Willis Polk II, better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Deacon the Villain, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer from

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...

. He is a founding member of the hip hop group

CunninLynguists CunninLynguists is an American hip hop group from Lexington, Kentucky. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti. Early beginnings In 1999, Deacon the Villain and Kno met at Club Kaya in Atlanta, Georgia at an even ...

. Deacon has produced for the likes of

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

,Michael, John (2008)
Cunninlynguists - Extraordinary Gentlemen
, Sixshot.com, January 1, 2008, retrieved 2010-04-12

King Tee Roger McBride (born December 14, 1968), better known by his stage name King T (formerly known as King Tee), is an American West Coast Hip hop rapper from Compton, California. Emerging as one of Compton's earliest hip hop artists, he was signed ...

, and J-Ro from

Tha Liks Tha Alkaholiks, also known as Tha Liks, is an American hip hop trio from Los Angeles, California, United States. Since the early 1990s they have produced party music with a hardcore hip hop edge, powered by the beats of DJ and producer E-Swift ...

, among others. Deacon the Villain has been featured in notable journalism sources such as XXL,

Pop Matters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fil ...

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

, and

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

, among others.

History

Deacon is a lifelong friend of the activist

Shaun King Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer, civil rights activist and co-founder of Real Justice PAC. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. King was raised ...

; they both attended Woodford County High School in

, and were roommates at

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 1999, Deacon the Villain and

Kno Kno, Inc. was a software company that worked with publishers to offer digital textbooks and other educational materials. In November 2013, after raising nearly $100 million in venture capital, the company was acquired by Intel. The website was ...

met at Club Kaya in

at an event for the now defunct Blaze Magazine that included various members of Atlanta's own

Dungeon Family The Dungeon Family is a musical collective, based in Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul influences. The group derives its name from "The Dungeon", the name given to record producer Rico Wade's studio, ...

. They had talked online previously through an emcee named Jugga the Bully, who appeared at an open mic called ''Underground Live'' at Morehouse college campus, which was held by Deacon. At the time, Kno was in the group ''The Continuum'', and Deacon was in the group ''ILLSTAR''. Afterwards, the two disbanded from their former groups and created

. The two also founded a production duo named A Piece Of Strange. Around 2004, Deacon formed the group Kynfolk with Natti. The two got along so well that Deacon and Kno invited Natti to join CunninLynguists. Deacon released his first full length project not in CunninLynguists with JustMe, named ''Tragedy & Dope''. The same year, he released ''Niggaz With Latitude'' ''(N.W.L.)'' with Sheisty Khrist, another Kentucky emcee. In 2015, he released his first solo album Peace or Power. The album is self-produced and guest appearances include

Tonedeff Pedro Antonio Rojas, Jr. (born December 14, 1976), better known by his stage name Tonedeff, is an American rapper, hip hop production, producer, singer-songwriter and record executive. Tonedeff first gained national recognition on the undergro ...

and

Homeboy Sandman Angel Del Villar II (born September 24, 1980), better known by his stage name Homeboy Sandman, is an American rapper from Elmhurst, Queens, New York, United States. Career Homeboy Sandman recorded and released his first EP, ''Nourishment'', in M ...

, among others.

Personal life

Willis Polk II's hip hop alias comes from the fact that his father is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

. Growing up, he was raised in a baptist family and has stayed Christian. Members of his family have featured on multiple albums of his, such as his mother singing on ''

A Piece of Strange ''A Piece of Strange'' is the third studio album by the Southern hip hop trio CunninLynguists, consisting of Kno, Deacon the Villain and Natti. It was released January 24, 2006, by The LA Underground, a record label based in New Mexico. Backgr ...

'' or various family members providing vocals for his first solo album in 2015, ''Peace or Power''.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Peace or Power'' (2015) Collaborative albums * ''Tragedy & Dope'' (2010) (with JustMe) * ''Niggaz With Latitude'' ''(N.W.L.)'' (2010) (with Sheisty Khrist) Guest appearances * Mark J - "My Peoples" from ''City Of Pain'' (2003) *

- "" from ''Underscore'' (2003) * W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. - "Sprinkle Of God" from ''Rise Of An Empire'' (2005) * Inverse - "Til The End (C.A.L.I.)" from ''So Far (The Collection)'' (2008) * Substantial - "Resurrection Of The House Party" from ''Sacrifice'' (2008) * Rubix Funktion - "Just Think" from ''Presenterar 16 Beatar'' (2009) * Jise One - "Burst Through The Door" from ''Chronicles 2'' (2009) *

- "Spread Your Wings" and "They Told Me" from ''

Death Is Silent ''Death Is Silent'' is the debut solo album by American producer/rapper Kno, a founding member of the hip hop trio CunninLynguists. It was released on October 12, 2010. The whole album was produced by Kno and features guest appearances by Thee ...

'' (2010) * Natti - "Still Motion", "All I Need", "Late Night Cruise", "Filthy Hard", "G.O.R. (Gods of Rap)" and "Allegiance" from ''Still Motion'' (2013) *

Looptroop Rockers Looptroop Rockers is a hip hop group from Västerås, Sweden. The members are rappers Promoe (Mårten Edh), Supreme (Mathias Lundh-Isen), DJ/ Producer Embee (Magnus Bergkvist) and CosM.I.C (Tommy Isacsson). On their fourth album, Good Things, ...

- "Naked Swedes" from ''Naked Swedes'' (2014)

External links

Deacon the Villain
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Deacon the Villain
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

QN5 Music official site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deacon the Villain Living people Rappers from Kentucky Southern hip hop musicians Underground rappers American male rappers Alternative hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)