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Daniel Denton (born November 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian rapper, singer and record producer. He has released music through Legendary Entertainment, Battle Axe Records and Urbnet Records.
He is originally from Langford, British Columbia. As a teen, he did Freestyle rap, graffiti and Breakdancing. In 1989, he joined the rap group Sound Advice with Juice Dub (Rennie Foster), DJ Degree One, and DJ Tee Double. In 1992, he formed a new group named Splitsphere with Prevail. Through the early 1990s he lived in Vancouver until he moved to San Diego.
In 1995, after returning to Canada, the duo met Madchild and formed the hip hop group Swollen Members, with Moka conceiving the name. Though he left to work on his own music, eventually re-joining in the early 2000s. In June 1995, he released his debut album titled Upcoast Relix. He continued making tapes independently through the late 1990s and was a pioneer of DIY hand to hand distribution. In 2001, he partnered with Legendary Entertainment to reissue them on CD.
Much of his earlier work was produced by a variety of different people (including himself). Most notably Deceo Ellipsis, who entirely produced 4 of Moka’s albums. However, in 1999 he started building a personal studio and a year later he released his first fully self-produced album Beauty is a Free Road. He has a large collection of keyboards, synthesizers and other instruments and uses both analog and digital techniques in his recording process. He produced lots of his own music and for other artists including Sunspot Jonz, Lil B, Snak the Ripper, and Gabriel Teodros. He has also worked with producers J Dilla, Oh No, Madlib, The Alchemist, J. Rawls, and KutMasta Kurt. Moka is the only Canadian musician to collaborate with J Dilla before his passing. He has also released multiple songs with Dilla's younger brother, Illa J.
In 1999, he was featured on the songs "Crypik Souls Crew" and "Crazy Cause I Believe (Early Morning Sunshine)" by LEN from their breakthrough album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush. He also made a cameo appearance in the music video for the groups hit song "Steal My Sunshine". Around this time, he paired with fellow British Columbia native Ishkan to create Nowfolk. Their first album together named Style Gangsters released in 1999, followed by The Moon in 2002. The duo recorded two more albums from 2001-2003 named Magnesium Opium & The Winter. From 2001. However, in June 2003 Moka's ADAT system was destroyed, effectively halting both albums release until 2016.
On April 3, 2001, he released Lime Green, his first album with Battle Axe Records, the same label as Swollen Members. Later in 2001, he returned to the group on the song "Fuel Injected", which won four MuchMusic Video Awards. The next single "Bring It Home" peaked at #3 on the Canadian Singles Chart. Both singles reached #1 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown. The album Bad Dreams went on to win a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year and achieve Platinum status in Canada. Also in 2001, he released the solo album Moka Only is… Ron Contour and the collaboration album with Prevail and Abstract Rude. In 2002, Swollen Members released Monsters in the Closet, a collection of B-sides, unreleased tracks and three newly produced songs. Two of the new songs "Breath" (featuring Nelly Furtado) and “Steppin’ Thru” reached #1 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown. “Breath” also won a MuchMusic Video Award for Best Rap Video. The album won a Juno Award, earned a Gold certification and peaked at #7 in Canada.
Just weeks prior to Monsters in the Closet, Moka released the solo album Flood, though it was overlooked in favor of the group's album. On June 3, 2003, he released the album Lowdown Suite, which suffered a similar fate as his previous solo effort. The group's next album Heavy was released later in the year and included Moka on every song, for the first time. The album debuted at #14 on the Canadian albums chart. The song “Watch This” peaked at #21 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown. Also in 2003, he featured on the song “Better Days” from the album Natural Progression by Sweatshop Union, which peaked at #23 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown in August of 2004. All three albums were nominated for Western Canadian Music Awards in 2004, Natural Progression, Lowdown Suite, and Heavy, which won the award. After this he left Swollen Members and returned his focus mostly to solo work.
