T.O.K. is a dancehall group hailing from Kingston,
Jamaica. The group consists of Alistaire "Alex" McCalla,
Roshaun "Bay-C" Clarke, Craig "Craigy T" Thompson,
and Xavier "Flexx" Davidson. They are best known for such
hits as "Footprints", "Gal You Ah Lead", "Chi
Chi Man" and "Eagles Cry".
The group's origins can be traced back to the early 1990s while
the members were still attending school. Alistaire McCalla and Xavier
Davidson were friends, and McCalla recruited Craig Thompson and Roshaun
Clarke who were fellow members of the choir at Campion College in
Kingston and T.O.K. was born.
The group got their initial break in 1993, after a stint playing
at high school parties and hotels, they finished second at the annual
Tastee Talent Competition. Their performance was noticed by the local
record producer Stephen Craig of Nuff Records. After voicing some
tracks for Craig's label, they were signed to a recording contract
to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare's Taxi label in 1996, and released
their first single, "Hit Them High", which had little impact.
Later that year they signed onto Richard "Shams" Browne's
High Profile label and released two more singles, "Send Them
Come" and "Hardcore Lover" with Lady Saw. The latter
tune was popular, climbing the Jamaican dancehall charts, and earned
them a contract with VP Records.[2]
[edit] Commercial success
Described by the New York Times as "the world's greatest dancehall-reggae
boy band," T.O.K. has been Jamaica’s leading dancehall
group for over a decade. Since emerging on the scene in the early
1990s, they have released numerous hit songs and albums.
In 1999 they recorded "Eagles Cry" (a version of Prince's "When
Doves Cry") on the Jamaican imprint Xtra Large, which became
an international success. "Eagles Cry" was followed closely
by "Chi Chi Man", based on the "Sashi riddim" created
by Tony "CD" Kelly. The group entered the US market in
2001 with their debut album, My Crew, My Dawgs, which made the Top
10 in the Billboard Top Reggae Album Chart and achieved platinum
status in Japan. That year, T.O.K. appeared on MTV's first Advance
Warning. The group had a further success with the single "Gal
You A Lead". The video was selected for MTV2's New Faces of
MTV2, and was among Blender's "Top Songs of 2004". Produced
by Bobby Konders, the single reached #85 in the U.S. Billboard Hot
100.
Their second album, Unknown Language (2005) produced another hit "Footprints",
also making it into the Billboard Chart at #93. The album followed
its predecessor with platinum sales in Japan. T.O.K. spent a couple
of years touring the world promoting Unknown Language.
In 2007 two more hits emerged in "No Man" and "Guardian
Angel". "Guardian Angel", rose to #1 on the Reggae
Charts in New York and Florida as well as in Jamaica. Since the start
of 2008, T.O.K. has released several new singles, as well as music
videos for "No Man", "Unbelievable", the "Hotta
Vybez Medley", "Raindrops Medley" and more recently "Supermodel".
In August 2009, their third album, Our World was released, with
collaborations with from Beenie Man, Kelly Price and Snow.
[edit] Controversy
T.O.K. was one of the musical acts that the Stop Murder Music campaign
targeted. Their song "Chi Chi Man" was controversial for
its lyrics which promote the murder of gays.[3] T.O.K. refused to
sign the Reggae Compassion Act[4] but drafted and signed their own
contract in August 2009 before their performance in Zurich called
the T.O.K. Compassion Act. [5] Their contract states "We respect
and uphold the rights of all individuals to live without fear of
hatred and violence due to their religion, sexual orientation, race,
ethnicity or gender."[6]
Freeport Gang T.O.K tok started in 2008. but not until 2009 where
shaquielle reese took over tok. after that moment T.O began to
worship al sharpton. with al sharpton in their corner they were
virtualy unstopable fprming the ultimate group called unlotas (ultimate
negro league of t.o. and al). But after a 2 year term of dominance
to was finally damaged with the loss of shaq. homies were devestated
in the hood after that.it was a rainy night in the streets of northeast
freeport when smoking some of that loud shaq wanted to rob a car
so he did and he got caught he in jail. TO will be back on top
as long as sharpton can hold it down till then.
[edit] Name acronyms
T.O.K. originally stood for "Touch Of Klass" however the
band has devised many backronyms for their moniker, such as "Taking
Over Kingston" or "Too Klaat".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
My Crew, My Dawgs (2001)
Unknown Language (2005)
Our World (2009)
[edit] DVD
Blaze It Up Tour
[edit] Other albums from members
D'Link (2008) - Flexx
Bombrush Hour (2009) - Bay-C