Stockton, California-artist Jhonel Dongon (b. December 2, 1996), better known as MBNel, was one of the first artists to bring attention to Stockton in the late 2010s, and has risen to unbelievable heights in terms of creativity with his sound. He is most known for his crisp lyricism and unique flow on pretty much any beat you could think of.

MBNel is apart of the crip gang Muddy Boyz, and represents 8 Block of South Stockton. He has collaborated with many artists such as Celly Ru, Lil Bean, Mozzy, Slimmy B, EBK Hotboiiz, and is most known for his dynamic-duo counterpart, $tupid Young.

In 2019, Nel released his debut studio album “Born To Win” with the title-track being used as an intro for the 49ers during that same year. The debut involves his life in and surrounded by the streets of Stockton, as that’s all he’s ever known. With an ambitious and hungry tone coated through all fifteen songs.

His most sophomore album “No Hard Feelings” came out in early 2021, and is a true testament to who he is and what he has become, throughout the rise of his career. With goals and ambitions he has yet to achieved, Nel knows he’s still got quite the journey ahead of him.

With the string of singles released through the entirety of 2022 and the first half of 2023, MBNel released two warm up EPs before releasing his junior album, “Eight To Infinity” which came to be his longest album yet. With nineteen songs, Nel tells the story of not only how far, but where his journey has taken him. Like it’s predecessor, this album perfectly captures the versatility he has as an artist, and the range he has vocally. From classic MBNel days of “Like Me (feat. Mozzy)” to catchy Lo-Fi of “Bad Guys”, to vivid life rap and storytelling of “Dream”.

OTR Records released a compilation of unreleased MBNel songs speculated to be between 2017 and 2019 titled “Before The Fame”. Nel stated via IG stories “I didn’t put that project out”, meaning there was some sort of agreement for it to be released on the aforementioned label. The compilation is full of unfinished or scrapped material, however still feature a good set of quality songs like “Trippin Over Old Shit Intro” or “Ima Thug (feat. PacMan Da Gunman)”. The compilation even features the original version of “booted” titled “Back Against The Wall (feat. Kruk One)”.

Come 2024, MBNel had been working on his next studio album however wanted to give the fans some substance before said project. This lead to his mixtape “Nothing More, Nothing Less”. His Senior album would come to fruition on April 4th, 2025 with the release of “EPOCH”, a seventeen-track project which is arguably his best piece of work sonically, and lyrically, showing how serious he takes the music.