Ronald White, better known by his stage name Ron Ron, is an American rapper, producer, director, videographer

Videographer

Strictly speaking, a videographer is a person who works in the field of videography, video production — recording moving images and sound on video tape, disk, other electro-mechanical device. News broadcasting relies heavily on live television where videographers engage in electronic news...

, CEO of The Gold Mind Business Corporation, head of indie label Brainiak Muzik and former affiliate of Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

.

Early life

October 3, 1981,Ronald F White Jr. was born to Carietta Michelle Slatton and Ronald Frank White Sr. This day will forever be marked as the day a musical genius was born. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up between his mother's home and his father and step mother, Rachelle White's home. They collectively contributed to his care. As a child he endured trials and tribulations of living between the two different environments. He had a strong grandparents who were also influential in his personal development. His grandparents were very special to him. He also formed a close brotherly bond with his older cousin,Shah. He learned a lot from Shah who is from Los Angeles, CA. As a pre-teen, Ron-Ron moved to California with his mother and baby brother. He was exposed to a whole new world. By 14, he was back in KCMO. He attended Paseo Academy School of Fine and Performing Arts. He had the opportunity to major in Theater. His major study during high school complimented his already dynamic personality. He participated in productions at the school. Also because of his comedic and charming personality he hosted talent and fashion shows with ease. Due to the love of music he also began to hone his craft in Applied Technology, a course offered in school that offered a technical foundation to his understanding of musical production. He is an intelligent mind and considered a genius by plenty. High school wasn't a challenge for him although he got suspended often, mostly for truancy problems and class disruption. He juggled home life and the reality of the streets, all the while he graduated a year early from high school. He briefly attended Lincoln Universtity in Jefferson City, MO. He left after two violent altercations, one in which he was badly injured by a group of men. He ultimately decided that he belonged with his family and colleagues in a southern KC ghetto affectionately known by its residents as "the 50s". On 50th and Bellefontaine, the same neighborhood where his spent time as a kid, many of his family members reside either on the block or very close to it. Ron-Ron always identified with his own kind. On "the block" he felt at home. Although the neighborhood didn't offer the most positive influences, he managed to make life long and life changing connections with those who were raised there just like him.

Personal Life.

He is the father of 3 daughters and one god-son (Todd Jr.) of his late friend Todd. He married his long time off and on again high-school girl-friend (Keli) in 2007 prior to going to trial. All three of his daughters are named after presidents; Kennedi, Karter, and Klyntin. He also has a biological brother that attends college in the midwest and majors in computer science. Ron and his little brother are extremely close. He comes from a large family. He has a host of uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins. All of his family is important to him but two in particular he holds a special bond. Steve "Moody" Wright and Dionysus "Dion" Spriggs. Both are incarcerated in the federal penal system. They all grew up in the neighborhood together and became known as the "Bellfontaine Boys", taking the name from their uncles and older relatives in the era before them. Seeing them get caught up in the system for so many extremely serious crimes had a tremendous impact on Ron Ron, driving him to stay on a more positive course while still trying to remain true to his roots. Coming from such a big family with decades of history it was difficult to truly shake his past but instead he had to learn to use it to improve his future. After all of his legal misfortune, Ron came to the realization that because of his local notoriety and street credibility, he could use his own personal experience to encourage Kansas City's at risk youth to do better. He was affiliated with the a local non-profit group called Aim4Peace. He briefly went to Kansas City area high schools from 2009 to 2010 to speak to high risk teens.

Legal Trouble

Shortly after leaving college he immediately began getting in serious legal trouble. In between the major charges were dozens of minor arrests and investigations. He was first arrested for felony forgery and burglary charges. A year later he was picked up for possession of pcp. And a few months after that he was sent to jail for several months for felonious restraint (minor kidnapping) of two men. Once released with another chance at freedom, but on probation, he seemed to stay under the radar for a year or two when he was captured at a drug rehab for two counts of first degree murder. He spent a year in detention and then bonded out with a condition of house arrest. He spent 3 years released on bond apart for being re incarcerated twice for violations of house arrest conditions. During these years is when he and some of his close friends and relatives got a studio and began making and selling professionally recorded songs and mixtapes. The popularity of the music grew rapidly but due to circumstances the music traveled hardly any further than Missouri and Kansas. This momentum was also halted when a brief but intense turf war broke out in Kansas City causing police to investigate rap groups with gang ties irreversibly damaging the local independent music scene in Kansas City, not just for him but just about every rapper in the city. On June 11, 2007 he began trial for the murders and included lesser charges. On June 15 he was fully acquitted of all charges and immediately released off of house arrest. His attorney was the well known Patrick Peters. Unfortunately this freedom would only last a couple months when the prosecutor arraigned him on a drug case that happened prior to the murders he went to trial on. Back on probation again his music career was once again put on hault, a trend so familiar to him since the age of 18.

Commercially and Independently

Ron has appeared in major videos with national recording artists Rick Ross, Marques Houston, Tech N9ne, and Hurricane Cris. He has made songs with Rick Ross, Yo Gotti, Nipsey Hussle, Torch, Busta Rhymes, Mon-E-G, Saw Money, Popper, Tech N9ne, J Stalin, Thiz Ent., Matt Blaque, Rich the Factor, and many more. He has toured and performed with dozens of national recording artists including the likes of Monica, Plies, Rick Ross and many many more. In 2009, Ron and Stik Figa, won a Pitch Award for Hip-Hop song of the year. His success is measured more in terms of influence and not sales as he has never had a true financially successful record. It was rumored that his club hit "Hey Honey" made him rich but the song ended up in limbo and ultimately in court in which Ron stays adamant on staying away from avoidable legal issues, thus leaving the potential profits on the table rather than fight for them in a courtroom.

Music Feud

Prior to death of Fat Tone he and Ron were involved in short and unofficial rap feud where no names were mentioned on record but was rumored to be intense even though the two grew up together and even have songs together under their rap group name "5150". The 51 was for Ron and the 50 was for Tone. The two were on speaking terms though at the time of Tone's death but were unable to reconcile. After that situation Ron vowed to refrain from rap beefs, wars, etc. after seeing how closely the music and street world were intertwined. Ron never made any more of his issues public since then, although there is speculation swirling the streets of Kansas City with countless people.

Rap Groups and Labels

Rappers in his neighborhood "unofficially" went by the name Bucc Clicc which was representation of a large group of youngsters. They never released any projects but recorded dozens of amateur songs for a few years at various houses in the 51st Street area. With everyone constantly in and out of jail no real progress was made outside of the area of the 50's.

He first co founded a rap group called 5-1-2 which was him and Todd "Lace" Williard who died in 2005 after being shot. The two were childhood friends. The 5-1 was for Ron and 1-2 was for Todd. Later other rappers changed the 1 to "ace" and the 2 to "deuce" to include other group members. This led to a cult following on the streets blurring the line of art and life. The controversy forced Ron to step back from the scene which had random unaffiliated people causing serious trouble under that banner. Ron maintains his ties are based solely on the memory of his fallen comrade and in no way to promote gang membership.

His next venture was co-founding the label Die Hard Ent. with family members.They enjoyed a few years of success and even ran a professional recording studio for several years on the corner 59th and Prospect, which is an infamous street in Kansas City known for decades. They released projects every few months and even did a few Ron Ron shows in Missouri.

Ron started up his own indie label "Brainiak Muzik" under THE GOLD MIND BUSINESS CORPORATION in 2008 which he still operates at a limited capacity in music and video production. He's released his most well known music under this label although it is argued that his "best" music was with Die Hard. Ron has refrained from using curse words in his music since 2007 which may be the reason for debate although his subject matter has only expanded while still being firmly grounded in the streets.

In the years since he has attempted to partner with Hush Ent. distributed through Universal. He also partnered briefly with Southside Recordings. Neither yielded much more than song recordings and networking opportunities.

Film and Video

One his lesser known talents is in the video production field. He has directed and edited videos for years. He has also produced hundreds of songs earlier in his career but really doesn't do it anymore, and it is usually just co-production work when he does. He has had songs he's produced placed in several indie films as he is a member of the Kansas City based IFC (Independent Filmmaker's Coalition). His work is displayed on YouTube. He has directed and edited "Grimmy Muffucca" 2006, "G.A.N.G.S.T.A." 2006, "Hey Honey" 2008, "100 Barz" 2009, "Life Worth Livin" 2010, "Lyric 100 Barz" 2010, "Caked Up" featuring Stik Figa 2011 and "Ron DMC Party Song" 2011. In totality he has over a million views on YouTube.

Albums

"Ironic" (2005)

"Ironic" [remastered re-release] (Fall 2011)

Ironic Pt. 2 (Deja Vu) (Fall 2011)

Ron DMC 1.0 (May 31)

Mixtapes

Cholie Brown (2005)

"Mr. Mixtape" (2006)

Mr No It All (2008)

Frank-Einstein (2008)

Skitzo-Frinik (2009)

"EXPERT" (postponed)

"Left Brain:Right Brain" (Out Now)

Therapy (Postponed)

"Mr No It All 2'" (Winter 2011)