{ Biography } { Biography }
Fanography's 
Written By Dee
Sole, Born Tonya Johnston Is nothing less of a rap phenomenon. Her drop dead
gorgeous looks, down to earth persona and skin chilling smile you would hardily
believe she grew up a tomboy. Setting herself far apart from the rest of the
crop with her no nonsense lyrics and hyper speed rap flow. One can just tell by
the technique used in her tracks that this Kansas City native is no rookie.
Selling close to 3 Million albums and Singles worldwide, being compared to the
best of the best is just the beginning. Her Midwest anthem "Who dat" that
featured JT Money was the hottest rap song in 1999, receiving the most spins on
rap radio as well as selling more copies than any other rap single that year.
The single went platinum in just four (4) weeks, boosting Sole in to
superstardom. Solé soon followed up her success with her solo single "4,5,6,".
The blazing single that had ladies calling their men just to chant the hook.
With lyrics that kept you wanting more, and a hot steamy video that displayed a
softer more sensual side of Solé, it was easy to see this was not just a one hit
wonder. Urban radio soaked the single up like water on a sponge. Dream works
released the single and in weeks it climbed the charts and sold over 800,000
copies to date. In The Winter of 1999 Solé's debut album "Skin Deep" hit stores.
With her platinum painted body displayed on the front cover It was hard to
ignore her. The Album sold over 500,000 copies and featured a female rapper who
could go toe to toe with some of the biggest male rappers to date. with hardcore
songs like "Accurate Math", "Never Thought I" and The tongue twister "Ey Yi Yi"
and Emotional true to life stories like "We've' been trying to long and "For The
Love of You". This album was clearly superior than any other female album
released that year.
Solé soon made cameo's in videos, recorded other hit singles and released her
third single and video from Skin Deep "It Wasn't Me" which featured the raw
vocals of Jason weaver. By release a better version was recorded for the video
which featured the vocals of then Fiance "Ginuwine". Solé then wrapped up that
project and begin working on her second LP.
In Early 2001 Dream works started slowly promoting Solé's follow up Lp titled
"Fly Away" btu there was very little talk about the album some didn't even
realize Solé was returning. Spring of 2001 a single was released to radio titled
"Never Had". The single was outstanding;it featured Solé telling her man just
how she likes it. Urban radio was told to stop spinning the single due to Dream
works wanting to change the slow tempo lead single to more of a hip hip club
blazer. The single "We got it" produced by Tricky Steward was released and soon
begin creating a buzz however dream works yanked the single and released a
statement claiming that Solé was not satisfied with the company and they are in
negotiations with her to let her go. With so much success people were wondering
why Solé would want to leave Dream works. Solé was not displeased with the lack
of promotional efforts for her new LP and she wasn't to please with the
promotion her debut album received either. In Early 2002 Sole and dream works
parted ways.
With fans awaiting her return singles began to leak to radio including a never
before heard remix of "so contagious" a platinum single from ex label mate Ron
Isley, as well as the single "Let him go" with featured the vocals of Tamar
Braxton, the two [Isley,Braxton] also left Dream works records for similar
reasons.
On March 8th 2003 Fans finally got to hear a taste of Solé again as she was
featured on Ginuwine's 4th studio LP "The Senior". The duo recorded the hit
single "Sex" , with that it was easy to tell that Miss Solé didn't miss a beat!
She was back and better than ever "This is just a small taste of what I'm going
to give this go round" Sole said to fans.
2004 found Solé a new label and rumors of a early summer release. Fans who were
there from the start are patiently awaiting her return. And I'm sure that it
will be worth waiting for.
Written By Prinza
She grew up as a tom boy, writing lyrics and rapping with the other boys. This
rapping diva was born a star. Starting rapping on the big scene with rapper Tech
Nine she was known as “Divine”. She said she used to rap with her best friend
Shurhea. But she felt something bigger, she wanted to be bigger and that’s where
she would soon be. People always doubted her saying “you’re so pretty do you
sing?” and she proved them wrong when she got the mic. She could do more then
rap, she could rap and sing but she felt like rapping was for her. When her
producer for Skin Deep Chris "Tricky" Stewart met her he also doubted her by
asking her to sing, but she said, “No I can rap”. He was like, “Yeah Yeah” and
she said, “No Really…”. So then she rapped away and he was like, “Wow! You
really can rap”. So that’s how her rapping career started. She proved him wrong
with her album Skin Deep you can clearly tell that she has incredible skills,
with her real-life lyrics and her deep husky voice she’s one in the world. Solé
is naturally a very shy person, even listen to “Never Thought I” and you’ll feel
how her life was. This album was off the hook but just a little wake up call the
next one will be even better.