On the heels of his 1999 chart-topping self-titled debut release, Brent Jones and the TP Mobb make a triumphant return with their latest release Beautiful.

Hits such as "Sindy" and "Goodtime" from the first album made the Los Angeles-based group favorites among many radio stations, and Jones has kept quite busy since the debut release.

In particular, he was the music director for the stageplay Fabric of a Man (directed by David Talbert and starring Shemar Moore). It was while on the tour that the work began for Jones' latest release.

Jones told GospelFlava.com: "This album kind of took us a while because I was travelling so much. But we were so blessed to be able to do it while I was on the road.”

“We did the single 'Get Up' in New York. We did a lot of recording in Kansas City with [producer] Alex Ward and we did the remainder, of course, in Los Angeles. I was able to record across the country and work with some of the best producers in this market and just do my thing."

Jones' career has always found him facing unique challenges, and the creation of this latest project was no exception.

"The challenge was trying to write and be creative in the midst of being the music director for a big production. The scheduling, the studio, the rehearsal, flying back to L.A to do the TP Mobb vocals, I think that was probably the biggest challenge," shares the Mobb leader.

"It was a fun album to make though. Although it was a challenge, it allowed me to be across the country and be creative. I'd set up usually a keyboard situation in my suite whereever I stayed and I was able to write and be creative in a lot of different states."

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The success of the self-titled debut opened a number of doors for Jones and the Mobb. Most notably, Jones and Holy Roller Entertainment exec. Rev. Brian Peters partnered with EMI Gospel to get the product into a greater area of the marketplace. It's evident that this has had a major impact on his career.

"To go to every record store and to see your product does something to your ego," admits Jones. "It's like, OK!! You know, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Sam Goody...I mean everybody has the project."

But he's quick to admit that it's not time to rest on his laurels because of this major distribution deal.

"Well, by no means do I feel like I can sit back and chill. Even before TP Mobb was signed, we always had the mindset that you gotta do work," says Jones. "You gotta get out there and let the people see you. You can't sit at home and think that the label is your Saviour or your Alpha and Omega. You gotta do concerts.”

“TP Mobb, we kinda pride ourselves on [the fact that] we do our own concerts. We don't wait for anyone to call us. We'll just show up in your city and just say 'the TP Mobb is in concert today'. Kind of like how Prince does. You know, Prince will just come to LA and say 'Prince is going to be at whatever', put it on the radio and it happens."

The Mobb isn't your ordinary choir nor do they perform in ordinary venues. They are definitely about taking the ministry to the people. “We go to beaches. We get our own park and recreations permits and we just set up on the beach. We do our own concerts. Being in California, you know, you have those kind of options," says Jones.

“"We did our listening party on our own. We didn't wait for the label to say 'EMI presents Brent Jones and the TP Mobb'. It was a Brent Jones & the TP Mobb effort. We financed it ourselves. We did two shows on that day. It was standing room only."

Perhaps unlike any other aggregation in the market, the TP Mobb takes a personal hand in their marketing and promotion.

"We developed our own street teams. We do our own flyers. We went everywhere and let the people know. You know L.A. is so spread out. I'll send the altos to the Northside, the tenors to the Westside, the sopranos to the Eastside. We just saturated the market with information that TP Mobb is here and a new album is out, so get ready. I'm really proud of that work ethic," exclaims Jones.

Jones' has managed to tap into a unique situation with the Mobb, resulting in a work ethic that is second to none. He cites the dedication to his outlook on the aggregation.

"This is our 10th year anniversary, dude. I'm so blessed to be able to have 98% of my original members still with me for 10 years. I don't consider the TP Mobb a community choir by any means. We are definitely a close-knit group. We have become our own family. I'm an only child so to have built-in brothers and sisters is cool. We see the vision and we see that it's not about sitting back and letting someone else ride the vision and make the vision come to fruition. We have to get out there and make it happen. We are our best promoters. We are our best marketing team. We are our best street team. We count on the power that God has given us."


Jones and the Mobb are known for their hype stage performances and strong hip-hop influences. Jones easily understands the single biggest misconception about he and TP Mobb.

"[People think] that all we want to do is entertain. We're called the "Soul Train Choir" in LA and that's done affectionately because of our stage performance. We embrace the hip-hop culture. That's who we are. We don't do it because it's trendy. We do it because that's who we are. We didn't evolve into doing this kind of music. This was the music that was birthed through me. God gave it to me and this is what I do," declares Jones.

"So the most misunderstood thing about us is that we don't understand the ministry side of this thing. Ministry is paramount with us. We understand that if we're going to get messages out there, we've go to do more than just be in the church walls. For the first two years of our career we didn't do churches because the Christian market was scared of us. What was good about that was that it pushed us into these secular venues and it showed us that this is where we're supposed to be. This is our audience. The misunderstood thing is that we don't understand our name. TP stands for Total Praise and we really don't understand what praise is. But we do!"

