Tony Yayo

Tony Yayo is an American rapper. He is a member of the G-Unit crew. He was imprisoned on weapons charges in early 2003 and as such he only appears twice on the G-unit album Beg For Mercy. He was released January 7, 2004, but was arrested the following day for possessing a forged passport. On the track "Stunt 101" fellow rapper Young Buck says "free yayo," also in the video for that same track there's a "free Yayo" grafiti. Yayo has been released since May 26, 2004. Now, Yayo raps in The Game's "Hate It Or Love It" (Remix), that was released on 50 Cent's newest album "The Massacre." Also, in that song The Game says "We had the whole crowd screaming: Free Yayo!"

He has recorded with such hip-hop artists as Lil' Flip, Eminem and Dr. Dre, as well as with his original group, G-Unit. Just like the G-Unit's first lady Olivia, Tony Yayo has a solo album coming up in 2005. Anticipation has grown since new tracks are hitting the streets.

A street legend before the recording of his debut even started, rapper Tony Yayo is a lifelong friend of 50 Cent and a member of his G-Unit crew. Yayo had been with 50 during his career-building years in the world of mixtapes. Along with 50 Cent, Yayo was arrested on New Year's Eve 2002 on weapons-possession charges. During a background check, police discovered Yayo had an outstanding warrant for a previous weapons-possession charge. Early 2003, he was sentenced for bail-jumping and would remain in jail until the beginning of 2004. During this time, 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew were blowing up. Videos featured the group wearing "Free Yayo" shirts, but Yayo himself was unaware of all the attention he was getting. The prison inmates Yayo shared a television with preferred watching sports to music videos, but when Eminem and 50 where 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 -- this time worn by Eminem. Inspired by the shirt, he started working extra hard on his rhymes while keeping in touch with the G-Unit crew let him know he was going to get his chance once he was a free man. Come January 8, 2004, Yayo was back on the streets, but presenting a forged passport to his parole officer a day later put him back in prison for a few weeks. Out again, Yayo was finally able to start work on his debut. Some mixtape appearances on the G-Unit Radio series announced his comeback at the street level while the "So Seductive" single let the rest of the world know in the summer of 2005. In August and while the single was dominating urban radio, MTV, and BET, Yayo dropped his debut, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide