Marvin Bernard (born March 31, 1978), better known by his stage name Tony Yayo, is an American rapper and part of the rap group G-Unit.

Biography

Early life

Growing up with 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks, they formed the group G-Unit. They released several successful mixtapes together, slowly creating a buzz for themselves on the streets of New York. With the success of their mixtapes, Tony Yayo quickly made a name for himself in the rap circuit.

G-Unit

G-Unit was founded when childhood friends, Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent and Tony Yayo decided to make a group with each other. They met Young Buck when Cash Money group came to New York and 50 Cent heard Young Buck rapping. After 50 Cent signed his contract with Aftermath Entertainment they signed Young Buck.

Fronted by 50 Cent, G-Unit quickly redefined the urban music industry back to gangsta rap. They produced a series of mixtape albums with original numbers and high quality artwork, making the discs something more than a bootleg, but not quite an independent release.
Tony Yayo performing at Villanova Hoops Mania in 2005.
Tony Yayo performing at Villanova Hoops Mania in 2005.

50 Cent was soon granted his own record label by Dr. Dre and released the album Get Rich or Die Tryin. Soon after the group had established their own record label, G-Unit Records, G-Unit released their first official group album Beg for Mercy in November of 2003, which went on to be certified 2x Platinum.

Free Yayo

On December 31, 2002, nearly a year before the release of G-Unit's highly anticipated album, Beg for Mercy, Tony Yayo was arrested along with 50 Cent on weapons-possession charges. During a background check, police discovered Yayo had an outstanding warrant for a previous weapons-possession charge. In early 2003, he was sentenced for bail jumping and would remain in jail until the beginning of 2004. As a result, he was unable to record for the album and was therefore only featured on two tracks that had been recorded before.

During Tony Yayo's imprisonment, G-Unit became increasingly popular. They started a campaign called "Free Yayo". Many G-Unit videos featured the group's members wearing "Free Yayo" t-shirts, but Yayo himself was unaware of the attention he was receiving. The prison inmates that Yayo shared a television with preferred watching sports rather than music videos. When Eminem and 50 Cent were scheduled to make an appearance during the Grammy Awards, he convinced everyone to change the channel. It was the first time he saw a "Free Yayo" shirt-his time worn by Eminem.[4] Inspired by the shirt, he started working extra hard on his rhymes while keeping in touch with the G-Unit crew who were letting him know that he would get his chance once he was a free man.

On January 8, 2004, Tony Yayo was released from prison, but after presenting a forged passport to his parole officer a day later, he was imprisoned again for a few weeks. Upon release, Tony Yayo was finally able to start work on his debut album. Whilst working on his album, he was also recording on the G-Unit Radio mixtape series in which he announced his return on the street level.

Albums

While his appearances on mixtapes announced his return on the street level, his summer hit "So Seductive" let the rest of the world know. In August, while his single was dominating urban radio, MTV, and BET, Yayo released his debut, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon.The other singles that were released from this album were: "Curious", "Pimpin'", "Drama Setter", and "I Know You Don’t Love Me".

I Am 50’s Tax Write-off is Tony Yayo's second album.