With their organization in 1992, it had been debated within many circles as to who the actual creator of this "hip hop gospel" movement really was. While Jones & the Mobb were still waiting to be released, other artists such as Kirk Franklin and God's Property reached mainstream prominence with the introduction of this genre. Jones is quick to address this issue.

"You know, I had to get over who created it. If we stay on issues like that and try to verse who started it first, we get sidetracked. My thing is as long as it got out. As long as gospel music is now getting the kind of respect that it should get and the masses are hearing it. Kirk and I are friends. I remember him saying on the God's Property album, 'some people think that we've gone too far'. Before it was popular to stomp, before it was popular to be radical for Christ, God just gave us that. That year was 1992 when we got started. So, if that makes us the first, that's cool, but I'm not hung up on that. Let's just do it. Whether it be through me, through Kirk, through Fred, through John, let's just do it and let God get the glory. Somebody will take the credit but let God get the Glory."

Jones also cites some early mix-ups between the TP Mobb and God's Property in some venues when God's Property's 1997 release hit stores.

"I remember when God's Property first came out and they were hollering 'GP are you with me?', I had record stores calling me all over the country saying, 'Brent, you didn't tell me that your album was out?!' I had to humbly say that it says 'GP' not 'TP'. Of course, there were those who wanted to jump on the bandwagon saying that they stole it. For about 5 days I got caught up in the hype. Then God showed me, 'Look, what I'm doing through you is different than what I'm doing through Kirk and God's Property. So quit trippin' about those things.' People need to know that as a man, it got to me at first," admits Jones. "I kind of felt like "Wow, maybe I'm washed up now. Maybe this whole hip-hop thing is kind of taken away or stolen or whatever. But the spiritual man in me kicked in and said, 'Look, do what you do and don't stop doing what you do.'"

In all of this, he learned quickly to pray for Kirk and his success. He knew the challenges that Kirk would have to face. It also put Jones in a position that had become very familiar to him.

Insider with Brent Jones

Check out the Insider Interview with Brent Jones, as he reveals some of those 'insider details' you maybe never knew.....

"It's hard to be rejected from your people. So when the church folks were like 'Stomp?! That ain't about Jesus', I knew about that kind of rejection. It was new for Kirk but it wasn't new for the TP Mobb. Being rejected from church people and the Christian market was something very normal for us. I remember when the GMWA was not havin' it. But now they can't get enough of us," cites Jones.

The entire ordeal led Jones to a new place in God. Currently attending Bible Enrichment Fellowship Church (pastored by Pastor Beverly "Bam" Crawford), Jones has found it to be extremely difficult to balance his responsibilities to his church with those of his career.

"It's very difficult to do it. I tried to do it at one time and I don't anymore because of the industry," states Jones. "I don't have time to. I'd love to but I literally justgo and I just sit. I just helped start a new choir at the church; a choir of young adults and teenagers. I helped to do that but I can't be there. Pastor 'Bam' understands that. I'm not on staff at the church. I've been a minister of music for most of my life. I was kind of like a child prodigy being the minister of music over adults. But I knew in 1999 when my career and the TP Mobb's ministry started just taking off, I knew I couldn't hold down the fort at these mega-churches, you know? So I had to make some decisions. I asked God for a career in Gospel music, outside of the four walls of a church. So I would frustrate the prayer if I would say 'Lord, I can't let this go and these people love me..'. So I had to make some hardcore decisions and do it. It's difficult for any artist. I talked to Donald [Lawrence]. I talked to Kirk [Franklin] and they just can't do it anymore. It's just not possible."


As Jones has begun to really focus on the ministry of the Mobb, he realizes his target audience. In doing so, it has helped him to hone in on what it takes to be distinct within the industry. "We have a different audience. We're not particularly trying to sing to the saints. We're trying to sing to the cats that are in the mall, maybe on the beach, and who may be at the club," states the Mobb leader.

"Our language has to be different. We can't go in there talking Greek and Hebrew when our brothers that are talking are just looking past that thinking that we're just some deep saints and angels that they just can't understand. So we talk the language of our peers. All we're doing is speaking the language of the culture. With that, the music has to have that same language and that same sound. We're just speaking to the audience that God has commissioned us for."


One of Jones' many talents is his innate songwriting ability. Citing a combination of experience and concept as motivation, Jones has a passion for telling stories in a different sort of way.

"I love the artistry of songwriting. I love Babyface and R. Kelly. I love how they just seem to reach for metaphorical kinds of things and how they personify things you'd never imagine. Like 'You Remind me of my Jeep'...things like that," Jones told GospelFlava.com.

