Antonio Malone, who goes by his artist name \u201cTwo Tone,\u201d first found his love for music at seven years old when performing Michael Jackson songs at summer camp recitals. Though he was timid at first, he soon found his voice.<\/p>\n
A third-year business management student from Lubbock, Malone said he was shy until the microphone hit his hand. When he was about 13 years old, middle school came around and he started writing his own raps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would go in my closet, whispering in the microphone,\u201d Malone said. \u201cAin\u2019t letting no one hear me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Tech\u2019s football game against Oregon State on Sept. 13, just ninety minutes before kickoff, Malone was sitting in the Jones AT&T Stadium when he heard his own voice play out over the speakers.<\/p>\n
The lyrics were from his most recent song, \u201cGet Like Me,\u201d which he wrote in collaboration with Deion Finch, another Lubbock-based song writer who goes by BBM Deion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I heard my song, I ain’t gonna lie, a little bit of my heart dropped to my ass,\u201d Malone said. \u201cBut it was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Posters litter the walls behind Texas Tech junior business management major Antonio Malone also known as Two Tone while he plays guitar in his studio Oct. 29, 2025.<\/p>\n
Robert Looper<\/p>\n
Malone said he submitted a few of his songs through Tech Athletics\u2019 fan engagement website with hopes at least one of them would play. A couple of days passed by before they reached back out saying they enjoyed his music.<\/p>\n
In high school, he took a chance to make his first song during his senior year called \u201cKnow My Name.\u201d It was about people recognizing who he was as an artist with lyrics like, \u201cY\u2019all don\u2019t know my name, but y\u2019all will by the end of tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspired by Kanye West\u2019s \u201cJeen-Yuh\u201d documentary, which covered the artist\u2019s journey from small to big-time song writing, Malone said he planned to make his first big performance at his high school\u2019s prom.<\/p>\n
Up on the stage in front of his classmates, he said finally performing showed him he was always meant to be an artist.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It was) the feeling of them singing it back to me,\u201d Malone said. \u201cFrom that moment, I was like, \u2018Hell yeah, this is for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Finch was friends with Malone in high school. A few years after they graduated, he said Malone reached back out to him to make their first song together titled \u201cWild Lyfe.\u201d<\/p>\n
After this collaboration, Finch said he wanted to continue working with Malone due to the passion he brings to the writing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna keep letting him come to the studio because I liked the energy he was bringing to the music,\u201d Finch said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A paper sign taped to the door of Texas Tech junior business management major Antonio Malone also known as Two Tone\u2019s music studio informs passers by that a recording session is ongoing Oct. 29, 2025.<\/p>\n
Robert Looper<\/p>\n
He said he thinks Malone being a college student has given him new opportunities to reach new audiences by meeting new people.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the guy that\u2019s not afraid to put himself out there, and I think that\u2019s a strong suit that he has,\u201d Finch said. \u201cIf he works at it, if he commits to it, I think he can go places and do some big things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malone describes his music as having a \u201cfuturistic space pimp\u201d vibe and said his songs range from love to hip-hop themes. It doesn\u2019t take long for him to brainstorm something new.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I get in there, catch a groove, I\u2019m like, \u2018This is hard, I can\u2019t stop,\u2019\u201d Malone said. \u201cI\u2019ll make the song, listen to it over and over, do a car test and ask myself, \u2018What can I do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with West, Malone said many of his inspirations come from artists such as Michael Jackson, Al Green and the Isley Brothers.<\/p>\n
Malone said he knows everyone has to start somewhere, and he feels he has taken on those life challenges to be ready for the workload of his future career in music.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to go through the struggle, the upcoming, because I know eventually (limelight) is gonna come, and I just got to be ready,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n
He said he does his best to release an album every year on all streaming platforms. Since 2022, he has released three albums and has made over 50 songs. He said he always made it work, no matter the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the microphone set up, a shoe box with thumbtacks, foam surrounding it, but we made it work,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Antonio Malone, who goes by his artist name \u201cTwo Tone,\u201d first found his love for music at seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1837,168,170,169],"class_list":["post-35377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lavida","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}