Toikeon Parham, known professionally as Ms. Toi, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. She is featured on the

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be produc ...

song "

You Can Do It "You Can Do It" is a hip-hop song by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released as the second single from the ''Next Friday'' soundtrack. The song features Ice Cube's Westside Connection bandmate Mack 10, as well as rapper Ms. Toi. "You Can Do ...

" with

Mack 10 Dedrick D'Mon Rolison (born August 9, 1971), better known by his stage name Mack 10, is an American rapper. He has sold nearly 11 million records combining his solo and group works. Mack 10 made his first appearance on Ice Cube's 1994 " Bootleg ...

, released on the soundtrack albums for the feature films ''

Next Friday ''Next Friday'' is a 2000 American stoner comedy film and the sequel to the 1995 film ''Friday''. It is the first film to be produced by Ice Cube's film production company Cubevision. It was directed by Steve Carr and stars Ice Cube, Mike Epp ...

'' and ''

Save the Last Dance ''Save the Last Dance'' is a 2001 American teen dance film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chic ...

''. "You Can Do It" became a major club hit in 2000, and its video received ample airplay on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

Early life

Toikeon Parham was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

,. Her family moved to

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

, when she was 11 years old. Toi attended Inglewood High School, part of its Class of 1991. After being expelled from school, she moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, where she lived with an uncle and his family.

Career

Upon graduating from high school, she began pursuing an interest in hip hop. She also performed with a group, Thick and the Girls, initially as a dancer. Her first studio recording, "Life Styles of the Rough and Sexy", was by her and

Ronnie DeVoe Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr. (born November 17, 1967), is an American singer, rapper, and actor known as one of the members of the R&B/pop group New Edition, and the R&B/ hip hop group Bell Biv DeVoe. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Career DeVo ...

, the nephew of her manager. She joined a rap group, Militia, and her performance on a remix of their track "Burn" led to further opportunities. Toi's big break came when she was invited to record "You Can Do It" with

and

. The song became a hit. Subsequently, Ms. Toi was signed to

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. Her debut album, ''That Girl'', was released a year later. It features multiple

West Coast rap West Coast hip hop is a regional genre of hip hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast region of the United States. West Coast hip hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during the e ...

pers, including

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, ...

and

MC Ren Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 16, 1969), better known by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the record label Villain Entertainment. MC Ren ...

, along with others like Nelly and producer

Dame Grease Damon J. Blackman (born August 9, 1974), better known by his stage name Dame Grease or simply Grease, is an American record producer from New York City. In 1996, he gained recognition in the hip hop industry through his production work with Bad ...

Discography

Albums

* 2001: ''That Girl'' * 2007: ''Not Yo Average Chick'' - Heetseekers - Middle Atlantic - No. 7 * 2014: ''I Am a Warrior, Part 1'' * 2014: ''I Am a Warrior, Part 2''

Mixtapes

2017: ''Now That's Gangsta'' - Datpiff.com

Singles

* 2001: "Handclap" * 2013: "I Am a Warrior" * 2014: "Green Like That Green" features

, Yuck Mouth and Nyce in

DJ Pooh A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

’s movie ''Budz House'' * 2017: "Slay" * 2017: "Roses" featuring

Klondike Kat ''Klondike Kat'' was a cartoon produced by Total Television and originally aired as part of '' The Beagles'' on CBS-TV in 1966, and later found in the U.S. syndicated ''Underdog'' and '' Tennessee Tuxedo'' cartoon series, in between episodes as an a ...

(nominated for Female Perspective Awards Song of the Year in 2017) * 2018: "All My Life" featuring and produced by J Pad Da Juggernaut

Guest Appearances

* 1999: "You Can Do It" by

(Also features

) * 2011: "Crazzzy" by KiLR

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toi, Ms. African-American women rappers Living people Gangsta rappers Rappers from Chicago Rappers from Los Angeles Midwest hip hop musicians West Coast hip hop musicians African-American women singer-songwriters Universal Records artists 1973 births 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Illinois 21st-century women rappers