Jevon Jones (born October 11, 1973) is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, '' Witness Tha Realest'', was released on July 14, 2009, following numerous delays.Tha Realest Readies Debut, After A Decade Waiting
by Jake Paine. HipHopDX.com. June 8, 2009. Retrieved on June 16, 2009. Tha Realest is also known, often in a negative light, for his strikingly similar voice to deceased rapper and former label-mate,

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

.Tha Realest Talks Tupac, Suge Knight And D.O.C.
by Paul W. Arnold. HipHopDX.com. July 31, 2009. Tha Realest is also a member of The Regime.

Personal life

Jones was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas. His father worked as a preacher.Tha Realest
UndergroundWestcoastRap.com As an

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak C ...

native, Jones started rapping in the early 1980s at the age of 10 and competed in

rap battle Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live ...

s on the local circuit. In the early 1990s, Jones and former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

player,

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

, formed their first record label called Puppy Dog Unlimited Records.Tha Realest Interview
by BIG WILL, ''Worldwide Westside Magazine'' Issue #3, March, 2004. Tha Realest got married on July 7, 2011.

Death Row Records

Jones began his association with Death Row Records in March 1996 when he auditioned for Tupac Shakur in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Following Shakur's death in September 1996, Suge Knight offered Jones a contract with the label. He made his musical debut on the ''Gang Related'' soundtrack, appearing in two songs with rapper J-Flexx under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Tenkamenin, sharing his name with the eponymous ruler of the Ghana Empire. In 1999 he performed several tracks on the Death Row collaboration '' Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000'' alongside fellow Death Row artists Swoop G and Lil' C-Style. These songs had been written by Tha Realest for his solo project which was to be called ''Inside Out''. He would again collaborate with them on yet another Death Row compilation titled '' Too Gangsta for Radio'', appearing on the tracks "Fuck Dre" and "Fuck Hollywood". "Fuck Dre", seemingly a response to the Dr. Dre single "

Forgot About Dre "Forgot About Dre" is a song by American rapper-producer Dr. Dre featuring vocals and sole songwriting from American rapper Eminem, released as second single from the former's album ''2001'' (1999). Background The song is considered a response ...

", insults many former Death Row artists and their affiliates, primarily Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, N.W.A and Eminem, who is an artist on Dr. Dre's

Aftermath Records Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Interscope Records. Current acts include Dr. Dre himself, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, An ...

. On October 17, 1999, after working on ''Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000'', Tha Realest sustained relatively serious injuries to the foot, having been shot in a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

after leaving the studio in which he had just finished recording a song with Tha Dogg Pound (

Kurupt Ricardo Emmanuel Brown (born November 23, 1972), better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper and record producer who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo Tha Dogg Po ...

and

Daz Dillinger Delmar Drew Arnaud (born May 25, 1973), known professionally as Daz Dillinger (formerly Dat Nigga Daz and commonly Daz), is an American rapper and record producer. In the 1990s at Death Row Records, aided the catapult of West Coast rap and gang ...

). Dwayne "Draws" Dupree, a

security officer A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

working in the area, was also shot, and died shortly after.Off Tha Row and on With Tha Real
''EURweb.com'', March 30, 2005.

After Death Row Records

Following Suge Knight's release from prison, Tha Realest left Death Row Records in late 2001 to pursue a record deal in order to release his debut album, for which he had recorded approximately 150 songs. Tha Realest had difficulty obtaining a contract as labels were unwilling to associate with a former artist of Death Row Records and the notoriety it accumulated over the years. In 2002, Tha Realest formed his own record label, 2 Real Entertainment (later Omertà Entertainment). In 2004, he recorded a mixtape at Can-Am Studios with Mob Life Records artist 730 entitled ''From East 2 West'' which featured musical performances by Swoop G and New Child of

Outlawz Outlawz (formerly known as Outlaw Immortalz) are an American hip hop group founded by rapper Tupac Shakur in late 1995 after Shakur's release from prison. Collectively, they were best known for their association with Shakur. Most of the group m ...

. It was released in early 2007. Tha Realest was signed to

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment Tru 'Dat' Entertainment (also variated as Tru 'dat' Entertainment, Trudat Entertainment and TRU DAT Entertainment) or plainly Tru Dat was a Los Angeles, California-based firm founded in 2006 by Hysear Randell, a wealthy African-American entreprene ...

in 2006, a company founded by Hysear Randell to seek and recruit talented individuals in film, music, fashion and sports. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for his debut single, "Eurry Now and Then" was released shortly thereafter. It features cameo appearances by

C-Bo Shawn Thomas, also known by his stage name C-Bo, is an American rapper. C-Bo, notoriously known for his relationship with law enforcement, was one of the first rappers to be jailed due to his lyrical content, a scathing critique of political off ...

Yukmouth Jerold Dwight Ellis III (born October 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Yukmouth, is an American rapper from East Oakland, Oakland, California. He is the founder of The Regime, Smoke-A-Lot Records and Godzilla Entertainment. He is a ...

, Nutt-So, Young Hogg, Big C-Style and

Ray J William Ray Norwood Jr. (born January 17, 1981), known professionally as Ray J, is an American singer, actor, and television personality. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Carson, California, he is the younger brother of recording a ...

. In 2007, Hysear was accused of

embezzling Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

millions of dollars' worth of tax payers money through fraudulent money transfers. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was subsequently forced to discontinue the label. On July 14, 2009, Tha Realest released his album '' Witness Tha Realest'', which had been delayed substantially due to the demise of Tru 'Dat' Entertainment. It was distributed by

E1 Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had ...

via RBC Records and Team Dime Entertainment. Tha Realest made the following comment about the album: ''Witness Tha Realest Mixtape'', was released in November 2006 which consisted of some leftovers from the original ''Witness Tha Realest'' studio album scheduled for release on July 15, 2004. This, however, changed due to the absence of a distribution company. Tha Realest worked on his much anticipated second studio album ''Remember My Name'' which was due to be released in the Summer of 2013. Two music videos were expected to be released for his upcoming album, one of them having already been confirmed to be directed by Tha Razor, who already took part in some of his other video projects like Peep 'N' Game and Thug Lova in the past. He is also working on albums with long-time associate C-Bo and underground artist Don Twizzi as well as a debut studio album by The Regime. At the moment, he's active on various social networks online and he's aiding new, upcoming artists who are making a name for themselves in Hip-Hop. In 2021, Tha Realest formally released "2nite We're Enemies" which features

& WC. The song had previously been featured in Benjamin Crump's the television documentary series ''Who Killed Tupac?''

Films

Tha Realest, like many other rappers such as G-Unit and Ice-T, has appeared in several hip-hop themed pornographic productions including a few alongside other rappers such as Snoop Dogg who, himself, has produced several pornographic films. His main productions are titled ''Tha Realest #1'' and ''#2'' and feature original music by Tha Realest and many popular

pornographic actress A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of dis ...

es such as Mika Tan, Lyla Lei and Brooke Haven. The films were produced by Antiqua Pictures and Fatt Entertainment. The Realest also appeared in a

low-budget film A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

titled ''Slumber Party'' which was released in 2005 and also featured several former Death Row Records performers such as Daz Dillinger and Crooked I.Slumber Party

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Witness Tha Realest'' (2009)

Filmography & TV Series

Pornographic movies

Music Videos

References

External links

Tha Realest's official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Realest, Tha Living people African-American male rappers Death Row Records artists American shooting survivors 1973 births Rappers from Dallas Southern hip hop musicians Gangsta rappers Tupac Shakur impersonators 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians