Phonte

Phonte Coleman has earned acclaim as a rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer whose body of work stands among the most substantial and reliable in hip-hop and R&B after 2000. Born and raised in North Carolina, he launched his career in the early 2000s as one member of the trio Little Brother, where he refined an unforced yet incisive lyrical approach that blended sharp observation, emotional nuance, and dry wit. Later that decade he formed the Foreign Exchange alongside Nicolay, an R&B collective whose track “Daykeeper” (2008) earned a Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. On his own, Coleman has issued the full-length rap projects Charity Starts at Home (2011) and No News Is Good News (2018) plus the R&B-focused EPs Pacific Time (2019) and Pacific Time 2 (2024). His many guest appearances encompass the collaborative album Tigallerro, recorded with Eric Roberson.

A Greensboro native, Phonte Lyshod Coleman first gained notice alongside producer 9th Wonder and MC Big Pooh in Little Brother, a Native Tongues-influenced group that became the decade’s foremost alternative rap act. While still active with that trio, he and Dutch multi-instrumentalist Nicolay launched the Foreign Exchange, whose debut Connected (2004) fused multiple styles and whose follow-up Leave It All Behind (2008) moved convincingly into atmospheric, left-of-center R&B. One standout from the latter release was “Daykeeper,” a haunting ballad featuring shared lead vocals between Coleman and Muhsinah; the song received a Grammy nomination in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category, confirming Coleman’s successful expansion beyond rap.

Following Little Brother’s dissolution and the Foreign Exchange’s third album Authenticity, Coleman delivered his solo debut Charity Starts at Home (2011). Several tracks produced by 9th Wonder helped the project open at number nine on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart and number 61 on the Billboard 200. Its visibility may have been boosted by Drake, who had recently cited Coleman—alongside Kanye West and André 3000—as an influence when accepting his BMI Songwriter of the Year Award.

Throughout the mid-2010s Coleman’s primary creative outlet remained his ongoing partnership with Nicolay, while he also contributed as songwriter, producer, and vocalist to projects by other Foreign Exchange associates such as YahZarah and Zo!. Additional appearances during this period included work with the Roots, Robert Glasper, and Kaytranada. The stretch from 2015 to 2016 proved especially active, encompassing a fifth Foreign Exchange album, solo releases by Nicolay and Zo!, and the full-length Tigallerro, a joint effort with longtime collaborator Eric Roberson. Off-camera, Coleman supplied lyrics for several characters, one of which he voiced, in the VH1 film The Breaks that later became a series.

Coleman maintained a lower profile in 2017, though he kept co-hosting Questlove’s Questlove Supreme podcast and earned a writing credit on the Roots and Bilal’s “It Ain’t Fair,” featured on the Detroit soundtrack. His second solo album, the concise yet emotionally expansive No News Is Good News, arrived the next March and featured production from Zo!, Tall Black Guy, and DJ Harrison. Pacific Time, an EP leaning heavily toward R&B, followed in March 2019. That May, Coleman and Big Pooh revealed plans to resume performing and recording as Little Brother after a surprise reunion with 9th Wonder the previous September at Durham’s Art of Cool Festival; the duo’s fifth album, May the Lord Watch, appeared three months later. By then Coleman’s television writing credits already included Sesame Street, The New Negroes, and Sherman’s Showcase.

Into the early 2020s Coleman sustained supporting roles as producer and featured artist. His contributions appeared on Foreign Exchange Music releases such as Zo! and Tall Black Guy’s Abstractions, BeMyFiasco’s Where I Left You, Sy Smith’s Until We Meet Again, and Darien Brockington’s Where Love Grows, as well as Pete Rock’s NY’s Finest and Black Milk’s Everybody Good?, the latter containing one of his most affecting guest verses on “No Wish.” In 2024, amid several Foreign Exchange-related projects, Coleman and Nicolay issued the single “The Grey”/“Couldn’t Love You More [Dub],” pairing an original track with a Sade cover. Pacific Time 2, Coleman’s second four-song solo EP, arrived shortly afterward.