"This jam I created will leave you devastated And when I'm finished rockin you will appreciate it “
It’s summer! The sun is blazing hawt, the deck is calling your name and…your glass is empty? One of these things just doesn’t belong. One of these things needs to be filled with some “Funky Cold Medina”. Those not familiar with this bodacious bevy probably weren’t listening to the radio back in 1989 when L.A. rapper Tone Lōc was filling our ears with the stuff and showing us all how to do the “Wild Thing”. (err…even if some of us where too young to really know what the hell he was talking about)
Born Anthony Smith, Lōc’s debut album was released in January of 1989, the dead of winter. Totally fine if you are hitting the beach for a little New Year tanning in Cali but for an Ontario Canuck this wasn’t the kind of tunage that made you want to plough your GT Snowracer down the closest hill. I would discover the album when snow-pants turned to shorts and toques became ballcaps again and, by then, Lōc-ed After Dark was already making some music history.
While it isn’t going to shock anybody these days when a rap album fires up the charts, Lōc-ed After Dark would be only the second rap album to reach the top of the pops. The Beastie Boys would beat Lōc to it with Licensed to Ill. He’d be able to lay claim to a first of his own, however, when a few months later his single “Wild Thing” became the numero uno Top 10 pop hit for a black rapper. It wasn’t Chuck or Flavor Flav, Dr. Dre or Eazy-E or even Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. It was all Tone Lōc. Well, maybe mostly Lōc with a dash of Eddie Van Halen. While sampling “Jamie’s Cryin'” sure helped propel “Wild Thing” (it went on the be the first hip hop Platinum single), it was the rapper’s quirky hooks mixed with humour that really rose Lōc from virtual obscurity into mainstream superstardom...if only for a little while.
Unfortunately, it’s these very things that often get him overlooked in hip-hop history as more pop than rap. Lōc-ed After Dark doesn’t seem to make very many lists of the top influential rap albums of the 80’s. The husky voiced singer may have been a victim of being too hot too soon, burning out after his second album and venturing, instead, into acting. While it may be easy for some to dismiss him as "pop hop" or a two hit wonder, another spin of Lōc-ed After Dark tells this reviewer why the album deserves it’s little corner on the shelf of rap greatness.
Lōc didn’t dive into controversy through a litany of cursing or by addressing hot button issues like Public Enemy or N.W.A. He’d have lines like:
So I took her to my crib, and everything went well as planned But when she got undressed, it was a big old mess, Sheena was a man So I threw him out, I don't fool around with no Oscar Meyer wiener
It’s this kind of playfulness, a more watered down hip-hop cut wrapped around some funky sample, that attracted a wider array of listeners; some, like me, had never snagged a rap album off the shelf before. Outside of the volume level I’d play this thing at, my mother had no problem with me filling the basement with “Cheeba Cheeba”…though if she’d listening long enough to the lyrics she might have.
Twist up a big baba of this serious dope Smoke it down to the nib, use my roach clip So much damn resin, it's startin to drip It ain't harmful like heroin; it's also cheaper
That’s a good point you have there, Mr. Lōc, though I doubt I’d have advanced my weed smoking cause passed Judge Mom with this evidence. Good points, nevertheless.
To cut to the chase, this was good time music…music for a summer back yard party, rolling down the main to pick up a pack of smokes and a case of Pepsi at the 7-11 and, yup, even to bust a move to at a high school dance or two if the teachers weren’t listening to lines like
Couldn't get her off my jock she was like static cling
Craft Recordings vinyl re-release of this double platinum gem from my youth was cut at Elysian Masters under the supervision of Dave Cooley. While the wave of nostalgia that washed over me after the first few tracks had me wondering where my old cassette tape of this went, by the time I flipped it over all I was remembering were the good times this music provided the soundtrack too and those good times never sounded better than they do here!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a glass to refill with something funky and cold.
Track list: A1. On Fire (Remix)
A2. Wild Thing
A3. Lōc-edAfter Dark
A4. I Got It Goin' On
A5. Cutting Rhythms
B1. Funky Cold Medina
B2. Next Episode
B3. Cheeba Cheeba
B4. Don't Get Close
B5. Lōc'in On The Shaw
B6. The Homies
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