STEFAN BARONE
Stefan Barone is a Staten Island, NY native, outspoken activist, and hip hop artist. As an emcee, his songs and freestyles range from introspective, sarcastic, to political and rageful, with lyrics meant to be the mantra of protest chant. Drawing inspiration from the hardened, yet vulnerable truths of DMX, double entendres of Jay-Z, and the boundaries of freedom of speech pushed by Eminem, Barone brings back what was once lost from New York City. As the co-founder and C.E.O. of the independent Red Planet Records, LLC, his influence can be heard in some of New York’s best up-and-coming new artists, including label co-founder and brother, Jordan Barone. Also known for his work as an advocate for children and teens experiencing bullying, his lyrics encapsulate societal issues, and offer raw human emotion.
OTHER WORK
Stefan Barone is the C.E.O. and co-founder of the independent record label, Red Planet Records. The Staten Island native artist and producer, was brought to Hip-Hop through the transformation of adversity into positive action. Engaged in the arts early on, Stefan was introduced to music and passion for New York City through dance, seizing a respectable inventory of accolades in his youth, such as learning from Gregory Hines, and performing at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. However, Stefan’s accolades were received with intolerance amongst some peers during his early teens, and became a source of bullying. Lyrics became the chosen outlet for all of the emotions involved, and hip-hop provided the structure.
Building a rudimentary recording studio at the age of 12, Stefan generated elements of what would eventually become Red Planet Records. During his late teens, Stefan and others in the collective would create mixtapes and organize showcases to perform across the city. He also began advocating against bullying, sharing his experience on national television. He had effectively reconstructed his tribulations and was exploring ways to share the experience with others.
Stefan took time to pursue an education, spending time working for major record labels, and learning the business structure necessary for an independent label. Stefan attended Baruch College while continuing to promote music. In his freshman year, he began interning at Columbia Records, in the A&R Department, and later performed talent scout duties for Epic Records. While working in Columbia’s War Room, he shopped acts such as Melanie Iglesias and Bebe Rexha. During his time in college, he compiled coursework in contract law, accounting, finance, and operational management, and served as the Vice President of the Baruch Accounting Society. He also focused on medical and biological research, eventually graduating Cum Laude in Biochemistry in 2011. He was awarded several honors and grants for his research, served as the President of the Baruch Bio-Med Society, volunteered as a Unite for Sight Global Impact Fellow in Ghana, had several professional articles published, and completed an Honors Thesis in phylogenetic research. During this time, he also completed internships in the Emergency Department in multiple locations within the Northwell Health hospital network. Here, he compiled data and provided recommendations for its Urgent Care Unit’s efficiency and workflow, and acquired skills essential for the operational management of his future business endeavors.
After college, Stefan continued in his passion for music, organizing performances in multiple cities throughout the east coast for several New York City artists through the use of Facebook groups. He also continued his musical education, this time with a concentration on “performance with electronics”. While studying, Stefan began working as an event coordinator and became Director of Audio/Visual Services for Making MemorEase, LLC, quickly boasting clients such as the NY Giants, Harlem RBI of MLB, and the Rockville Center Chamber of Commerce.
During this time, he co-founded Play It Forward NY with his mother, which provides free monthly support groups and resources to children and teens experiencing bullying in Staten Island, NY. He has continued to share his experience and advocate on the issue on local and national news media, and with local politicians, appearing on ABC’s “20/20” and “Good Morning America”, Fox5-NY’s “Good Day Street Talk”, and NY1’s “Staten Islander of the Week”..
Leading to the creation of Bar1 Consult, Stefan consulted on the early stages of The Music Development Agency (formerly the Artist Development Agency, founded by industry engineer, Tyquan Gholson), crafting early plans of action, and employee training. He then consulted on project management of several professional recording facilities in Times Square, the NYC area, and several independent artists’ home recording studios. Stefan also continued his work with event coordination, and facilitated the consolidation of several entertainment service organizations. He formed the MMC Entertainment Group, with his music industry mentor, and platinum-certified producer, Calogero Amorelli of Music By Calogero, Christopher Guzzo of Making MemorEase, LLC, and Joseph Delvillar of Island Entertainment .
Last, Barone joined the local Staten Island art collective, Projectivity Group, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, providing media and arts education to youth in the New York City area. He currently serves as a teaching artist and frequent collaborator for in-school residency programs and community events, developing STEM and STEAM curriculum. Upcoming ventures for Projectivity include collective distribution networks within the borough, and throughout multiple cities. The network delivers content amongst a wide audience through multiple social media users and partners with multiple independent websites to build an RSS feed system and increase viewership of content.
During these business community endeavors, Stefan took one last pause from creating music to solidify the structure of Red Planet Records, LLC, co-founding the label with his younger brother, Jordan Barone in 2014. Since the label’s creation, the two have worked tirelessly to complete construction of their professional recording studio, and develop the debut releases for the label.
In 2018, Barone was awarded the maximum funding available for a NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Premier Grant through Staten Island Arts for his debut EP. Stefan’s newest works can be described as a renaissance of east coast lyrical technicality, offering punchline-heavy, sarcastic, often politically charged, introspective, and emotionally intelligent Hip Hop lyrics- continuing to showcase sentiment in the same fashion that originally summoned him to hip-hop.
You can follow Stefan Barone on social media for the latest news about future releases:
INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/stefanbarone/
TWITTER - https://twitter.com/stefanbarone
FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/stefanbarone/
SOUNDCLOUD - https://soundcloud.com/stefanbarone
FOLLOW STEFAN