"I like to write for the secular ear with the secular language. So if the Word of God would say 'enter into His courts with praise', TP Mobb would say 'Get Up'. If the Word of God would say 'greater works shall ye do in my name', TP Mobb would say 'I'm so rich, it doesn't make sense that I could be rich like this'. If the Word would say 'love the Lord thy God with all thy soul and with all thy mind", TP Mobb would say 'I can't take my eyes off you, Jesus I'm in love with you, not for all the things you do, it's just who you are'. I just try to write in a secular, walking down the street, 2002 language for all of the things that God speaks about in His Word so that all of the secular brothers can get it."

Jones brings to the table one of music's most distinct vocal abilities as lead vocalist of the TP Mobb. His vocal influences are as diverse they come. "I love R. Kelly. I love the simplicity of Babyface. My ultimate favorite group of all time is The Clark Sisters and John P. Kee. I love Usher. You put them all together and that's what I try to give," says Jones.


Jones’ dream concert would keep many talking for ages, and it certainly speaks to the nature of his intended audience.

"One of my dreams is to do a concert with like a Jill Scott, an Usher, and a Destiny's Child," admits Jones. "Those people are also people who would listen to that music. I want them to feel like they can listen to the TP Mobb music also. You know, they can have all of those CDs in their spinner but yet also have the TP Mobb in there as well. It goes right along with what they're already hearing and it doesn't like disturb or upset or change the ear or the sound of what they're hearing already. I get a lot of opposition from that. What does gospel really supposed to sound like? It's the Good News. So if I do the Good News with an 808 kick or I do the Good News with a cut-time COGIC funk, I'm getting the Good News out. Now if I go COGIC, my brother walking down Crenshaw might not get it."

On "Beautiful", Jones delves into unchartered waters with a heavy reggae flavored cut titled "Rich". Led by original Mobb member Stephen "Rasta GT" Dolphin, Jones was influenced to go this route by the effects that he saw reggae have as an art form.

"[Stephen] has really shown me how powerful and how fun the music is. Growing up on the west coast, we don't have a lot of reggae. Every time I go to New York, you know, you have reggae clubs. I'm thinking 'Wow, this music is really powerful'. I wanted to do a song that would fit his personality and deliver the sermon that I wanted to give. Our generation, everyone wants to 'bling bling', be paid, and iced out. You know '20s on the Escalade' and all those things. And we embrace all of those things but we understand that the real richness is not in those material things. The richness is all the stuff that you can't particularly put your hands on. Love, family, people genuinely loving you, people on your side, God in you, God speaking through you, the gift of discernment...those are the things that make you really rich. We don't pass up the 'bling bling'. TP Mobb is known as a 'bling bling" kind of group. But we understand where the real 'bling' comes from," says Jones.

Speaking of dreams, Jones was ecstatic to collaborate with Cheryl "Coko" Gamble. Coko does lead vocals for the touching ballad "Midnite".

Album Reviews

Click on the individual album images above to link to the respective album reviews.

"1992, I was driving and I heard this voice come on the Wave and it said 'Love Will Be Right Here' and I was like 'Whoever is singing that is killing me'. Since then, I've been in love with Coko, literally for years. I remember being 19 or 20 saying 'I've got to meet her'. And that voice.... Then she did 'Weak' and "I'm So Into You" and I was like 'this is ridiculous'. But I could tell that she had a whole bunch of church in her 'cause you don't do those kinda runs unless you've been around church," laughed Jones.

"It was literally a dream come true. I wrote the song 'Midnite' about 5 years ago and I knew then that it would be so dope if one day Coko could lead this kind of song. I met Coko last year at a function that TP Mobb was at and we talked about it. She was real excited to do it. We hooked up and I still get chill bumps just thinking about it. In about three and a half hours, she came to LA and did that lead track and I was sitting in that sound room just crying. I could not believe what she did with that track. I knew that song was something special. She took it to a whole new level. Coko is the bomb!! Church people need to understand it. R&B people need to understand it. They need to know that Coko is the voice!"

Of all of the producers that Jones has worked with, he cites Alex Asaph Ward as the top of the list.

"I think we are like the best team. He did like five songs on the project. I love writing with him with me as the writer and him as the producer. What I do is I play him the song and he just feels where I am artistically. And to note, he is probably one of the best vocal producers of the world. When it comes to vocals, Ward is definitely the one," exclaims Jones. "He took those songs and made them very beautiful."

Jones desires that people really catch what the essence of true beauty is through this project and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

"I think our generation has lost it when it comes to real beauty. We think that we're beautiful because of the bank account or the house or the car and that's not what really makes you beautiful. Stay beautiful because God makes you that way and allow Him to do it."

They're laidback yet high energy. It's the perfect blend that makes Jones & the TP Mobb simply beautiful.