RON RON

Born Ronald White, this lyrically talented rapper from Kansas City's East Side garnered a cult following with the bouncy radio friendly Youtube hit Hey Honey, replete with cartoonish video (and 100,000 views) and succeeded by a series of themed mixtapes - Mr. No It All, FrankEinstein, and Skitzo-Frinik. Ron Ron's crossover appeal is obvious but it wasn't always that way. He faced two counts of first-degree murder related to the killing of two men outside a Kansas City liquor store - with the threat of life in prison and the death penalty. A not-guilty verdict in the summer of 2007 gave him a chance to pursue music. Following a year in prison awaiting trial and months under house-arrest after posting bail, the acquittal gave Ron Ron the chance, with God as a guide, to eschew the past hood mentality - which he admits included carrying a gun, a sense of paranoia, a dislike for others and propensity to do "ignorant ****". He started rapping over cassette recordings of radio songs during middle school as part of an itinerant childhood with his mother, a FEMA worker. Ron Ron returned to Kansas City at 14 to attend high school and grow up in the "50s" neighbourhood where Fat Tone and Tech N9ne also grew up. In 2008, local emcee The Popper reminded Ron Ron "You're too tight not to do this rap ****". The Hey Honey breakout and a series of cult mixtapes followed, with his funny, playful, articulate and street-wise persona earning regular duties opening up for major artists touring KC. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.