John Herndon (born April 9, 1966) is an American musician and artist. Based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, he was a founding member of the

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

band

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

, where he plays drums and percussion. Herndon also works as a producer for

instrumental hip hop Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "sc ...

under the name A Grape Dope.

Early life

Herndon was born in 1966 on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York. He was the second child of his family, with a brother two years older than him. After his family moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Herndon's father was jailed and his mother was a drug addict, so the children were put into the

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...

system when Herndon was a toddler. He described the experience as abusive, but remained in the system until his father was released from prison in 1971. In 1976, Herndon moved to the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

mountains with the Grateful Union Family Trust, a commune that Herndon's father and his girlfriend were a part of.

Career

John Herndon is a member of the bands

and Isotope 217, playing mainly drums but some other percussion (

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

, etc.) and occasional keyboards. He produced

Deep Puddle Dynamics Deep Puddle Dynamics was a collaborative group featuring underground hip hop artists Sole, Doseone, Alias and Slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. T ...

' song entitled "More from June" in 2002. He released the ''

Missing Dragons ''Missing Dragons'' is an EP by A Grape Dope (born John Herndon). It was released on Galaxia on May 27, 2003. Critical reception Andrew Bryant of ''Pitchfork'' gave the EP a 4.1 out of 10, calling it an "unappealing release with few redeeming qu ...

'' EP under the alias A Grape Dope on Galaxia in 2003. It features a guest appearance from rapper

Doseone Adam Kidd Drucker (born April 21, 1977), better known by his stage name Doseone, is an American rapper, producer, poet and artist. He is a co-founder of the indie hip hop record label Anticon. He has also been a member of numerous groups in ...

Personal life

He is the father of

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

musician

2hollis Hollis Frazier-Herndon (born January 5, 2004), known professionally as 2hollis, is an American singer, rapper and producer. He first gained attention for his 2022 album ''White Tiger.'' His 2023 song "Poster Boy" was included as part of '' EA S ...

Discography

Albums

* ''

Backyard Bangers A backyard, or back yard (known in the United Kingdom as a back garden or just garden), is a yard at the back of a house, common in suburban developments in the Western world. It is typically a residential garden located at the rear of a p ...

'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Immediate Action'' (2000) * ''

'' (2003)

Productions

- "More from June" from ''

We Ain't Fessin' (Double Quotes) ''We Ain't Fessin' (Double Quotes)'' is an EP by Deep Puddle Dynamics and Anticon. It was released on Anticon on February 25, 2002. The EP includes Deep Puddle Dynamics' "More from June" and Anticon's "We Ain't Fessin' (Double Quotes)". The CD ve ...

'' (2002)

Contributions

Themselves Themselves, previously known as Them, is an American hip hop duo based in Oakland, California. It consists of Doseone and Jel. They are also part of Subtle and 13 & God. The duo's first studio album, '' Them'', was included on ''Fact''s "100 ...

- "You Devil You" and "Hat in the Wind" from ''

The No Music ''The No Music'' (stylized as ''The No Music.'') is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Themselves. It was released on Anticon in 2002. It peaked at number 183 on the CMJ Radio 200 chart, as well as number 13 on CMJ's Hip-Hop chart. A ...

'' (2002) *

- "By Horoscope Light I&II" from '' Ha'' (2005)

Remixes

Tommy Guerrero Thomas Marc Guerrero (born September 9, 1966) is an American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder. He is a former member of the Bones Brigade, a prominent skateboarding team of the 1980s that also included Tony Hawk and Steve Caba ...

- "Birds Over Head (John Herndon Remix)" from ''Junk Collector'' (2001) * Trans Am - "Cold War" from ''Extremixxx'' (2002) *

- "Dr. Moonorgun Please" from '' The No Music of AIFFS'' (2003) * Via Tania - "On Sawyer" from ''Boltanski'' (2004) * Via Tania - "Felt Cave" from ''True'' (2005)

References

External links

* * * 1966 births American hip-hop record producers American alternative rock drummers Living people Tortoise (band) members The For Carnation members Five Style members Isotope 217 members Drummers from North Carolina Rappers from North Carolina Drummers from Chicago Rappers from Chicago {{US-hiphop-bio-stub