TOK

To look at them, you would never guess that the dancehall quartet TOK counts Boyz II Men, the well-known American R&B duo, as its first influence. Apart from a certain taste for suits and posing for the camera, these four lads have little in common with their models, whose trajectory proved short-lived. Four perfectly mastered voices, blending singing and deejaying, strong pop, gospel and R'n'B influences, choreographed routines: TOK's arrival on the Jamaican dancehall scene in the late 90s did not go unnoticed, and for almost 10 years the group has been dispensing a certain "Touch Of Klass".

It all begins, as so often, in a Kingston church, in the choir of Campion College. Alistaire McCalla (Alex), Roshaun Clarke (Bay-C) and Craig Thompson (Craigy-T) share a love of music there. Joined by Xavier Davidson (Flexx), the quartet TOK (an acronym for Touch Of Klass) takes shape in the early 90s. At the time, true to their influences, R'n'B covers make up the bulk of the repertoire they sing at school parties, sometimes in clubs and hotels on the North Coast, before gradually turning to dancehall. In 1993 they finish second in the Tastee Talent Contest, which pushes them towards Nuff Records, with whom they record their first tracks, without much success. Sly & Robbie, with their Taxi label, also give them a chance three years later by recording Hit them tight.

But the real turning point in TOK's career comes the same year with their meeting with Danny Brownie and his Main Street label, one of the heavyweights of dancehall at the time. The studio engineer, and Danny Brownie's nephew, Richard "Shams" Browne, would become one of the key players in the group's destiny. Young and ambitious, "Shams" sets up Hi Profile, his own label, and gives the quartet a trial run before proposing a combination with Lady Saw, Hardcore lover, on the now classic Baddis riddim, released in 1998. It would be TOK's first hit, quickly followed by Eagle cry on Dave Kelly's Bruk Out riddim, which went to number one in the charts the same year. From then on the group is courted by the best labels in Kingston (Shocking Vibes, Penthouse, Pot of Gold or 2 Hard) but remains above all loyal to "Shams", who, with his new labels Call me Shams and B-Rich, always keeps a place for TOK on his riddims (Orgasm, Grasscyaat or Juice, for the combination Man a bad man with Bounty Killer).

Highly productive on singles, TOK make waves again with the controversial Chi chi man, which becomes an anthem in Jamaican communities. Now unavoidable, TOK are ideally placed to release their first album in 2001, "My crew, my dawgs", on X.C.A.R., their own label, backed by VP. The album, which brings together proven singles and exclusive tracks, reflects the group's versatile styles.

It would, however, be more than three years before the quartet returned with an album, despite an avalanche of hit singles. Still working closely with Shams, who accompanies them on bass on stage, the group turns down almost no recording offer, whether in New York with the label Massive B, which produces the hit Gal yuh a lead in 2003, in London for Maximum Sound, or in Jamaica. Not in the least thrown by the return of "new roots" reggae in 2004, they land a major hit that same year with Footprints on Don Corleon's Drop Leaf riddim.

Delayed several times, TOK's second album, "Unknown language", can finally come out in 2005 and, like the first, is made up mostly of well-known singles recorded for various labels (notably Don Corleon, Massive B and Big Yard). The album opens the doors to international success a little wider, but it almost seems a detail next to the productivity, of astonishingly consistent quality, of the four lads from Kingston: TOK return to the Baddis riddim in 2006 with two tracks on the series and confirm their success on reggae instrumentals with Tears and Marijuana.