Shawn Darnell "Solo" Fonteno (born April 8, 1968) is an American actor and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. He is best known for playing Franklin Clinton in the 2013 video game ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

''. Aside from his portrayal of Franklin Clinton, Fonteno has acted in films such as ''

The Wash The Wash is a shallow natural rectangular bay and multiple estuary on the east coast of England in the United Kingdom. It is an inlet of the North Sea and is the largest multiple estuary system in the UK, as well as being the largest natural ba ...

''.

Early life

Fonteno was born and raised in

Watts, Los Angeles Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated co ...

. He didn't know his father up until the age of 8, he met him in the hospital after his father had been shot in an armed robbery shootout. He joined an African-American street gang the Neighborhood Crips from a young age, dealing drugs and beginning to rise through the ranks before several near-fatal shootings and kidnapping attempts on his family inspired him to leave the gang. He was later at one point the vice-president of an African-American

motorcycle club A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group. There ...

called the Choppers MC. He was still committing criminal acts with his crew but eventually decided to settle down and leave the MC life behind in good standing.

Career

Music career

His rapping career was under the name Solo from his gangster nickname OG Solo. Fonteno was affiliated with several record companies including DJ Pooh's Lench Mob,

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. D ...

, and

Priority Records Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Master P, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Silkk the Shocker, Jay-Z, Paris, Mack 10, 504 Boyz, Brotha Lynch Hung, ...

in the early 1990s. He was at one point the

hype man A hype man, typically in hip hop music, is a backing vocalist who supports the primary performer with exclamations, interjections, or ad-libs in an attempt to increase an audience's excitement or engagement. Origins Early hype men included Keef C ...

of a duo group with rapper Kam. Solo appears as a hype man for Kam and DJ Pooh's music video "Whoop! Whoop!". Solo appears in Kam's "Peace Treaty" music video. The song "Where I Come From" was listed under the duo Kam & Solo. He made an appearance in a documentary ''Beef 2'' where he described a fight in which he claimed to have knocked

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

out due to a disagreement about business and later stole his chain. The episode played a significant role in the rivalry between Ice Cube's

Westside Connection Westside Connection was an American hip-hop Supergroup (music), supergroup formed by Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC (rapper), WC. The group's debut album, ''Bow Down'', reached the number two position on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 in 1996 ...

and

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

in the 1990s

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

era.

''Grand Theft Auto V''

Fonteno voiced and provided the

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...

for the character Franklin Clinton for the 2013 video game ''

''. In 2021, Fonteno reprised his role alongside

Slink Johnson Gerald Anthony "Slink" Johnson (born January 31, 1973), also known by his stage name Slink Capone, is an American rapper, actor and comedian. He starred in the sitcom '' Black Jesus'' and portrayed Lamar Davis in the 2013 video games ''Grand The ...

(who voiced Lamar Davis in the same game) in a live-action re-enactment of a cutscene where Lamar " roasts" Franklin. The original scene had experienced a resurgence in popularity years later when parodies were uploaded online, usually involving Lamar's character model being replaced with various popular culture icons. Later that year, Fonteno and Johnson again reprised their roles in

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

for '' Grand Theft Auto Online'', which included a homage to the original roast cutscene. In 2022, Fonteno published a memoir titled ''Game Changer: My Journey From the Streets to Your Video Game Console'', which details how he left his former life as a gang member to become an actor.

Personal life

Fonteno has a daughter named Bria. Fonteno is the cousin of voice actor and rapper Young Maylay who voiced Carl "CJ" Johnson in '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas''. He currently resides in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Filmography

Film

Video games

Published works

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonteno, Shawn Living people American male voice actors American male film actors American male video game actors Male motion capture actors West Coast hip-hop musicians Gangsta rappers 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors Year of birth missing (living people) Rappers from Los Angeles Male actors from California African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers Male actors from Los Angeles 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians