Based and born in Clairemont in 1981, songwriter/composer/producer Joseph Sardina, aka Lil Joe, founded Non-Stop Records in 2005. “Before having any thoughts of being an artist, and being the youngest brother of four, I was given the name Lil’ Joe by the older crowds,” says the former James Madison High student.
He released his debut album Starvin’ in 2005, followed by Playin’ My Cardz Without a Queen in 2010, both under his Lil Joe name. “I’d describe my music as commercial or mainstream, with an underground twist. It’s 1990s-style hip-hop, positive swag with a West Coast feel, no racial slurs, not trendy, and done from a playa’s P.O.V.”
Sardina now goes by the name The Clinic. “After years of producing albums for myself and others, and doctoring music for people, I was building a reputation for ‘puttin’ on a clinic,’ in the streets and in the studio, with the sound I deliver.”
His full-length Playareallagy was released in Spring 2012, while his Big Slang Theory came out in December of that year. A subsequent single “When I'm in Your Town,” from his 2014 album The Late Heavy, features underground Sacramento rapper First Degree the D.E.