Slept On Sunday shines a light on the best of what’s slept on in music and culture.
You should know about MonoNeon.
MonoNeon is an American bassist, musician and songwriter originally from Memphis, Tennessee. He has been around and back to say the least. Releasing a total of 20 solo albums since 2010 he has a huge catalog under his belt alone. However, his collaborations are more impressive.
Most recently he was nominated for a Grammy due to his contribution to “Kings Disease” by Nas. He also contributed to Mac Millers’ posthumous album “Circles” that came out this year as well.
Looking back through his career though he also has been able to collect some amazing placements with artists the likes of Ne-Yo and Georgie Anne Muldrow. But most impressively, Prince. MonoNeon was the last bassist Prince would hire before his passing. They were able to play a number of live shows at Paisley Park, which was Prince’s home studio.
All that being said though, it’s his playing and character that truly makes him great. His style is truly unique to his own. And that’s in big part to his approach towards the bass itself. Though he is right-hand dominant, he flips his bass upside down and plays with his left hand. As a result, he plays from an inherently different perspective than most.
His musical style can be immediately noticed as Funk. But after listening some more its easy to see how he blends sounds of jazz, hip-hop and blues into his playing as well.
In recent days, MonoNeons social media presence has been a large source of attention. His posts are always colorful and humorous, but never forgetting to show his incredible talent. One kind of video he’ll make a lot is a speech-to-music conversion video. Where he’ll have a side by side video of someone talking, and him playing the notes of the other persons speech. It’s so fun to watch.
If you’ve missed MonoNeon he’s easy to find. You can find him on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube to see all of his content and music.
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