Matty Wood$
Matty Wood$ is a St. Louis rapper and independent artist whose music has long carried the easy confidence, humor, and hazy atmosphere of the personality behind it. Born and raised in the city, he began creating rap music in high school after earlier experimenting with bands and guitar. His influences stretched from Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Queen to artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Dom Kennedy, Kid Ink, and Mac Miller, helping shape a sound that could feel relaxed without becoming careless.
Over the years, Matty built a deep independent catalog through projects including DopeBoy, Backwood Bandit, Foreverfaded, I’ll Be Fine, The Revenge of Tony T, The Marvelous Misadventures of Tony-T, and Autotone. His music became closely associated with the 2200 collective, cannabis culture, distinctive characters, and the belief that an artist’s personality should remain visible throughout the work. Lyrical Lemonade repeatedly featured his releases and described him as both a leader within St. Louis’ creative community and one of the city’s artists positioned to reach a much wider audience.
I met Matty during the earliest days of Dorm Room Entertainment. He became one of the first established St. Louis artists to sit down with us for a long-form interview, speaking openly about growing up in the city, discovering music, the meaning behind 2200, the people around him, and the career he was building. The interview was later featured by Lyrical Lemonade, giving our young platform valuable recognition while introducing us to an artist whose creativity extended far beyond the songs themselves.
Matty was also one of the most naturally laid-back people I had ever met. He was comfortable being entirely himself, whether the cameras were rolling or everyone was simply hanging out between setups. He may also have been the biggest stoner I had ever encountered, but that side of him never felt manufactured. Cannabis, humor, cartoons, Backwoods, and the Tony-T persona were all woven naturally into his music and visual identity. His presence made every production feel relaxed, even when the work behind it was demanding.
After the interview, Matty asked Keaton D. Jones to direct a video for “Hugos,” a track from The Revenge of Tony T. I served as Executive Producer and Director of Photography while also handling the still photography and documenting the production behind the scenes. The project marked an important step forward for Dorm Room Entertainment, moving us from conversation-based content into a more complete collaboration with an artist whose visual work had already reached audiences well beyond St. Louis. The finished video was later featured by Lyrical Lemonade, which highlighted the collaboration between Matty and Keaton.
Working with Matty showed me how much an artist’s personality can guide the world surrounding the music. The clothing, smoke, humor, locations, friendships, and unhurried confidence were not separate from the records—they were part of the same identity. My photographs preserve the person we met through that early interview and the larger creative production that followed: an artist completely comfortable moving at his own pace while continuing to build something unmistakably his.
