Meet Reppa Ton, aka Jarrell Wood, aka Mr FadedTooLong – an RVA rapper we’re digging pretty hard right now.
Meet Reppa Ton, aka Jarrell Wood, aka Mr FadedTooLong – an RVA rapper we’re digging pretty hard right now.
Born in raised in and around RVA’s Northside, Reppa Ton’s been pushing tracks online since 2009 after he got a burnt copy of Kanye West’s “Roses.”
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Reppa Ton about his first exposure to Yeezy in an email. “As he conveyed the pain and witty lyricism about a real life struggle.”
He fell into RVA’s hip hop scene with help from his friend RT of The New Juice Crew. Since then, he’s shared the stage with the likes of Dizzy Wright, Young Roddy, Rapper Big Pooh, Emilio Rojas, Father and more.
Fast forward to today with Reppa Ton’s new track “Timeless” which the artist explains harkens back to a type of family values he doesn’t see anymore.
“I watched how before my great grandmothers passed, my family used to have big country cookouts with fun, food and festive activities,” said Reppa Ton. “Now my family barely even get[s] together anymore. I remember doing the Cha Cha slide with like 20 people in formation. Now the only time we find happiness, dance and a great time is at a club or a kick back with drugs and negative motives.”
But Reppa Ton’s new single (above) hopes to move passed that, and he pointed to a recent time when he met his father for the first time in almost 20 years.
“The moment was not what you spend years thinking it would be,” he said. “It just seems like everybody is numb to moments and the feeling of amazement… faith is being replaced by exclamation.”
The cover image for the track, featuring MLK Jr. in march formation, arms locked with other activists, hits a point Reppa Ton is deeply invested in.
“We have brothers dying from their brothers, police brutality, child neglect. The most a family gets together nowadays is when it’s a funeral,” he said. “I’ve seen death, negativity, pain. I’ve personally witnessed ‘The Struggle,’ if I can [sound] cliche about it.”
Reppa Ton’s taken his message to the community best he can – he said he spoke at a local Boys and Girls Club with Northside kids who already listen to his music and one of the kid’s mothers approached him and recognized him for his efforts.
“‘Keep doing what you doing because it keeps these kids motivated’ [she said to me] (Shout out Lil Dee!) That moment made me understand that [there] is a need for songs like this or artist like myself, Tai Wo, and Black Liquid to be present in this era of oppression.”
Keep up with Reppa Ton on Tumblr here, and keep an eye out for his next record, Forever Changes. He’s also got a music video for “Timeless” in the works, and a number of projects you can all read about here.
