Tommy Boy hit a similar balance of street credibility
and mass market success with Coolio. Born in Compton
and a former member of WC and the Madd Circle, Coolio
signed to Tommy Boy after a series of attempts to build
a career in music. Clever in his use of samples, Coolio's
first hit for the label was "Fantastic Voyage",
based around Lakeside's 1980 track of the same name.
For "1-2-3-4", he sampled a UK novelty record
by The Evasions called "Wikka Rap", a track
that had been broken in New York by Frankie Crocker
despite the fact that the subject of the parody - TV
personality Alan Whicker - was largely unknown in the
USA. The biggest hit for Coolio, however, was "Gangster's
Paradise", based around Stevie Wonder's "Past
Time Paradise". Included in the soundtrack of Dangerous
Minds, "Gangster's Paradise" was the biggest
single in the world in 1995.
"It was one of the more heartfelt songs to come
out of rap," says Monica. "It was a time when
things were heating up quite a bit more in terms of
a lot of the gang activity that was going on. In many
communities, violent death was a fact of life, but it
was coming much more to the forefront in terms of a
lot of the lyrics in rap. 'Gangster's Paradise' was
kind of an antidote. For people outside of the gang
culture, that song was a camera, a picture of what was
going on."
Tommy Boy's long involvement with film soundtracks continued
with Total's "Can't You See", featuring The
Notorious B.I.G. The track actually came from Puffy
Combs. "When we were putting together the soundtrack
to New Jersey Drive," says Monica, "Puffy
was just starting to make some real noise with his own
label, Bad Boy. He had the Craig Mack record out. I
called him up and asked him if he would do a record
for New Jersey Drive and I gave him carte blanche to
use any of his new developing acts, to put them on the
soundtrack and gee, wouldn't it be nice to get Biggie
to do a cameo, 'cause Biggie was really exploding right
then too."
Although hip-hop has been Tommy Boy's mainstay since
1981, there have been forays into garage, R&B, house,
techno, rock and reggae. The release of Coldcut's "People
Hold On", featuring Lisa Stansfield, along with
808 State's "Pacific 202" tapped into two
of the most innovative and long-lasting bands at the
forefront of the UK house and techno scene.
Club Nouveau, a spin-off from Jay King's Timex Social
Club, were another example of Warner Brothers turning
to Tommy Boy for their expertise in the club-oriented
12inch single market. "I think a lot of the appeal
for those records," says Monica, discussing Club
Nouveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad", "Jealousy"
and their cover of Bill Withers' "Lean On Me",
"was that they cut right to the core of issues
that people were interested in: jealousy, love triangles,
gossip. Jay had a very astute understanding for the
kind of negative things that kept people yakking around
the water cooler. They weren't high-minded by a long
shot. They were very real about some of the most driving
emotions for mankind."
Of all the extraordinary artists who have featured in
the Tommy Boy story, Ru Paul must be considered unique.
Having recorded obscure records like "Ping Ting
Ting", "Sex Freak" and the 1986 Star
Booty album for Atlanta's FunTone USA label, Ru Paul
Andre Charles was introduced to Tommy Boy by Billboard
dance columnist Bill Coleman. "Drag culture in
New York was coming up as a really hot scene at that
time," says Monica, "via Wigstock and some
other clubs. Ru was obviously hellbent on becoming a
star, which is not an unimportant trait in the music
world."
Driven by a smart video directed by Ru Paul's managers,
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, "Supermodel",
was broken during New York's fashion week. "It
was a bit of a risky move, I gotta tell ya," Monica
continues, "because homophobia is a fact of hip-hop
life. To this day, there cannot be a black male hip-hop
artist who comes out. They would be stoned. I heard
some grumbling from some of our artists but it was pretty
minor. It's not like they were competing in the same
arena. 'Supermodel' was the launching pad for RuPaul
to go on and become a very successful radio and television
host, a star at large. Ru's had an opportunity to meet
every star he wanted to meet. So that's certainly one
of the more colourful chapters in our history."
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