T.O.K. are a dancehall reggae group from

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. As of 2024, the group consists of Alistaire "Alex" McCalla, Roshaun "Bay-C" Clark

Craig "Craigy T" Thompson, and Xavier "Flexx" Davidson (now known as Ja Flexx).Kenner, Rob (2005)
Boomshots
, '' Vibe (magazine), Vibe'', August 2005, p. 146. Retrieved 13 July 2014 They started their band in 1996, and announced its dissolution in 2015, before reuniting in 2022 and releasing a new song which would be the first after their reunion, titled NPLH (Home), featuring Shams the Producer. This song was released in 2023. T.O.K. were described as "the world's greatest dancehall-reggae boy band" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 2004.Sanneh, Kelefa (2004)
MUSIC: PLAYLIST; Reggae's Riddims And Crews
, ''

'', 23 May 2004. Retrieved 16 December 2016 They were best known for such hits as "Footprints", "Diamonds and Gold", "Gal You Ah Lead", "Chi Chi Man", "Eagles Cry", "Guardian Angel", "Money 2 Burn", "She's Hot", "Hey Ladies", "The Voice", "I Believe", "Shake Your Bam Bam" and "Galang Gal".

History

Origins

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. After voicing some tracks for local record producer Stephen Greig's label Nuff Records, they signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a ba ...

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 Marion Hall, formerly known by the stage name Lady Saw, is a Jamaican singer and songwriter whose career has spanned over two decades. Formerly known as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Dancehall, she is known for her guest ap ...

. The latter tune was popular, climbing the Jamaican dancehall charts, and earned them a contract with VP Records. In 2012, the group became independent of their contract with VP Records.

Commercial success

Since emerging on the scene in the early 1990s, they released numerous hit songs and albums. In 1999, they recorded "Eagles Cry" (a version of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

'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 In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the ''riddim'' plus the ''voicing'' (vocal part) sung by the deeja ...

created by Tony "CD" Kelly and the christmas song

Do You Hear What I Hear? "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record ...

. It was the Jamaican Labour Party's 2001 theme song, but came to be criticized for its homophobic lyrics ( chi chi man being a slur for a gay man). T.O.K. entered the US market in 2001 with their debut album, ''My Crew, My Dawgs'', which made the Top 10 in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top Reggae Album Chart and achieved

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

status in Japan. That year, T.O.K. appeared on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's first ''Advance Warning''. The group had a further success with the single "Gal You A Lead". The

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

was selected for MTV2's ''New Faces of MTV2'', and was among ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

s "Top Songs of 2004". Produced by Bobby Konders, the single reached No. 85 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Their second album, ''Unknown Language'' (2005) produced another hit "Footprints", also making it into the Billboard Chart at No. 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 No. 1 on the Reggae Charts in New York City and Florida as well as in Jamaica. Since 2008, T.O.K. released several new singles, as well as music videos for "No Man", "Unbelievable", the "Hotta Vybez Medley", "Raindrops Medley" and more recently "Supermodel".

Later years

In August 2009, their third album, '' Our World'' was released, with collaborations from

Beenie Man Moses Anthony Davis OD (born 22 August 1973), professionally known as Beenie Man, is a Jamaican dancehall deejay. His awards include DJ of the Year Award eight years in a row. His twelfth studio album '' Art and Life'' received a Grammy Award ...

and

Kelly Price Kelly Cherelle Price (born April 4, 1973) is an American R&B and gospel singer. Beginning her career in 1992, Price originally performed backing vocals for Mariah Carey on multiple songs, including Carey's ''Billboard'' Hot 100-number one sin ...

. In 2013 the group collaborated with

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...

on the single "Shell It Down", which incorporated EDM.Campbell, Curtis (2014)
T.O.K. Aims To Expand Global Reach With New Album
, ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...

'', 13 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014 The group's reality TV show, ''T.O.K.: Taking Over'', was aired on CVM TV in July 2014.Grizzle, Shereita (2014)
TOK 'Taking Over' Reality TV
, ''

'', 22 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014 The group were expected to release a new album (''Taking Over'') in 2015, their first since leaving VP Records.Morgan, Simone (2014)
TOK Comes of Age
, ''

Jamaica Observer The ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by ...

'', 28 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014

Break-up

In October 2015, Davidson left because of internal issues within the group and decided to focus on a solo career, prompting the group to split up.

Criticism

T.O.K. was one of the musical acts that the Stop Murder Music campaign targeted due to their song "Chi Chi Man" containing lyrics which advocated for the killing of gay men. T.O.K. refused to sign the Reggae Compassion Act, but drafted and signed their own contract in August 2009 before their performance in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

called the T.O.K. Compassion Act. 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." In February 2023, three members of T.O.K. – McCalla, Thompson, and Clarke – reunited to perform at the Big Yard Studio in Kingston, hosted by

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

. The group did not perform "Chi Chi Man" during their set, despite calls from the audience and the hosts of the show. In an interview after the performance, Clarke explained the band’s choice not to include the song, saying, "Because we feel like the music should really unite people, we’ve made a decision to not perform the song, because we don’t want to offend any of our fans." However, in the days following this statement, bandmate Thompson defended the lyrics of "Chi Chi Man" and denounced Clarke's comment in a now-deleted Instagram post writing, "As for me, I don’t respect all sexual orientations. My respect is not contingent on anybody sexual orientation. As a matter of fact, I would prefer not to know sexual orientations."

Members

* Xavier "Flexx" Davidson –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(1996–2015) * Craig "Craigy T" Thompson – deejay, vocals (1996–2015; 2022–present) * Alistaire "Alex" McCalla – vocals (1996–2015; 2022–present) * Roshaun "Bay-C" Clarke – deejay, vocals (1996–2015; 2022–present)

Discography

Albums

* '' My Crew, My Dawgs'' (2001) * '' Unknown Language'' (2005) * '' Our World'' (2009)

EPs

*''Taking Over'' (2014), XCAR

DVD

*''Blaze It Up Tour''

Other albums from members

* ''D'Link'' (2008) – Flexx * ''Bombrush Hour'' (2009) – Bay-C

References

External links

* *Elena Oumano/VP Records
"TOK Biography: My Crew My Dawgs"
(October 2001, archived from rudegal.com)
Biography on Yahoo! Music
{{Authority control Jamaican reggae musical groups Dancehall groups Reggae fusion groups Jamaican musical quartets VP Records artists