Alonzo Mathis is a rapper from the United States who is widely known by his stage name Gorilla Zoe. That’s what his fans know him by and that’s what he wants to be called to protect his real name.
He is also famous because he was a part of a hip hop group called “Boyz N Da Hood” who was very popular in one period.
Early years
Alonzo was born on January 27th in 1982 in Atlanta, located in Georgia in the United States. He said that his childhood was very interesting and that growing up in Georgia made it even more interesting. Georgia is a very pretty place, according to him, but you need to be careful.
He was always passionate about music but it was in 2007 that he decided to start his solo career in that field. He said that he finally wanted to make his lyrics heard and that he thought the people around him may enjoy them.
He entered the educating system as everyone but was not interested in going to school or learning. Instead, he liked to spend his time with his friends in the neighborhood, listening to music and making rhymes or playing sports. He said that he didn’t want to waste his time studying because he always knew that he was not going to be too famous when it comes to school.
He was only 10 years old when he started rapping and he felt like he was quite good at it so he continued with it. His friends always told him that he did well as well and he was happy that he had his “supporters”.
Since he was not a good student at school and started making serious trouble in school he was expelled from it in the 10th grade. His friends started to grow apart and he turned to music to heal his new wounds.
In order to earn some money, he had found work the Job Corps and got involved in many different working actions. This means that he had worked on many jobs all at the same time, from being a seller to cleaning. He said that this was a very tough period in his life.
He soon became disappointed by his job because he saw that there was no way for him to get a promotion or to move up. That is why he returned home to Atlanta and decided to focus on his hip hop career. He said that he knew this would make him happy and that’s why he pursued it.
Career development
Before the start in his solo career, in 2006, he became a member of a hip hop group called “Boyz n da Hood” because the former member “Young Jeezy” decided to leave it.
After that, the group had several hits like the ones with Yung Joe titled “Bottle Poppin” and “Coffee Shop”. This songs even went to the Billboard charts which were amazing for them.
It can easily be claimed that his career starts in the Boyz n da Hood and it would be the truth. This group was very famous for a genre of music known as southern gangsta rap. The group was very popular and the boys in the band collaborated with many famous artists.
He entered the group after one of their members called Young Yeezy decided to leave them and start a solo career. This was a huge thing for Gorilla Zoe and it opened him a door to a wide audience who didn’t know him and knew nothing of his talent.
He made several hits with this group and it did not take him long to begin finding a way to start his own solo career in the world of hip hop. He said that music felt very natural for him and that he was very happy to hear more and more about it.
His debut song as a rapper came out in 2007 and was named Hood Figga. The song was received very well and found itself on the Billboard charts very soon after the release.
Another big success was his hit song called Welcome to the Zoo which was listed on the Billboard chart. It was also the name of his album and it was very high on the list of hip hop albums too. This was a huge motivation for Gorilla Zoe to continue making his music and releasing songs.
This album was also called “Welcome to the Zoo”. He calls it a compilation of his biggest songs and the ones he thinks are his best creations.
Another album followed in 2009 by the strange name “Don’t Feed Da Animals”.
In 2011 he released another album with animal suggested name titled “King Kong”. Many of his fans started to tease him about naming all of his work by the members of the animal world.
His new releases were tapes called “Recovery” and “Raised in the jungle” which came out in 2015.
He was more than happy to be working on this project and he was starting to get more followers on his social media as well, which was making success much easier for him.
In 2018 he was finally an independent artist.
After that success, he decided to find himself a record label and signed to “Block Entertainment” and “Bad Boy South”.
In June of 2007, he released his first song and it was titled “Hood Figga”. This song was No. 38 on the Billboard 100 list and was a big success for him.
That year he was chosen for next years cover of XXL Freshmen with some other great rappers. Some of them were Young Dro and Rich Boy.
In the fall of 2008 Gorilla released the lead single off his second solo album and the single was called “Lost”. This album titled “Don’t Feed da Animals” and it was again on the Billboard Top Rap Albums list. It eas released in March of 2009 and Alonzo sold almost 30 k pieces of this album.
In the first week, after it’s release, it went to No.8 on the Billboard 200 list. Some singles other than “Lost” were “Echo” and “What It Is”, made in collaboration with Kollosus and also Rick Ross.
In February of 2010, he released a mixtape every day. He posted them on a webpage DatPiff.com.
He also released a mixtape with a member of Die-Verse City. He is called “Qu1k”.
Gorilla Zoe also released an EP titled “I Am Atlanta 3” at that time.
In June of 2011, Alonzo released his third debut album. It was called “King Kong” and wasn’t as big of a success as his first two solo albums. This album went go No.56 on the Billboard 200 which is pretty low compared to his previous albums that went much higher. It sold 10300 copies in the first week of its release.
Allmusic gave this album 3.5 out of 5 stars.
A song from this album called “What’s Goin’ On” was released in December of 2010 and was 99th on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list.
After that, Gorilla Zoe made a break for two years. He said that he needed some time to reconsider his career and what he is doing, so he decided to take this break.
In May of 2014 Gorilla Zoe released his first work after the break. It was a mixtape called “Recovery”. It was also announced that Alonzo will be joining new record label, this time International Music Group, founded by a popular musician Flo Rida.
In 2017 he released an album “Gorilla Warfare”.
He also released “Don’t Feed Da Animals, Vol. 2” that year.
After that, he released his first work as an independent artist. It was a song released in July of 2018 titled “Fat Jesus”.
He also released “Tales From The Zoo” that year.
In 2019 he released an album titled “I AM ATLANTA 4EVER”. He said that this was one of the best projects he has ever worked on and he was happy that this brought him more attention. His big next goal is to work on collaborating with some of the industry’s great artists in the hip hop and the R&B genre.
He is active on his social media and has over 90 k followers on his Twitter. He has over 120k on his Instagram.
Personal life
He is currently in a relationship with Elika Tehrani, a businesswoman.
He doesn’t like to share a lot of info about her because he doesn’t want her to get surrounded by paparazzi and people that want more information on him, her or their relationship.
Quick summary
Full name: Alonzo Mathis
Date of birth: January 27, 1982
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Age: 37
Profession: rapper
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 76 kg
Net Worth: $500 k