It's September 20, 2026, 12:17:29 PM
Tone Capone, Producer of ‘I Got 5 On It,' Dies at 59In addition to the Luniz' global smash, Capone produced hits for Scarface, Mac Dre, E-40 and many others.Producer Tone Capone, seen here DJing in the 1980s, produced tracks for the Luniz, E-40, Mac Dre, Scarface and many, many others. (Tone Capone / Instagram)Tone Capone, a prolific producer who brought the mobb music style of Bay Area hip-hop to the world with the smash hit "I Got 5 On It," died on Saturday. He was 59.Capone's death was reported online Sunday by close family. A cause of death was not immediately revealed. Capone had been living in the Las Vegas area since 2021.Along with the Luniz' "I Got 5 on It," Capone produced many regional hip-hop classics that remain in regular rotation. Those include 3xKrazy's "Keep It on the Real," Mac Dre's "Fire" and "Not My Job," Celly Cel's "It's Goin' Down," Devin the Dude's "Sticky Green" and E-40's "Ring It."Across his career, Capone produced or worked with a who's-who of Bay Area rap https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop, including the Jacka, Dru Down, The Click, Conscious Daughters, Mac Mall, Messy Marv, Andre Nickatina, Spice 1, San Quinn and dozens of others.(L-R) Tone Capone, Scarface and Willie Hen pose for a photo backstage at Yoshi's, in Oakland, in January 2020. (Tone Capone / Instagram)As a beatmaker steeped in the funk and soul of the 1970s, Capone's rap production emphasized the the first downbeat of each measure, accompanied by exaggerated bass tones and live instruments. Along with his charting hits, his sound found receptive ears in Houston, Texas, where he worked with rapper Scarface, Devin the Dude and others.Capone was born Anthony Douglas Gilmour in Berkeley, and was raised in North Oakland, near Bushrod Park. His family home was filled with the music of the era: Earth Wind & Fire, the Crusaders, Parliament, Kool & the Gang, Curtis Mayfield, Donald Byrd.While attending Berkeley High School, he learned how to DJ using a friend's turntables. Before long, he began DJing at events — parties at fraternity houses, or at the Lake Merritt boathouse — with friend Nick Peace, who would become a notable hip-hop producer himself https://genius.com/artists/Nick-peace.(L-R) Tone Capone and friend Nick Peace DJing at a dance party, circa 1982. (Tone Capone / Instagram)In the mid-1980s, after high school, Capone began making beats with four-track cassette recorders, drum machines, turntables and tape decks. Shortly after buying his first Technics 1200 turntable, he committed himself to making music instead of hustling.While Bay Area rap had been famously independent, some of Capone's earliest work was commissioned by major labels for the Oakland group Capital Tax and R&B trio SWV.In 1993, fate intervened. Capone reconnected with a friend from Berkeley High, Mike Marshall, who'd had a hit song with "Rumors," by his group Timex Social Club. The two were at Capone's house one day when members of the Luniz happened to visit, bringing song ideas.One of the songs, in a rough sketch, was "I Got 5 On It." On the spot, Marshall wrote the melody for the hook, Capone created a beat based on the Club Nouveau song "Why You Treat Me So Bad," and before long, the track was laid down in the studio.Released in 1995, "I Got 5 On It" was an immediate hit in the Bay Area, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Gradually, the song grew to enjoy global recognition, aided by a remix featuring Dru Down, Spice-1, E-40, Shock G, and Richie Rich. In 2019, a slow, brooding remake of Capone's beat was utilized by director Jordan Peele in the horror film Us. After chart success, Capone kept working. Through working with Oakland rapper Seagram, signed to Houston's Rap-a-Lot Records, Capone met the producer Mike Dean, who suggested he join upcoming sessions for the rapper Scarface.The resulting album, 1997's The Untouchable, went platinum, with Capone's production work throughout. Tracks included the Rick James flip "Mary Jane," and "Smile," a major hit featuring one of the last verses recorded by Tupac Shakur. (In his memoir Diary of a Madman, Scarface named Capone on a list of the all-time greatest producers, alongside Dr. Dre, Pharrell and Timbaland.)Capone also connected with Mac Dre in the late 1990s, going on to produce the Ohio Players-inspired single "Fire," the street classic "Not My Job," the track "Genie of the Lamp" and others before Mac Dre's death in 2004.In the 21st century, Capone stayed active among a cohort of artists, pushing himself to try new tempos and musical styles. Before his death, he had recently worked with the Punjabi rapper Kanwar. He also took a day job, working at a hospital, before retiring.At press time, no services have been announced.Click the interview page for links within article -https://www.kqed.org/arts/13993851/tone-capone-dies-producer-bay-area-i-got-5-on-it-hip-hop
RIP Tone Capone (Anthony Douglas Gilmour)There is unfortunately no public domain/creative commons image of the subject of today's article. You will have to forgive me for using the cover of Luniz' "Operation Stackola" as the featured artwork instead, but I can at least give you a good reason why if you'll stick with me.Anthony Douglas Gilmour, better known to the rap world as Tone Capone, was born November 5th, 1966 in Berkeley, California. His is another in a long line of "right place right time" births in hip-hop. Surrounded by funk and soul as he grew up, hitting his teens right as rap music was starting to hit radio for the first time, he channeled his love of music into deejaying parties for his friends at Berkeley High School. It's also a familiar story in rap that he had to borrow equipment or use secondhand supplies. Necessity is the mother of invention, but being poor is the father of hustling. You do what you need to do to get by until you can make it to that next level.That love of music took him from playing parties to making the songs PLAYED at parties. It wasn't long after high school until Gilmour began making his own tracks, at first producing for Oakland rap group Capital Tax under the name DJ Smooth G. Eventually as his reputation grew he decided on a name closer to his own — Tone being short for Tony/Anthony of course — and when he got a chance to work with The Luniz he brought in his high school friend Michael Marshall to sing the hook of "I Got 5 On It." The track may not have made either a household name, but the single's platinum status and pervasive place in pop culture generated a lifetime's worth of legal tender.The added benefit for Tone Capone was his phone ringing off the hook. Once you make a monster hit that goes broad spectrum like that, everybody wants you to break them off some of that magic dust. His Wikipedia bio says he worked with a "who's who" of Bay Area rappers and that's easily an understatement. From E-40 to Dru Down, from Messy Marv to Spice 1, from 3X Krazy to Dre Dog (Andre Nickatina), if you were from the area and good he probably had a beat (or many of them) on your album. His fame spread beyond Cali just like his music and he wound up working with Scarface for "The Untouchable" as well as many other Houston area artists.Few people have so much success in the rap game that they can retire early from it and live out the rest of their days comfortably, but Anthony Douglas Gilmour achieved so much that the choice was on the table. To keep busy though he worked part time at a hospital before ultimately hanging that up too. You might say that's far from the glamorous world of rap, but it shows his mentality to me of serving others and not just himself. That kind of humble attitude is too rare in music let alone the world in general. Rest in peace Tone Capone. You left behind a body of work that will live on for many generations. My condolences to all of his family and friends.
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