Daryl Kent Jones (born April 14, 1993) is an American rapper. He is best known for his commercial debut single " Don't Mind", which reached number eight on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. His first mixtape, ''Tours'', was released in the summer of 2015 by Epidemic Records, We the Best Music Group and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

Early life

Daryl Kent Jones was born on April 14, 1993, in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

. As a youngster he came in contact with music in his local church, while he was also taught to play the drums by his aunt. Later on Jones started taking formal music lessons, learning to play the piano and the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, and studying music theory. He also started developing an interest in jazz music, appreciating the music of

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

. Jones later moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

to work more with

Cool & Dre Cool & Dre are a record production and songwriting duo from North Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Antonio Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon. The duo are best known for their work with Terror Squad founder Fat Joe, first ...

Career

Jones first started working with record producers and songwriters

, signing a record deal with their label Epidemic Records. While at Epidemic he collaborated with the likes of

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

, The Game,

Currensy Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (often stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. In 2011, he founded the label Jet Life Recordings. Music career 2002–2008: No Limit and Young Mone ...

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

, and

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

. Cool & Dre introduced him to DJ Khaled in 2015, who eventually signed him in a joint venture record deal to his own label We the Best Music Group and

. Jones released his first mixtape titled ''Tours'' in July 2015. The mixtape's most successful song " Don't Mind", which contains lyrics in French, Spanish, Japanese and

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

, was later released as a single. "Don't Mind", a song which was about to be left out of the mixtape, was also remixed by

Trina Katrina Laverne Taylor (born December 3, 1978), known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in 1998 with her appearance on the Trick Daddy single "Nann Nigga". Trina has been described by '' XXL'' as "the most ...

later on. The song debuted at number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in May 2016, reached number 46 on

pop radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

in the first week of May 2016, further rising to number 40 in the following weeks. Jones was also featured in the soundtrack of ''

NBA 2K16 ''NBA 2K16'' is a 2015 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the 17th installment in the ''NBA 2K'' franchise and the successor to ''NBA 2K15''. It was released on September 29, 2015 fo ...

'', participating in

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper. Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station WEDR, 99 Ja ...

's track "365" along with

Ace Hood Antoine Franklin McColister (born May 11, 1988), better known by his stage name Ace Hood, is an American rapper. He was born in Port St. Lucie, Florida and raised in Deerfield Beach, Florida. He was signed to record producer DJ Khaled's label W ...

and Vado.

Discography

Mixtapes

Singles

As a lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Production discography

2015

The Game – ''The Documentary 2''

*06. "Dollar and a Dream"

2016

The Game – ''The Documentary 2 Collector's Edition''

*01. "Ride Solo" *02. "Do It to You"

Awards and nominations

Underground Interviews

, - , 2016 , , Kent Jones, , Rapper of the Year , , , -

iHeartRadio Music Awards

!Ref , - , 2017 , , Kent Jones , , Best New Hip-Hop Artist , , , , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kent 1993 births Living people African-American male rappers Rappers from Miami American hip hop singers Southern hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians