Von Pea

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Von Pea has been emceeing since 1991 and producing since 2000. Initially attracted to hip hop by the likes of Another Bad Creation and so many other young rappers that were near his own age, Von would eventually shift his interest to those who would become his strongest influences ? A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and Biggie.

In 2002 Von Pea began an alliance with the original members of North Carolina rap group Little Brother (Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, and 9th Wonder) which lead him to being featured on such projects as Phonte and Nicolay's Foreign Exchange "Connected" album ("Von Sees"), Little Brother's "The Minstrel Show" ("Cheatin" interlude), and "And Justus for All" ("Word From Our Sponsor"). In addition to his group's music, Von has released acclaimed projects such as 2003's "Custom Fitted", 2007's "Grand Vonye" and his late 2007 remix project "American Angster" which has been considered one of the best of the Jay Z remix albums. Von Pea is also a member of the rap group Tanya Morgan.

Tanya Morgan is a group comprised of Von Pea and Ilwil (Ilyas and Donwill) - two totally separate acts, with additional production by Brickbeats. Within the span of a year, the collective of four recorded all the material that would become their debut, Moonlighting and go on to be listed in Questlove's Top 10 album of 2006. After landing XXL magazine's Show and Prove section their debut LP Moonlighting was released on Loud Minority Music to much critical acclaim. The album recieved 3.5 mics in the Source magazine, the Chariman's Choice column in XXL magazine, a highly coveted spot in Wax Poetics magazine and several other publications and websites. The video for their second single 'We Be' aired on channels such as MTV Jams, Much Music and (hip hop's first VJ) Ralph McDaniel's television show Video Music Box.

The group has since played Toronto's NXNE and the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival with the likes of Ghostface Killah, Large Professor, Consequence and a host of others. They are also regulars at New Yorks annual CMJ Festival. In addition to attending the 2007 Power Summit in Las Vegas to compete (and subsequently win) Myspace Music/XM's 'Show Us What You Got' Competition and taking home 'Best Music Video' out of a batch of 3 total nominations the group has just wrapped up its second national tour throughout the southeast US and their new song 'Walk This Way' can be found in regular rotation on XM Radio and several college radio stations.

Tanya Morgan will be releasing 3 projects in 2008: A mixtape titled "Tanya Morgan is a Rap Group" with Vibe Award nominee DJ Soul, "The Bridge EP", and the full course meal that is "Brooklynati", the official follow up to Moonlighting. On Brooklynati fans can expect to find more of the same thing that initially made them fall in love with Tanya Morgan and hip hop in general.

After Brooklynati Von Pea will be releasing a much anticipated solo release titled "Peas Gotta Have It". Similar to MF Dooms Viktor Vaughn or the Rza's Bobby Digital, Von Pea is playing a teenage version of himself on the album. "Peas Gotta Have It"'s inspiration comes from Von finding his old journal from high school and laughing at his thought process from simpler times. The journal lead to Von deciding that he had to make the album he dreamt about (but couldnt record) back in high school. Von keeps it in-house, as the album is mostly produced by Aeon ("Walk My Way" Tanya Morgan) and features production from Trackademicks, Von Pea, Jamie Cooley, Big Nan, Brizzo and Brick Beats. Features also include DJ Low Key, Che Grand, Keisha Shontelle, Donwill and Ilyas of Tanya Morgan, Danny!, and Jermiside of The Red Giants.