Tona: The Titan of Toronto

04 March 2009

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Music to this MC is literally life; with an extensive catalogue of music to his credit, Tona, the African born – Toronto raised MC is already establishing himself as a lyrical master. With followers of Hip-Hop and those who navigate behind the scenes all paying attention to what he has to say, Tona is a glowing example of what a true MC should be.

When did you first realize you had the ability to rap?

First time I knew I had the ability was around age 10 when I wrote my first two raps. I was introduced to rap around age 9 and but back then I had one of my peers writing all the raps for me as part of a group I was in. To be honest I can’t remember what the lyrics were about, but that was the point of recognition.

Was it something you had to nurture or did it come naturally?

The transition into a career in Hip-hop was much easier for me then it might be for some other peoples simply cause I’m a fan first of the art, it’s a lifestyle that can’t be forced. First time I ever got involved in emceeing was at around age 10-11, back at that age, I wasn’t writing my own lyrics, just spent most of that time studying groups like; The Youngsters, Tribe Called Quest & L.O.N.S. just memorizing there verses and spitting them on other beats as practice. That way I was developing flow while incorporating my own swag to it.

You have garnered some serious radio play in your home city of Toronto that has quite a roster of artists to its credit, how did you secure that?

Basically I secured that by just building a communication with my city threw the music. Never once did I go in the booth with the mentality I need to make something for radio or make songs I might think people want to hear. Once I started putting together my catalogue of material, I started passing out promo CDs to everybody I was in contact with and it got to the point where DJs and Radio personal would start hitting me up for music regularly.

Has the internet been of importance in your Hip-Hop presence?

The internet has been a presence and I know somewhere in the future it will have more of an impact than it has now. The game has gone digital, no avoiding it now. Vinyl spots that carry wax and CDs are almost obsolete. There are as many negatives as there are positives about the internet presence we can politic about for days but the main plus factor is that it connects you to the world within a matter of minutes

You have worked solely with one producer on your next album Direct Deposit, how was that?

Building that whole project with Lyve was a dope experience. Me and Lyve have been working on music together for a minute, he’s just one of those producers that always used to appear on my projects, it’s only fitting we built an LP. A lot of the music we came up on were them one producer blessing the whole project joints like; Gangstarr, Slum Village and Wu-Tang.

Do you find approaching a project that way, with just one producer, gives it more cohesiveness?

It could give it more continuity if you have a dope producer that builds around the artist and has enough versatility to give every song some new life. Using one producer threw out an whole project can stagnate the flow of the album if the producer is stagnate himself. Thing with Lyve is you wouldn’t have any idea he produced all the beats until you check the credits. Kid has that much range in his catalogue.

If you could pick any producer to do the same thing again with who would you choose and why?

If the late great James Yancy a.k.a. J.Dilla was still alive I would’ve had to go with him, but if we speaking about in studio albums I would do another project like this with DJ Premier. He’s known for the raw gritty type production, but when you go threw his whole body of work from Jeru the Damaga to Christina Aguilera, it’s almost impossible to put him in one lane. He’s another legend that understands how to build around the artist

Break down the Toronto rap scene for us.

The Toronto rap scene personally I think there is a big enough market to sell music in it, not as big as other cities like New York but the problem is our industry spends so much time, effort and money promoting American artists to us than they do promoting Canadians to Canadians. Promoters (not all, some) don't really respect what we do as opposed to the U.S. artists. We need to be viewed in a different light because their perception of us is mad disrespectful. Aside from that we have some of the most talented musicians in the world. People are now starting to recognize that and Toronto is getting its worldwide acclaim that is past overdue.

You collaborated with Ayah, a femalefirst fave, also from Toronto, can we expect to see more collaborations from the two of you in the future?

Most definitely, Ayah is on another level with her artistry right now, so we’ll be doing a lot of work together whether it’s song writing, or just appearing on her records. I’ve watched her from the very beginning and seen her progression only grow. Look out for some more Ayah/Tona in 09.

Your outlook for 2009?

My outlook on “09 in as of right now the game has no direction simply because nobody is in the driver’s seat anymore of the artistry. A lot of passenger seat rappers waiting to follow and see which direction it is going so I hope some how the originality finds its place back in. “09 is also going to be a big year in general for the world, there is a new president in office so this is definitely the year for change….and Tona. DIRECT DEPOSIT LP

Melanie Cornish

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