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

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the 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 sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. The group consisted of Alistaire "Alex" McCalla, Roshaun "Bay-C" Clarke, Craig "Craigy T" Thompson, and Xavier "Flexx" Davidson.Kenner, Rob (2005)
Boomshots
, '' Vibe'', August 2005, p. 146. Retrieved 13 July 2014 They started their band in 1996, and announced its dissolution in 2015. T.O.K. were described as "the world's greatest dancehall-reggae boy band" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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", "Gal You Ah Lead", "Chi Chi Man", "Eagles Cry", "Guardian Angel", "Money 2 Burn", "She's Hot", "Hey Ladies", "The Voice" and "I Believe".

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 artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a 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 band called ...

and

Robbie Shakespeare Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (27 September 1953 – 8 December 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as ...

'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 (born 12 July 1969; 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 Queen of Dancehall, she is the first female deejay to be certified ...

. 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. Th ...

's "

When Doves Cry "When Doves Cry" is a song by American musician Prince, and the lead single from his sixth studio album '' Purple Rain''. According to the DVD commentary of the film '' Purple Rain'' (1984), Prince was asked by director Albert Magnoli to write a ...

") 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 and the christmas song Do You Hear What I Hear?. It was the

Jamaican Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in sever ...

'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 advertise ...

'' Top Reggae Album Chart and achieved

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

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

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

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

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

was selected for MTV2's ''New Faces of MTV2'', and was among '' Blenders "Top Songs of 2004". Produced by

Bobby Konders Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a consta ...

, 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 Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay. Biography Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Mus ...

and

Kelly Price Kelly Cherelle Price (born April 4, 1973) is an American R&B and gospel singer. She started her singing career in 1992. Price originally garnered attention by singing backing vocals for Mariah Carey on multiple songs, including her ''Billboa ...

. In 2013 the group collaborated with

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after t ...

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. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'', 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 ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...

'', 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. Their song "Chi Chi Man" was controversial for its lyrics which advocated for the killing of gay men. T.O.K. refused to sign the

Reggae Compassion Act Stop Murder Music is a campaign to oppose Caribbean artists that produce music with lyrics alleged to glorify murder of homosexual men.

, but drafted and signed their own contract in August 2009 before their performance in Zurich 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."http://www.soulrebels.org/dancehall/x_compassionate_tok.jpg

Members

*Xavier "Flexx" Davidson -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(1996-2015) *Craig "Craigy T" Thompson - vocals/ deejay (1996-2015) *Alistaire "Alex" McCalla - vocals (1996-2015) *Roshaun "Bay-C" Clarke - vocals/deejay (1996-2015)

Discography

Albums

* ''

My Crew, My Dawgs ''My Crew, My Dawgs'' is the debut album by T.O.K., released in 2001. Track listing : All songs by R. Clarke, Xavier Davidson, A. McCalla, and C. Thompson unless otherwise indicated. # "Prophecy" ntro— 1:40 # "Man Ah Bad Man" — 2:53 # "C ...

'' (2001) * ''

Unknown Language ''Unknown Language'' is the second studio album from the dancehall/reggae fusion group T.O.K. T.O.K. were a dancehall reggae group from Kingston, Jamaica. The group consisted of Alistaire "Alex" McCalla, Roshaun "Bay-C" Clarke, Craig "Cra ...

'' (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 Musical quartets VP Records artists