Little Brother

Phonte first met the other members of Little Brother, rapper Big Pooh and producer 9th Wonder, in 1998 while attending North Carolina Central University, as an English major.^[3] The three shared common musical interests and decided to form a group. "Speed", the group's first song recorded together, led to them signing a deal with the independent ABB Records, and recording their debut album, The Listening.^[4] The album's success led to the group signing a non-exclusive deal with Atlantic Records.

The group's 2005 album, The Minstrel Show, was a concept album dealing with themes including the current state of hip hop music. The album received positive reviews, without commercial success. During the recording of their third album, the group announced the departure of 9th Wonder on amicable terms, as well as a parting of ways with their label. Through a contractual clause they returned to ABB Records and released Getback in late 2007.

The Foreign Exchange

Phonte met Dutch producer Nicolay virtually on an OkayPlayer message board. The duo released their debut album, Connected, having never met face to face. The Foreign Exchange has released four albums. The group received a Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track "Daykeeper" (featuring Muhsinah) from the second album, Leave It All Behind.

Solo work

Phonte has appeared on numerous records by other artists as a vocalist. His lyrics tend to include perspectives on working-class life.^[3] Phonte made a guest appearance on the song "Beats N' Rhymes" from producer Kev Brown's album "I Do What I Do", and has also recorded tracked with producer Oddisee, both members of the Washington D.C. (DMV)-based Low Budget collective. In 2006, he was featured on producer DJ Shadow's The Outsider album. In the following year he contributed vocals to rap group Playaz Circle's song "Paper Chaser", from their album Supply & Demand. Phonte's recent projects include The Foreign Exchange's third album, Authenticity, as well as a collaboration (as Tiggalo) with Detroit-based musician Zo! titled Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80s. Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80s is a homage to early 1980s R&B and pop music and features covers of popular songs such as a-Ha's "Take On Me", Toto's "Africa", and Joe Jackson's "Stepping Out". He appeared on RJD2's 2013 album More Is Than Isn't.

He released his solo-debut titled Charity Starts at Home on September 27, 2011 through FE Music.^[5] His second album, No News Is Good News, was released on March 2, 2018, and was included in Bandcamp Daily's best-100-albums-of-2018 year-end list (placed at #42).^[6] Phonte also featured on the track "No Wish" by Black Milk, along with Raphael Saadiq.^[7]

Studio albums

Collaborative albums

Extended plays

With Little Brother

• The Listening (2003)
• The Minstrel Show (2005)
• Getback (2007)
• Leftback (2010)
• May the Lord Watch (2019)

With The Foreign Exchange

• Connected (2004)
• Leave It All Behind (2008)
• Authenticity (2010)
• Love in Flying Colors (2013)
• Tales from the Land of Milk and Honey (2015)

Guest appearances