Statistiken
Biografie
Originally a member of the street gang SouthSide Compton Crips, Anthony Smith later moved away from the street lifestyle to focus on his rapping. Tone-Lōc went from being a little known rapper to a pop superstar in no time at all with his 1989 hit “Wild Thing”. The single sampled the Van Halen song “Jamie’s Cryin’”, was co-written by Marvin Young, and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
After an out-of-court settlement for the uncredited sample of the Van Halen song, Tone-Lōc released the single “Funky Cold Medina”, once again co-written by Marvin Young. The single reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart, and went on to sell over one million copies. The single which samples the likes of The Rolling Stone, Foreigner, and Kiss was the second single from Tone-Lōc’s debut album “Lōc-ed After Dark” released in 1989. Issued on Delicious Vinyl, the album topped the U.S. pop charts, making it the second ever rap album to do so, and had Top 20 positions in the Austrian, Australian, New Zealand and UK charts.
In 1991 the rapper’s sophomore album “Cool Hand Lōc” was released once again on Delicious Vinyl. The album didn’t fair as well as its predecessor and after its release Tone-Lōc focused on his acting and voicing career included the films “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” and “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and the TV show “Food Rocks”. The rapper continued to tour into the new millennium and contributed lyrics to the FeFe Dobson track “Rock It ’Til You Drop It” in 2003.
Live-Bewertungen
Whether you know him by the real name he uses for his acting, Anthony Terrell Smith, or by his stage name, Tone-Loc, you know who he is as a multi-talented artist. His song “Funky Cold Medina” is a cult classic song that people still love hearing to this day. Los Angeles born and raised, he is a great representative of the West Coast party in the ever-going east coast versus west coast.
Not being a one trick pony, his live sets are essentially one gigantic party. With people pushing their way into the crowd that surrounds the stage, everyone is having the time of their lives. On stage Tone Loc has a DJ laying down the tracks and few hype men taking the stage with him. His performance includes some of his best songs like “Wild Thing” and closed with “Funky Cold Medina” which meant an eruption of cheering. Literally everyone in the place seemed to know the words and was flashed back to the best times of the late 80s, early 90s. Between songs he takes opportunities to talk to the audience, either to thank them or to hype them up, and his hype men will also say a few words during the songs.
Tone-Lōc represents an ilk of hip hop artists who achieved commercial success with a smattering of singles in the 80s and then faded into obscurity when unable to recreate the same winning formula. Fair play to Anthony Terrell Smith though as he still continues to tour for the fanbase who continue to buy the tickets for the show.
Although there is only two albums in his discography and one of those is over two decades old, he manages to pack out a set that gets the crowd excited and of course there are a small number of hits to get them on side including 'I Got It Goin' On'. He hits his stride towards the end and with the hype man getting the whole room onside to jump to the heavy bass line introductions of 'Funky Cold Medina' he brings it home in a truly old school way before returning for an encore of the notorious 'Wild Thing'. It is not dynamic but it is nostalgic and it seems this is all the fans have really come for.