Vado (rapper)

Teyon Isiah Winfree^[2] (born March 13, 1985), better known by his stage name Vado (backronym for Violence And Drugs Only),^[3] is an American rapper from New York. He formed the hip hop duo U.N. (Us Now) with hometown native Cam'ron in 2009, with whom he has released two collaborative albums—Heat in Here Vol. 1 (2010) and Gunz n' Butta (2011)—and the Boss of All Bosses mixtape series. As a solo act, Vado signed with DJ Khaled's We the Best Music Group, an imprint of Cash Money and Republic Records in 2013 to release his debut commercial single, "My Bae" (featuring Jeremih) the following year. Despite failing to chart, Vado made notable guest appearances on Khaled's studio albums We the Best Forever (2011), Suffering from Success (2013), and I Changed a Lot (2015); he continued releasing mixtapes for the regional New York audience until departing We the Best by 2020.^[4][5]

Teyon Winfree was born on March 13, 1982. He was raised in Harlem and grew up on 144th and Lenox. His mother is of Ghanaian, while his father is of African American descent. Winfree first started writing at 16 and was influenced by Ma$e, Cam'ron, and Big L. At age 19, Vado appeared on the public access television show Mad Ciphas. In 2008, he recorded songs with childhood friend Jae Millz. Winfree's first stage name was MOVADO, later shortened to VADO, an acronym which stands for "Violence And Drugs Only."^[6]

In March 2009, a mutual friend linked Vado with New York rapper and Dipset leader Cam'ron, who subsequently invited Vado to a recording session they soon-after formed the hip hop duo U.N., which stands for "Us Now".^[7] In August of that year, U.N. released their first mixtape Bosses of All Bosses to positive reception.^[8] The following year, U.N. released their debut album, Heat in Here Vol. 1 in May through Asylum Records, an imprint of Warner Records. Vado then released his debut solo project, a mixtape titled Slime Flu in October 2010 through Cam'ron's Diplomat Records label, with distribution from independent label E1 Music. That same year, Cam'ron introduced Vado to Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash, as Cam'ron and Dash were in talks of U.N. signing to the newly re-launched Roc-A-Fella. Vado signed with Dash's subsidiary record label, BluRoc. The U.N. recording outfit also signed to BluRoc, although they would only release the five-song extended play Blu Tops under the label in February 2012.^[9] During this time, many outlets described Vado as a "protégé" or "hype man" of Cam'ron.^[10]

In March 2011, Vado signed a solo contract with Interscope Records. However, he released no projects under the label.^[11] In the following month of April, U.N. independently released their second album, Gunz n' Butta, which saw a commercial improvement from its predecessor at number 78 on the Billboard 200, also spawning the singles "Speaking in Tungs" and "Hey Muma." In the same month, Vado made a guest appearance on fellow New York rapper Fabolous' mixtape, The S.O.U.L. Tape. In July, Vado made his first mainstream appearance on DJ Khaled's song "Future" alongside Ace Hood, Wale, and Meek Mill, which was included in Khaled's fifth studio album We the Best Forever. In November 2011, he released the sequel to his Slime Flu mixtape.^[12] In 2012, Vado announced his departure from Interscope as he felt more comfortable recording music for a regional audience.^[13]

On January 22, 2013, Vado released the third installment to his Slime Flu mixtape series.^[14] On January 30, 2013, Vado confirmed he signed with DJ Khaled's We the Best Music Group label, an imprint of Republic Records and Cash Money Records. His first major label mixtape, V-Day was released the following month.^[15] During the rest of 2013, Vado made guest appearances on the VH1 shows Love & Hip Hop and Black Ink Crew, and was a guest artist on Lil Wayne's Dedication 5 and DJ Khaled's Suffering from Success.

In March 2014, released his debut commercial single, "My Bae" featuring frequent Khaled collaborator Jeremih, produced by the labels in-house producer, Lee on the Beats. In December, he released his follow up commercial single "Look Me In My Eyes" featuring Rick Ross and French Montana and produced by Scott Storch. The single was from his sixth solo mixtape Sinatra, which was released earlier that year in February 2014. Both singles failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100.^[16] In 2015, he appeared on Khaled's album I Changed a Lot. After eleven mixtapes with We the Best and a two-year hiatus, he released his mixtape, LongRun: Vol. 2 independently through his own label LongRun in January 2022.^[17]

In October 2023, Vado was featured on "Still Believe In Love", a single by American singer Mary J. Blige.^[18][19][20] On May 1, 2024, Vado confirmed that he signed to Blige's new record label, Beautiful Life Records, in a distribution deal with Larry Jackson's digital distribution imprint, gamma.^[21] The singer also confirmed the signage in an interview with radio personality and television show host, Big Tigger.^[22]