By TUREKA TURK
Mlchlll!n Cltlun
"You haveJ ames Brown, who is the
Godfather of oul;
you have Aretha Franklin, who is
. the Queen of oul;
you have Ray Chari ,who is the
Genius of SouL
Without them and 0 many oth­
er. -Stevie Wonder,
Earth Wind & Fire, the Commo­
dores, whoever-we
wouldn't be able to create the mu­
sic we create.
We"re their children. "
-Rapha I, Tony Toni Ton
All 0 the pion rs of oul should
indeed breathe a igh of relief. There
w omeon Ii tening as Aretha
belted out female anth ms that pierced
�esoul. The�w3!. m n listening
to Ray CharI ' wi dom. There was
someone listening t the funk and
smooth flo\\, of the Commodores.
And who couldn't Ii ten to Stevie
Wonder' vast creativity that stretches
into infinity?
But instead 0 imitating one or th
oth r, like 0 many soul/R&B grou
do, the . one th t w Ii nin
them all with a balanced ear. Tony
Toni Tone.
The group h created a comfort­
able blanket of old memories inter­
woven with new kill that makes it
difficult to put your finger on which
stitch is a Wonder stitch, a Charles
titch, or an Earth Wind & Fire titch.
But you know its there.
The Tony new release, "Sons of
Soul", i basement funky. A product
of a regrouping effort that took place
in Trinidad, "S of Soul" i defi­
nitely pr f that the T ny will never
tray. from the b i .
"If I Had No Loot" got to hit
home to a lotoffol whofindacrowd
of frieoo that come out of nowhere
when they make it. Is "Loot" a per-
onal thing?
'1
RAPHAEL WIGGINS
and my total timulus was the tum- take that hip-hop ensi ility, pi y a
table. One night I aw Tony Toni Tone guitar, or ny oth r instrument and
perform live and realized that I could achieve the arne thing."
"It w 0 happy and up t. It
really w n't what we wanted but it
w a hit," Dwayne
The group i elf appears to be a
careful mixture of elemen pecifi­
cally c en by each member. From
the unique blend of colo and styl
for uniforms to the perfect bleoo of
harmony, Tony Toni Tone i a group,
in all ense of the word. But what are
the different identities?
"If you listen cl ely to the m ic,
you can tell who did what," Dwayne
explains. "I'll do mething that i
freaky, ina funny way. U e 'Ex-Girl­
frtcnc'. Raphael, my brother, will do
omething that ounds like Old Mo­
tow n. And Tim will do a track with
heavy keyboards."
The Tony have usually been por­
trayed very erious musicians, their
personality h n't completely leaked
out to their fans. One thing that can be
aid is that, to break from the monot­
ony of th m ic industry, they have
indeed the illi t, loc'ed out treak
yet.
"We're always together," Dwayne
says. "We gotta do omething."
Th streak i hidden in their funky
f t tracks and mellow, true, old- h­
ioned R&.B slow trac .
"S
in Trinidad and al the beginning of
the low jam ection of the new re­
lease. The entire ballad section liv
up to the Tonys ability to create "lights
down low, body wayin'" funky jams.
Fast tracks to check are "Ex-Girl­
friend", a humorous look at niavete;
"Ganster Groove"; and Tonyies In
The Wrong Key".
Let's flash to the year 2002.
What' Raphael's wish?
"Musically peaking, there is noth­
ing that would make us feel better than
AMAZINGLY, "Feels Good" us becoming omebody's father fig-
w n't a favorite of th group. ure ... maybe (a musician) will ay, 'I
-was a kid born of th . rap generation
BOSS
...
TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN RILEY
DWAYNE WIGGINS
By TUREKA TURK
M/chlR!n Cltlz n
"Let me correctly break it down to
ya
The term b----
A sista straight up clown in , ya
Cus ya niggaz ain't shit, so git this
Tis the season lor the ladies to g t
even
In the '90's, we doin' all the dog­
gin'"
-Boss
Hidden behind th rup ter uniform
of Carhartt gear, dark unglas and
hard- -life 0 Ii a si ta that i
about to feed th . e who have be n
tarving for a hardcore female.
Therein li Bo wrmrning m an
ocean of funk and hardcore. Sans th
dazzey duk ,cat claw . and hair
weav Bo j traight true to he el.
"There' a lot of p ure on femal
. rappers to dres up like hoes," he ay
in her rough and rugged tone. "But m
and (partner in thyme) Dee won't
wearing push-up bras and tight pants.
Female rapp rs wh d like that ar
trying to compensate or the C t th t
they don't h ve any g d !yri ."
Bo won't have to. weat lyri .
She b ted down th doorto the charts
with th trip through a gan ta irl.
mind, the unky phat "Deeper" th t
used the VOice of the b m ter hi m-
elf Barty Wrote. "Deeper" hron­
icl h r life in Cali, ellin d pc,
cooking on mok and rolling With
gangban . "Deep r" i madn
Hardcore fcm I can breath a
igh 0 relief n that Bo ntcrcd th
cene. Instead 0 going thr ugh th
"ind try m hme" which a habit .
o w lung out femal rapp rs wh
b gin hard J1 but end up n main­
tr m row.
"A L'1' F I· EMALE rapp IS
tart out street and th n go ornmcr­
cial, If you t rt out treet you hould
remain treet, " he 'ay .
DcfJam head h n ho Rus 11 Sim-
May it will be inherited from the
ons of ul.
"W RFAL Y DO 'T have a
problem with fame," ay Dwayne.
"Broth rs approach us m t, only be­
cause they think t118t femal like hat.
I'd rather a brother give me pounds
and leave instead of talking about hit.
But you only get what you k for. H
you don't want to be mobbed, you
won't be."
And now, for the predictablequ -
tion of the year: What d Tony Toni
Tone mean? .
"You asking me that tired qu -
rion?" Dwayne laughs.
I explain that I want the truth, not
the normal prepared media answer.
"Okay, okay. Well it started out
with all of us playing dozers (a cap­
ping game that is a perman nt fixture
in the group). We saw this guy with
th pimp suit, the jheri curl, back when
they were in, and we were Like, 'Who
the hell does he think he i 1 Tony Toni
Tone?' Tony Toni Tone i a lick,
pimped out motherf--- with the curl
nd a trot that kilo he' tit oin
on," xplai Ow yne.
Know he' ot it going on? The
Tony have got to know that. Every
ince 1 , with their release "Little
Walter", they've been ch ing on the
charts. The year 1990 brought us 'The
Revival", which included 'TheBlues",
"Feels Good", and the two low jam
cult cl ics "Whatever You Want"
and "It Never Rains In Southern Cali­
fornia". And don't even forget "Just
Me And You" from the "Boyz N The
Hood" oundtrack.
don't put my elf in th arne category
as girl us I'm talking much
. hit : the ni az. I'm n t trying to
compete with th femal but with the
mal like Ice Cu ,NW A, and the
G t Boy."
h rts aren't even in the picture in
that ompctition. Bo h' gained the
respect 0 rappers like Redman ("I
I ve women rappers .. A girl can not
kn w how to rap like all that but if he
h th attitude like, 'Yo, I can' he'll
I k lik he' all th t," the Ackshun
man, ys), Tr h of Naughty By Na­
ture l" I feel that worn n rappers are
the ba k n . Only a f male can
'how a fe-male POInt of view," Treach
ay .) and OJ Quick CUI like female
n.1ppc with an atntud ... Your music
1\ th hrt, because its unky,' he said.)
SI rn.