In those early days, they thought of themselves as “the Black Police,” a nod to Sting’s pioneering rock group, and from the jump celebrated their retro leanings on early soulful singles “Baby Doll” and “Born Not to Know.” Their music and style planted the neo-soul seeds that would sprout years later with D’Angelo, himself a Saadiq protégé, Erkyah Badu, Maxwell, and Jill Scott. Much like former mentor Prince, who they had worked with briefly when they toured with Shelia E., these cats were versatile. On the cover of Who?, 22-year-old Raphael, who was still going by the Wiggins surname (the Saadiq didn’t come until a few years later) stood in the middle looking cool as a junior playa playa while on record he was the lead singer, bass player, and keyboardist.Īs a unit, TTT modeled their sound on the music they grown-up with that included the onyx-hued pop of Motown men Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations as well as the aural gumbo of Bay Area funk sensations that included Tower of Power, Sly & the Family Stone, and Billy Preston. Consisting of Raphael Saadiq, older brother Dwayne Wiggins and cousin Timothy Christian Riley, the Tonys debut Who? was fresh as mama’s cooked food and had a feel-good vibe that celebrated love and romance with a little bit of partying and bullshit mixed in for good measure.Ĭoming at a time when “real” bands were being pushed aside for rappers and sampling producers, the members of TTT were experimental traditionalists who were down with old school soul Al Green and the hip-hop attitude of Too Short, providing a bridge between the two worlds as they cultivated fans from both camps. It was during those dark days that the Oakland-based trio Tony! Toni! Toné! crash-landed on the scene wearing vintage styled clothes and bearing instruments they had learned to play in their garages as teens. Sure and Keith Sweat that dominated urban radio. were becoming the soundtrack of ‘hoods from coast to coast as their beats blared over the constant police sirens and gunshots while also competing with the “ New Jack“ radio-friendly soul of Al B.
During that same time, rebel-rousing groups Public Enemy and N.W.A.
The spring of 1988 was a crazy year that saw Black America going through hell stemming from two terms of Ronald Reagan’s destructive policies as president, record-high unemployment, and the snowfall of Nicaraguan Contra-trafficked cocaine that was steadily destroying our communities with crack, gangbanging, and gun violence.
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