first project, his music has gotten more polished over time, transitioning from writing raps to focusing on writing songs and increasing his engineering and production quality. Nori also took the time to work in better studios, focus on instrumentation and production elements, as well as maintain creative control over all of the aspects of his work.

His latest single, “What’s Love,” is a perfect example of this shift in musicality. Produced by Wee Wee Productions (an old friend from Tennessee), the Isaac Hayes-sampled single is a response record to the plethora of songs about cheating men. In the song, Nori speaks for the men who have had to deal with cheating women who have the same traits as the cheating men described in other songs, including the disloyalty, dishonesty and distrust which these men have to live with as a result of their unfortunate love lives. Over booming production, Nori takes the concepts of a Drake record and infuses them with a Pimp C-esque swagger and a Juvenile-esque southern drawl, telling other men to keep a player attitude, do not let anything get to them too much and keep it moving.

In addition to working on a viral campaign for the single, Nori plans to release another project in 2018, expand his buzz and bring his music to a broader audience. Nori also wants to release several new singles in order to create a new lane for himself in 2017, as well as performing and touring in larger amounts. As proven in his latest single and prior catalog, Nori is an ambitious individual who is motivated and humbled by his beginnings and wants to share his God-given gift with the world, especially others who have been through the same pain and struggle.

Boxing, Exotic Cars, Custom Jewelry, Fashion Shows, Americas Top Models