{"id":1408,"date":"2024-03-03T05:47:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2025-06-22T13:54:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:54:18","slug":"1408","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/1408\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fascinating Story of Tone-Loc"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In this article, we&#039;ll dive into the fascinating history of Tone-Loc, from its beginnings to its impact on the music scene today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong>, his real name <strong>Anthony Terrell Smith<\/strong>, born in 1966, he adopted the stage name \u201c\u00a0<strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong>\u00a0\u00bb in reference to his childhood nickname, \u00ab\u00a0<strong>Antonio Loco<\/strong>&quot;His distinctive, raspy voice is the result of a traumatic childhood accident when an incident with hot water left his throat burned.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This tragic event helped forge his unique vocal style, which would become his trademark. He emerged as an iconic figure in rap in the 1980s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Collaboration with Young MC &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally from Los Angeles, California, <strong>Tone-Loc <\/strong>made his mark with hits such as &quot;\u00a0<em>''Wild Thing''<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab F<em>unky Cold Medina<\/em>&quot;, both written by <strong>Marvin Young<\/strong>, also known as <strong>Young MC<\/strong>. The collaboration between the two artists gave birth to songs with a similar sound and comical lyrics, propelling <strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong> at the height of success.\u00a0<em>''Wild Thing''<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb even achieved platinum-certified rap single status, closely followed by \u201c\u00a0<em>Medina<\/em>&quot; .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tone Loc - Wild Thing\" width=\"740\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/387ZDGSKVSg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>&quot;\u00a0<em>Funky Cold Medina<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb and its powerful aphrodisiac: The distinctive element of \u00ab\u00a0<em>Funky Cold Medina<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb lies in its unique theme centered on a powerful aphrodisiac. Inspired by the classic \u201c\u00a0<em>Love Potion No. 9<\/em>\u00a0&quot; of the <strong>Clovers<\/strong> in 1959, <strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong> gives a humorous twist to his own love potion. The <strong>Funky Cold Medina<\/strong> is so powerful that it is said to work even on dogs, which adds a playful dimension to the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tone Loc - Ace Is In The House\" width=\"740\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_7cNFfSRPDE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Creative sampling of the track \u201cWild Thing\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The creativity of <strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong> extends into the realm of sampling, with fragments borrowed from various iconic pieces. The drum break of &quot;\u00a0<em>Get Off Your Ass and Jam<\/em>\u00a0&quot; of <strong>Funkadelic<\/strong>, the main guitar riff of &quot;\u00a0<em>Hot Blooded<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb by Foreigner, and other samples from songs by <strong>Rolling Stones<\/strong>, <strong>KISS<\/strong>, <strong>Free<\/strong>, and <strong>Bachman-Turner Overdrive<\/strong>, confer to &quot;\u00a0<em>Funky Cold Medina<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb a rich and varied sound texture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The words of <strong>Tone-Loc<\/strong> also refer to popular mascots from the 80s. <strong>Spuds McKenzie<\/strong>, the dog who advertised for <strong>Budweiser<\/strong>, and <strong>Alex, Strohs&#039; sales dog<\/strong>, add a touch of nostalgia to the song, recalling the flamboyant era of advertising of that decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tone-Loc remains an iconic figure in rap, thanks to his distinctive vocal style, his successful collaborations with<strong> Young MC<\/strong>, and his unforgettable hits such as &quot;\u00a0<em>''Wild Thing''<\/em>\u00a0&quot; And &quot;\u00a0<em>Funky Cold Medina<\/em>\u201cHis story, marked by personal hardships and boundless creativity, continues to resonate across the musical landscape, testifying to his lasting impact on the hip-hop scene.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This tragic event helped forge his unique vocal style, which would become his trademark. He emerged as an iconic figure in rap in the 1980s.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":1409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[527,532,55,59,531,529,533,528,530],"class_list":["post-1408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-anthony-terrell-smith","tag-clovers","tag-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-funky-cold-medina","tag-marvin-young","tag-rolling-stones","tag-tone-loc","tag-young-mc","post_format-post-format-video"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4359,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions\/4359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magazinehiphop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}