Born in the summer of ‘85 in Paramount, California to a guitarist and legacy to a pianist, Clifton Ellens spent the first five years of his life in Long Beach before spending the rest of his formative years between Anaheim and Dayton, Ohio. Self taught on keys, bass, percussion and drums, Ellens began playing the trumpet in junior high. By his senior year of high school, he played the bass and upon graduating high school in 2003, he started to play the piano.

Within the next year he started to go by “CliffNotes” as he gained recognition in the Orange County music scene. In late 2004, he gigged as a drummer for Kiki Norita. That same year, musician and singer William Hawkins fostered the potential of this young artist by allowing Ellens’ to play on stage as his drummer and percussionist. In 2005, 105.5 FM Radio Impacto got a taste of Cliffnote’s sound while he played for contemporary gospel artist Irene Rodriquez. He began booking shows as drummer and musical director for hip-hop/soul artist Caviar Brown while being the house drummer for plush - Thursday nights with Scenic Root that lasted for two years. During that time, Cliffnotes was also a Cephis love sound percussionist where he played at the Temple Bar, while simultaneously playing drums for J. Mitchell and as a worship drummer for La Vina in Downey. He has also produced over 5 tracks for hip-hop artists, such as Gio and Sherlock Poems who both dropped albums in 2007.

2008 began the partnership with Randy Z. lead to the creation of AG One Entertainment. Their collaborative effort have produced numerous projects including: Akapela Jonz’s, “Will You Be My Fan?” that lead up to the release of his debut EP “Wake Up and Dream”; two CNVS events where they hosted an EP titled Canvas and Canvas II: HiLife Ideologies; helped Youth Leadership America by creating a song about job interviewing used as a promotional tool for reaching out to high school Juniors and Seniors. With collaborations with artists such as Krista Mone’ and Tanya Thomas, Cliffnotes has the ability to adapt to any genre from soul to pop or jazz to hip-hop and R&B.

In 2011, Cliffnotes created the alias known as Brutis Perux in order to give himself the freedom to experiment with a new sound and not have the expectations from his previous work. Perux's sound, now known as Electro World Groove, premiered in Renee Prudhomme’s fashion presentation for her INDIGO Line.