On August 16, 2005, he released his final album with Battle Axe Records titled The Desired Effect, which he later described as "The Not So Desired Effect" due to issues with distributor Nettwerk. The song "Once Again" (featuring Madchild) peaked at #13 on the MuchMusic Top 30 Countdown. In October of the same year, he released an alternate version of the album titled Dirty Jazz, a Japan exclusive CD, with new tracks and a few from the previous album. A year later, Desired Effect was unveiled. In his own words, "THIS is what I really wanted The Desired Effect to be.. raw, continuous and to the point". Finally, in 2007 he released Vermilion, which includes more songs that were initially intended for The Desired Effect.
In 2007, Moka started the Airport series, with a spring themed album. In the same year he released three winter-themed albums titled Martian Xmas. He continued the Airport series, releasing annually for six years. The Martian Xmas series is ongoing and has totaled 22 releases. From 2006–2012, he released music through a number of different record labels, including Urbnet Records, which became his primary label by the early 2010s. The albums Vermilion (2007), Dog River (2007), Carrots and Eggs (2008), Airport 6 (2012) and Sex Money Moka (2014) each received nominations for Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2016, he released 12 full length albums, one in each month. The albums were released digitally and as a limited edition, two part cassette collection. He was nominated again by Western Canadian Music Awards for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year in 2018 and 2020.
Moka has collaborated with a number of artists including MF Doom, Del the Funky Homosapien, Kool Keith, k-os, Billy Woods, and Sweatshop Union. He has also collaborated with individual members of rap groups, including Grand Puba and Sadat X of Brand Nubian, David Jolicoeur of De La Soul, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde, and Opio of Souls of Mischief. He has named Native Tongues, and jazz artists like Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock as influences. He once said, "In the back of my head, I always wanted to be a jazz artist, but didn't feel I had all the skills, so I channeled that energy into hip-hop. The way I did it was to marry both worlds together."
Denton has released music under different aliases, most notably Ron Contour. In addition to making music, he painted the cover artwork for his albums In and of Itself, AMALAMA & Spooky Beats n' Other Treats; EP's The Mothership & Beaming; and the single “Heart at Home”.
Moka is a fan of skateboarding and can be seen riding in a few music videos. His music is featured in two Red Dragons skate videos "RDS / FSU / 2002" and "Skateboard Party". In 2012, he and Def3 released a music video for the song "Dragon's Gate", which takes place in the companies warehouse. Additionally, the brand Skull Skates made the cover art for his 2013 album Mutant and in 2015 they created a signature deck for him.
| "Wheres My Honey" (Luke McKeehan Skip Tracer Remix) | - | "Wheres My Honey" (DJ Czech Remix) !"Wheres My Honey" (Album version) | - | 2003 | Nettwerk | Haji, Luke McKeehan, DJ Czech and Lester | |
7”
Digital singles (as producer)
Collaboration albums/EPs
Collaboration albums/EPs (with producers)
Collaboration albums/EPs (as producer)
Productions
This is a table of songs Moka Only produced, but is not a vocal artist (see above for full albums produced by Moka Only).
Guest appearances
This is a table of songs Moka Only appears as a guest artist, excluding songs that appear on solo albums, EP’s or physical singles; no duplicates.
!"Wake It Up" | Deezuz | Ammmo | April 12, 2011 | From Canada Corporation | Stuey Kubrick | |
Music videos as lead artist
Music videos with Swollen Members
Music video appearances (non-featured artist)
*Featured artist on album version
| +Awards and nominations as a solo artist |
with Def3
| +Awards and nominations with Def3 |
with Swollen Members
| +Awards and nominations for Swollen Members | |||
| 2003 | Group of the Year | ||
| Rap Recording of the Year Monsters In The Closet |
| +Awards and nominations for Swollen Members | |||
| 2002 | Best Cinematography "Fuel Injected" | ||
| Best Director (Wendy Morgan) "Fuel Injected" | |||
| Best Independent Video "Fuel Injected" | |||
| Best Rap Video "Fuel Injected" | |||
| Best Video "Fuel Injected" | |||
| VideoFACT Award "Fuel Injected" | |||
| +Awards and nominations for Swollen Members | |||
| 2003 | Outstanding Rap/Hip Hop Recording Monsters In The Closet | ||
| Video of the Year "Breath" (feat. Nelly Furtado) | |||
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