About Tanya Morgan

Tanya Morgan is a hip-hop duo that consists of Von Pea and Donwill, and are from Brooklynati (aka Brooklyn & Cincinnati). Tanya Morgan formed on the message boards of Okayplayer.com in 2003 when Donwill, Ilyas Nashid and Von Pea were all solo artists trading demos and beat tapes. back and forth as wav and mp3 files via AOL Instant Messenger and email between takes on their other projects. The three MCs decided to collaborate for a one-off project and settled on the name Tanya Morgan - an inside joke to trick hip-hop crate-diggers and sample-searchers into thinking the record was an old-school soul singer. Within the span of a year, the collective of four recorded all the material that would become their debut, Moonlighting. The tightly knit 13-song set is bound together by the story of a misled record shopper and his unwanted purchase. The album's title is a nod to the fact that Tanya Morgan is really two acts in a group together who are, in a sense, moonlighting on their respective 'jobs' by working with each other. In promotion for this grand opening, the group has readied and released two projects: Sunlighting and the Sunset​.​.​. The EP. The bandwidth busting download that is Sunlighting plays like a mixtape in a sense yet still showcases the group's personality and presence while the Sunset EP boasts original production by Von Pea and Brickbeats, giving the listener a clearer view of what to expect with Moonlighting. After their debut album, Moonlighting, was endorsed by the likes of ?uestlove in 2006 and was received enthusiastically by fans, Tanya Morgan decided to keep working together and keep the name. In the wake of Moonlighting's critical success, the group released its follow-up, 2009's Brooklynati, which saw the group reach more fans and beguile more journalists as it was widely regarded as one of the year's best hip hop releases. Since Brooklynati, the group has reformed with Ilyas moving on to focus on his solo material and video production while Von Pea and Donwill continue to tour as Tanya Morgan, supporting the group's classic material as well as the members' first solo releases: Donwill's Don Cusack In High Fidelity and Von Pea's Pea's Gotta Have It, both released in 2010. 2011 saw more tour dates and the release of the group's third full-length album, titled You & What Army.