Fonzworth Bentley
Person · male · United States · Atlanta · born 1974 · recording since 2006
American musician and actor
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Also known as Derek Watkins · Derrick Watkins · Farnsworth Bentley · Mr Bentley · 丰兹沃斯·本特利
Timeline
1970s
2000s
· Debut release
Debut release: Laid Back
First documented Single in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2010s
Biography
Biography
Derek Watkins (born February 13, 1974), known professionally as Fonzworth Bentley, is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, and author. He is perhaps best known for being Sean Combs's former personal valet and assistant, as first seen in Making the Band 2, and was the host of MTV's From G's to Gents. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia.
Career
He first appeared rapping on Da Band's 2002 album Too Hot for TV, in the track "Cheers to Me, Mr. Bentley (Interlude)". In 2003, Bentley was featured on the "Good Day, Good Sir" skit on OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. In 2004, he made a cameo in the music video of Kanye West's "The New Workout Plan". Bentley is credited as a songwriter on multiple Yeezus tracks including "On Sight", "Black Skinhead", "I Am a God", and "Hold My Liquor". He is also credited as a producer on West's "Ultralight Beam".
His debut album, C.O.L.O.U.R.S.
C.O.L.O.U.R.S.Spotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 17 tracks1CLRS52Runaway (feat. Blush)3Jam (feat. Sammy Melody)4Take It Back (feat. YOU)5They Say... We GO6Believe It (feat. Faith Evans)7Don't Speak (feat. "The Crow")8Pies (feat. Cool Breeze)9Fire Side Chat (feat. DJ Mike Dangerous)10Black Ice (Freestyle)11Venice Beaches12C.O.L.O.U.R. S (feat. UGK and Lil Wayne)13Greener (feat. Anthony Hamilton)14Bunkin' (feat. Slimm Cutta Calhoun and Backbone) (Dungeon Family)15CLRS816Everybody (feat. Kanye West and Andre 3000)17Status Quo, was released via iTunes on April 26, 2011.
He was also featured playing the violin in the "Yes We Can" music video in support of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
Other media work
Bentley was an executive producer for Borrow My Crew in 2005, in which he allowed a boy, Cory Cole, to borrow the entourage of P. Diddy for two days. In 2008, he hosted the MTV reality series From G's to Gents, which ran for two seasons.
In 2007, Bentley authored an etiquette book, Advance Your Swagger: How to Use Manners, Confidence and Style to Get Ahead.
In May 2009, Bentley hosted one of the afterparties following the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Public service
In 2007, Bentley contributed to KnowHow2GO. Bentley's involvement in the campaign has included creation of a radio public service advertisement ("Wanna Go?") and participation in the 2007 YMCA Black and Hispanic Achievers Teen Leadership Summit in Orlando, Florida. Bentley sang as a member of the chorus for "We Are The World", a remake of the original for Haiti, in February 2010.
Television
From G's to Gents (2008–09)
Top Ten Gentlemen's Club (2008)
Confessions of a Celebrity Assistant (2006, the E! Channel)
VH1 Fashion Rocks (2006)
All Shades of Fine: 25 Hottest Women of the Past 25 Years (2005)
P. Diddy Presents the Bad Boys of Comedy (2005)
Caleta Condor, Chile (2005)
Before, During and After the Sunset (2005)
Borrow My Crew (2005)
Fade to Black (2004)
Making the Band 2 (2002–2003, series)
Films
Honey (2003) – Barber
Fat Albert (2004) – Salesman
Idlewild (2006) – Voice of Flask
We Were Once a Fairytale – cameo appearance
Think Like a Man Too (2014) - Limo Driver
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 8 | 49.7th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 3 | 77.1th |
| Studio albums | 1 | 76th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 3 | 73.3th |
| Recording span (years) | 5 | 18.3th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (3 release groups · 1 studio albums)
Albums · 1
2011 · Mixtape/Street
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 17 tracks
1CLRS52Runaway (feat. Blush)3Jam (feat. Sammy Melody)4Take It Back (feat. YOU)5They Say... We GO6Believe It (feat. Faith Evans)7Don't Speak (feat. "The Crow")8Pies (feat. Cool Breeze)9Fire Side Chat (feat. DJ Mike Dangerous)10Black Ice (Freestyle)11Venice Beaches12C.O.L.O.U.R. S (feat. UGK and Lil Wayne)13Greener (feat. Anthony Hamilton)14Bunkin' (feat. Slimm Cutta Calhoun and Backbone) (Dungeon Family)15CLRS816Everybody (feat. Kanye West and Andre 3000)17Status Quo
Single · 2
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Laid BackSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 4 tracks · 9:551Laid Back3:26 2Laid Back (instrumental)3:26 3Laid Back (a cappella)2:51 4Callout Hook0:12 | 30 May 2006 | ||
| 2006 | Since I Was 9Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 3 tracks · 9:101Since I Was 93:12 2Since I Was 9 (a cappella)2:46 3Since I Was 9 (instrumental)3:12 | 18 July 2006 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Fonzworth Bentley head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 8 | 49.7th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 3 | 77.1th |
| Studio albums | 1 | 76th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 3 | 73.3th |
| Recording span (years) | 5 | 18.3th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FonzworthBentleyDec10.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/669c4d37-2913-49b0-b5ac-c628fcd6f403discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/669c4d37-2913-49b0-b5ac-c628fcd6f403core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1435910genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1435910seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonzworth_Bentleybiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonzworth_Bentley
Why this artist is in the database
- List of hip-hop musicians
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Angela George at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/ · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q1435910 · MusicBrainz: 669c4d37-2913-49b0-b5ac-c628fcd6f403
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