Ron Browz

Rondell Edwin Turner (born December 6, 1982), better known by his stage name Ron Browz, is an American rapper, singer, and record producer from Harlem, New York.

Rondell Edwin Turner was born on December 6, 1982, in Harlem, New York City.

After spending a short time as an artist on the small label Big Boss Records, he taught himself how to make hip hop beats.

Ron Browz began producing professionally after being brought on by Harlem-based rapper Big L, whom he met in 1992.

Browz then played the rapper "some beats he’d been working on".

In a retrospective interview, Browz described Big L's "Ebonics" as "the first record I produced that I heard on the radio."

His time with Big L was brief, but "effective", according to him.

They produced five songs until Big L was murdered in 1999.

Recounting the impact of Big L's death, Browz said "It hurt me and it hurt Harlem. I took a small break just to clear my head and to really see what I wanted to do. Then one day I said, 'I’m just going to go hard with this music thing.'"

He gained major recognition for producing Nas' 2001 diss track, "Ether".

Ron Browz gained fame in 2001 after producing Nas' critically acclaimed song "Ether", which was used at that time to diss fellow rapper Jay-Z.

The manner in which Nas decided to use Ron Browz's beat was unusual - Browz's manager "bumped into [Nas's] travel agent" inside the Def Jam building, and "begged her to give the beat to Nas", which she did.

Browz was unaware that his beat was used to make a scathing diss track until he heard the assembled song in the studio.

After "Ether" gained infamy and popularity, Browz began to refer to himself as "Ether Boy", after the song.

He later said in an interview that because his name was never said on the song, he did not receive recognition for the effort, so he began singing "Ether Boy" as a producer tag on songs to make his presence clearer.

His 2008 single, "Pop Champagne" (with Jim Jones featuring Juelz Santana) peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, while his guest appearance on Busta Rhymes' single "Arab Money" entered the chart that same year.

Also in 2008, he signed with Universal Motown Records to release his debut solo single "Jumping (Out the Window)", which entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, although it was critically panned, along with "Arab Money".

In 2008, Ron Browz released the compilation album The Wonder Years, which had features from Jadakiss, Jae Millz and Papoose.

Ron Browz began working on his solo album Etherboy after signing with the label Universal Motown in September 2008.

Browz retrospectively recounted that around this time, he was "running low on money" and unsure of his future in music.

After hearing the song "Rider Pt. 2" which featured a performance by 50 Cent that used the Auto-Tune effect, Ron Browz was inspired to use the technology in his own music, which led to him recording the similarly Auto-Tune-heavy "Pop Champagne".

A remix of "Pop Champagne" featuring rappers Jim Jones and Juelz Santana was released to commercial success later in 2008 as the first single for the prospective Etherboy album.

Another remix featuring Busta Rhymes was also created for the song with altered lyrics celebrating Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Also in 2008, he released his solo single "Jumping (Out the Window)", which featured a similarly heavy use of Auto-Tune.

The song became a regional hit, receiving airplay on New York radio stations and entering the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, but was critically panned.

The song also received an upbeat rock remix with pop punk band Forever the Sickest Kids.

Browz was also featured on Busta Rhymes' single "Arab Money", which was produced by Browz and featured more of his characteristic Auto-Tune.

The themes and lyrics of the song ignited controversy, particularly from Muslim communities; Music commentator Eric Ducker noted that Browz sings "non-sensical Arabic" in the chorus, likening it to "doing a song involving China and having the hook be: Ching chang ching chong chong." Browz also sang the hook on and produced Capone-N-Noreaga's song "Rotate" off their album Channel 10.

According to Browz, his label Universal Motown Records did not think his planned Etherboy album should release, which confused him.

In a later interview, he floated the possibility that the then-recent release of "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", a Jay-Z song which featured scathing criticism of the use of Ron Browz's favored Auto-Tune, had influenced the label's decision, but mostly expressed confusion as to their decision.

Browz then adopted the nickname Ether Boy, which is also namesake of a record label he founded in 2009.

As a recording artist, he became known for extensive use of Auto-Tune vocal effects that were popular at the time.

He then parted ways with the label to release his debut studio album, Etherlibrium (2009) independently, which was further panned by critics.

"Pop Champagne" was included on Jones's 2009 album Pray IV Reign.

In May 2009, Browz released the single "20 Dollars".

The song was not a success commercially, which he blamed on his label's refusal to promote the song.

This series of events spurred his decision to begin parting with Universal Motown.

Despite its lack of commercial success, "20 Dollars" garnered popularity online as an internet meme among fans of the Slenderman mythos.

This originated from a video uploaded by YouTube user brett824 that claimed to have "discovered" missing audio of a Marble Hornets episode, but in reality was a humorous bait-and-switch that instead played excerpts from "20 Dollars" whenever Slenderman appeared on-screen.

The song became associated with Slenderman, who fans facetiously claimed only stalked its victims because it "simply wants 20 dollars".