Moné

Mone, born Simone Clinton on December 2, 1985 on the island of Barbados, moved to the United States with her family at age five. She was raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, the daughter of a NYC lawyer and a very supportive mother.

From early on, she connected deeply with music. At seven, she heard Gimme the Loot and focused on flow and punchlines. In her early teens and into her twenties, she developed as a freestyler and songwriter, winning many college freestyle battles and building a following across upstate New York.

While attending college upstate, she studied at Plattsburgh State University, built a studio, and recorded in her dorm room. As money ran low, she became connected with local drug dealers and began selling crack cocaine. At her peak she owned several homes and multiple cars, and could fund tour dates for her music pursuits. In 2006, a major drug and guns bust changed her life: she was charged, sentenced, and served a total of five years in prison. During that time she kept writing, strengthened her songwriting, and planned a return to the music industry.

Seeking a label deal, she turned down offers she viewed as dead-end arrangements and chose an independent path. In 2013, she launched her publishing company FAMFIRST MUSIC GROUP PUBLISHING (via Good2bllc.). Her music circulated within the industry and received support from DJ Pro Style. She also signed upcoming artists, then stepped back to get stable, building a successful cleaning business before returning to music.

She highlights the challenge of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and being openly proud as a lesbian. Her work has been compared to Nas, J. Cole, 2Pac, Kendrick Lamar and The Notorious B.I.G.. Her mixtapes drew international attention, including “R.N.S,” and she released a remix of Blood On The Leaves. She later put out the mixtape “Pheromone” and has been working on a debut album titled “The God Complex.”