Wrong Onez

Question…What do you get when you combine a poet with a high IQ and a gifted lyricist with a vicious delivery? Answer…“Tha Wrong Onez”. This Jersey hip hop duo comprised of lyricists Nyce Hoffa and Ke$e Soprano, have garnished comparisons to groups such as Mobb Deep and Outkast. Poised to take over what some critics perceive as a mundane rap game, their beginnings tell the tale of struggle, creativity, and perseverance. Nyce Hoffa, a Paterson, NJ resident, started to use writing as a ...

Question…What do you get when you combine a poet with a high IQ and a gifted lyricist with a vicious delivery? Answer…“Tha Wrong Onez”. This Jersey hip hop duo comprised of lyricists Nyce Hoffa and Ke$e Soprano, have garnished comparisons to groups such as Mobb Deep and Outkast. Poised to take over what some critics perceive as a mundane rap game, their beginnings tell the tale of struggle, creativity, and perseverance. Nyce Hoffa, a Paterson, NJ resident, started to use writing as a vice at a very young age. Having a strict, Jamaican, single mother meant a lot of days inside surrounded by books. Problems at home soon left him searching for an out. Writing became that escape. He became heavily moved and influenced by Tupac Shakur. Mainly using poetry to vent his frustrations, he soon became an accomplished writer. Awards in school for these talents would soon follow. These talents could not however protect him from the allure of the street life he saw around him everyday. After dabbling in the Hustler’s lifestyle, his mother soon saw his potential downfall and took action. She believed heavily in education and put him in good schools outside of his neighborhood. This steadied his focuses. In early 2001 he began writing to Instrumentals, and freestyling. Late that year, he met Ke$e Soprano and created the duo now know as “Tha Wrong Onez”. Their Hip Hop journey would soon begin. Growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, Kese started with a curious and very mischievous attitude, which often got him into tight situations. As a child, because of his temper issues, he had to ultimately be transferred into different learning disability programs in public school. Due to his mother’s situation, Kese faced his first major change, in moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe it was fate though, as it was here, while attending Thurgood Marshall Middle School, that he began writing poetry daily, and slowly started toying with rap music. Beginning as just a fan, Kese claims his biggest influence was Tupac Shakur. “I just felt like he always said what I wanted to say…He was like a father figure”, says Kese. Other influences included: N.W.A., The Wu-Tang Clan, Redman, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, Big Pun, and Big L. By age 16, now living back in New Jersey, Kese considered this where he started taking writing lyrics seriously. He was now diverse enough to rhyme about anything relevant in his life. From his love to basketball, to girls, to the surrounding violence, to his family situation – the subject matter would change often, but his lyrical ability was always strongly present. Given the decision to move to South Jersey with his mother, Kese instead stayed in the Paterson area, trying to make the change to independence. It was a struggle, in which Kese had to often take refuge on the couch of a nearby cousins or grandfather’s house. Now more than ever, his writing became much more therapeutic. Beginning to join backpackers in sidewalk ciphers to freestyle, Kese looked for any other aspiring rappers in his surrounding areas. Kese was given the early chance to travel to places like Bergen Community College and William Paterson Community College and perform his rapping on stage. It was during this time, where he met another New Jersey rapper, Nyce Hoffa, and again changed crews, to form Wrong Onez. Starting modestly in ciphers and freestyle battles they developed venomous rhymes as well as confidence in their abilities. With little income and less knowledge of nuances of recording, they first recorded on a Sony Play Station, a mixer, and a Radio Shack mic. Because of this set up, they were permitted only one take to do an entire song. This potential setback helped to sharpen their recording skills and chemistry. With help from a family friend they moved on to a four track then a six track. With these they put together a mix tape on cassette. Catching up with the times, Ke$e Soprano purchased a Roland VS 1824 for them to record on. They started on the local label, “Zooie Records” where they got very little guidance and direction. Refusing to be deterred, the group went on to score with a slew of mixtapes. They released the low quality “Indictment” in 2002. “Welcome 2 Silk City” was “Tha Wrong Onez” follow up in 03’. Their early CD’s were sent to local DJ pools and got excellent reviews even with their low quality. Refusing to be a prisoner of their equipment the duo upgraded yet again; this time to the industry standard, Pro Tools. In late 05’ they met and impressed Def Jam Artist female lyricist, Lady Luck. They recorded several songs with her, and even embarked on a mini tour with her. “Tha Wrong Onez” have released or been a part of 20 albums/mix tapes in the last 5 years. Including, but not limited to “Can You Hear Me Now Volume 1”, “Underground Pop Life Volumes 1 and 2”, “Welcome to Silk City”, and “The Resurrection”. In the summer of 2007 they traveled to California and purchased a small distribution company and turned it into “Smart Money Enterprises”, their Indie Record Label. Armed with determination and uncanny lyrical abilities, these young CEO’s are poised to bring about a Hip Hop Renaissance.