Rodriguez grew up in Cerritos, California, and began skating with his elder brother at age three. As a teenager, he also began riding "moto-x" on a local dirt bike track. In early 1978, George Powell invited Ray Rodriguez to promote his Powell Corp decks and newly-launched Bones Wheels (hence the "Bones" nickname Rodriguez soon adopted). He invented several tricks, such as "aerial tail tap" and "invert to tail." After Stacy Peralta joined the firm and it renamed to [url=https://discogs.com/label/1453935]Powell•Peralta[/url], Rodriguez became the first "Bones Brigade" member. He also conceived the iconic "Skull & Sword" design in 1979, illustrated by [url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/3236987]V.C. Johnson[/url] and released as the first pro signature deck by Powell-Peralta. After 1982, Ray "Bones" Rodriguez largely disappeared from public contests and magazines, opting to skate privately, often together with other prominent riders, including Christian Hosoi, Jeff Grosso and Omar Hassan. By the mid-80s, he became a professional surfer and continued riding "moto-x" with Steve Caballero.

Rodriguez first got into the punk-rock scene around 1979, introduced to many local acts by Duane Peters. He played bass and guitar in Californian "Chicano punk" band [url=https://discogs.com/artist/973764]X-Members[/url] and replaced Trey Pangborn on guitar in One Hit Wonder shortly before they disbanded. From 2005 to 2008, Ray "Bones" Rodriguez was a vocalist with Manic Hispanic.