User:Rjfinale

RJ Finale pronounced ( RJ fĭn – āl ) was born Rufus Lee Jones Jr. in Oakland, California. He began his musical endeavors at the age of 16 when approached in 1986 by childhood friend and school classmate Timothy Cotton a.k.a DJ Gandhi T… During their class session at Castlemont Senior High Rufus would begin acts of Beat Boxing with is mouth. He was inspired by the styles of Doug E. Fresh and Biz Markie. Intrigued by his emulations DJ Gandhi T asked Rufus if he would join forces with his DJ and Rap group entitled “The Top Choice Crew” who also include 2 additional members Joseph Pleasant a.k.a “Disco Joe” and Darrel Bullock a.k.a “THRD RL”. Rufus would perform with the group at various house parties though out Oakland and Berkeley, CA… during the intermission of Gandhi T and Disco Joe jam sessions Rufus would backup THRD RL with his beat boxing as he would rap. ​ Rufus was given the name “JR Beat Box”... Jr being his surname adding the word beatbox; stemming off the notorious “Human Beatbox Buff Love” of Hip Hop group “The Fat Boys”. With his passion for beats he had asked DJ Gandhi T to teach him the fundamentals of DJ Mixing. The concept of mixing records with Casio beat machines seemed to come with ease. Rufus then went on to team up with a well-known DJ and promoter Rodney LaFitte a.k.a “DJ Slyce” of “T-Tech Productions” after leaving The Top Choice Crew. With the assistants of DJ Slyce and his production… Rufus had his first Disc Jockey debut at the 1987 Castlemont Senior High talent show. It was then that he came up with the stage name “RJ Finale”… He wanted to be the last act to perform in the talent show, hence the word "finale" adding the initials of his first and last name.

Since then RJ Finale began to produce mix-tapes for local artist and providing DJ service throughout the greater Bay Area under the name Sustain Entertainment. It was in 1988 he met Sirgeo Lamont Penn and began pre-production studio sessions in 1991. Later on he assisted former band member THRD RL in his 1994 single “Fat Bag of Skins”.​ Over the years h​e has also worked with Bay area artists Antron (Icecream) Haile of Tony Toni Tone, MC Ant, Spice 1 and Seagram.