Gonzoe (born Ronald Moore) is a testament to the old adage “Survival of the fittest”. Born and raised in the infamous streets known as South Central Los Angeles, the all too familiar story that followed included the gangbangin’, drugs, death and violence that so many inner-city black men face in their lives, but Gonzoe is a rarity…he survived. Determined to survive the ghetto, Gonzoe took up rapping with the hopes of securing a future for himself and his family. His tales of South Central street life would attract the attention of rap icon and film star Ice Cube, who would sign Gonzoe and his group Kausion to his fledgling Lench Mob Records in 1994, and would lead to the release the seminal rap classic “South Central Los Skanless” which spawned the radio and video anthem "What you wanna do?" and “Bounce, Rock, Skate.”
As his street and music star began to shine, Gonzoe became affiliated with Knight Life Entertainment (the management arm of Suge Knight’s Death Row Records). This affiliation would lead to a close relationship with the legendary 2Pac which lasted until 2Pac’s untimely demise. 2Pac would even bless Gonzoe with his alias Young Ritzy, and initiate him as a member of his Outlawz, an honor that Gonzoe did not take lightly.
The success of Kausion’s debut album landed Gonzoe a solo deal at Private I/Mercury Records which saw the release of his debut solo album “If I Live and Nothing Happens”. Although critically acclaimed, the album and his relationship with Mercury would be short lived as the label changed ownership and Gonzoe would be lost in the shuffle. Gonzoe managed to stay relevant during his post-Mercury Records period by collaborating on dozens of others artists albums, most notably Dogg Pound member Kurupt’s GOLD selling album “Kuruption”. In addition to his role as an artist, Gonzoe landed a coveted role as music supervisor of and contributed nine songs to the now cult-classic film “Blue Hill Avenue” which starred Allen Payne (Poetic Justice, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne) and William Forsythe (American Me, The Rock), and was released on Artisan/Lions Gate. Shortly thereafter, Gonzoe, aligned himself with PLATINUM artist Yukmouth and was co-founder of the highly popular rap crew, The Regime (which includes underground rap phenom Tech N9ne). Gonzoe’s relationship with Yukmouth and The Regime resulted in collaborations on several of Yukmouth’s most popular albums as well as the wildly successful mixtapes, All Out War Vol. 1 through 3.
In 2005, Gonzoe took the initiative to form his own, Blocwize Entertainment and released four albums including his second solo album “Hard Dayz, Long Nightz” and the well received collaboration with Mob Figaz member AP:9 entitled, “Kartel Kalifornia.” In addition to his day to day activities as an executive, Gonzoe continued to expand his repertoire as a writer and feature of 2Pac’s sixth posthumously released album “Pac’s Life.”
As 2009 closes, Gonzoe has added an additional title to his many roles as Vice-President of the newly formed Illburn Records which also distributes his own Blocwize Entertainment. Among the many ventures that are planned for the near future, Gonzoe’s highly anticipated third solo album, “Year Of The Dragon” is already being touted as a soon-to-be classic and he will also make his acting and directiorial debut in his own film “Young World” which also stars comedy and screen sensation, Eddie Griffin (Deuce Bigalow, Norbit).
Gonzoe's latest endeavor entitled "Recession Proof" which features the likes of E-40, C-Murder, Glasses Malone & Brotha Lynch Hung.
There is much more in store for this young talent and the best is yet to come such as his new project "The Dispensary" set to drop on the international marijuana holiday 4/20/12 so get get blunts ready for another mind blowing experience!
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