Anthony Depula (June 28, 1966 – April 4, 2009), known professionally as Tony D, was an American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

artist from

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

Career

Although he was an MC and a DJ, he was most famous for being an influential producer in hip hop music. He was the producer behind

Poor Righteous Teachers Poor Righteous Teachers was a hip hop group from Trenton, New Jersey, founded in 1989. Often referred to as PRT by its fans, Poor Righteous Teachers was known as a socially and politically conscious hip hop group, with musical content inspire ...

, YZ, Blaque Spurm, Baby Chill and the Funk Family. He has also produced tracks for

Young Zee Dewayne Battle (born December 24, 1970), known professionally as Young Zee, is an American underground hip hop emcee. He is a member of the Outsidaz, alongside Pacewon and Rah Digga. Career Outsidaz The Outsidaz, a large hip hop crew that be ...

Outsidaz The Outsidaz were an American Hip hop music, hip hop collective from Newark, New Jersey, perhaps best known through their affiliation with fellow New York metropolitan area, Tri-State area rap trio Fugees and Metro Detroit, Detroit-area rap gro ...

, Pace Won, Blvd Mosse, King Sun's '' Righteous but Ruthless'', Scott Lark, Kwest tha Madd Lad and Shawn Lov. Tony D was the first artist to have a record released on Mark Rae's burgeoning British

Grand Central Records Grand Central Records was an independent record label based in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. It was started in 1995 by DJ Mark Rae (who, along with Steve Christian makes up the duo Rae & Christian). Rae started out working as ...

independent record label (then called Gone Clear Records). His other albums were released on his label Cha-Ching Records and 4th & B'way/

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

/ PolyGram Records, and he was a part of the group Crusaders for Real Hip-Hop, which released one album on

Profile Records Profile Records was one of the earliest hip hop labels. As well as hip-hop they released disco, dance, and electro records. History In 1980, Cory Robbins, who was 23 at the time and had worked briefly for MCA, wanted to start a record label ...

called Déjà Vu - It’s ‘82. Tony D's early records were sampled by several artists, including Naughty by Nature on the hit " O.P.P." and by

Heavy D Dwight Arrington MyersCuda, Heidi Sigmund Keeping it reel. '' Vibe'' ("born Dwight Arrington Myers")Samuels, Anita M. (January 12' 1996)Heavy D, the C.E.O. ''New York Times'' (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011), known professionally as Hea ...

without permission. All cases were settled out of court. Apart from Tony D, Depula was also known professionally under the names Harvee Wallbangar, Don Nots, Don Sluggo, the Goombata and, in his earliest credits, Grand Pubha Tony D. Later in life, Depula hosted a weekly hip hop radio show on

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

's 103.3 FM

WPRB WPRB (103.3 MHz) is an FM radio station licensed to Princeton, New Jersey, and owned by Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc. It broadcasts a freeform radio format, including shoegaze, slowcore, noise music, harsh noise wall, plunderphonics, ...

, which aired in Central New Jersey.

Death

DePula died on April 4, 2009, after being involved in a car accident near his home in

Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Hamilton Township is a Township (New Jersey), township and the most populous municipality in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton, the state's capi ...

Discography

* ''Music Makes You Move'' (1988) * ''Euro-K'' (1990) (DJ mix) * ''Droppin' Funky Verses'' (1991) U.S. R&B #71

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

* '' Deja Vu, It's '82'' (with Crusaders for Real Hip-Hop) (1992) * ''Flav (Beats) from the Cave'' (1994) * ''Trenton Connection'' (1996) contains ''Come Back to You'' used on AIM Fabriclive.17 * ''Pound for Pound'' (1997) * ''Master of the Moaning Beats'' (2001) * ''Revone - I'm Still Here'' (2002) * ''Da Goodfella (Cassette, EP)'' (2020)

References

External links

Discography of Tony D
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tony D 1966 births 2009 deaths American hip-hop DJs Island Records artists American hip-hop record producers Road incident deaths in New Jersey Rappers from New Jersey