Let's Do It

The best-selling pop single of all time is "We Are the World," the 1985 charity song that solicited aid for Africa's starving masses. The single that comes closest to matching that success, ironically, is about casual sex - a song that celebrates, in the words of its now-famous refrain, "doin' the wild thing."

Today’s Throwback Thursday is dedicated to the artist behind this masterpiece - Tone Loc, born on this day in 1966.

That distinct voice (caused by a bout of strep throat as a teen and his mom gave him tea with brandy which burned his throat instead of soothing it) was his signature. He began rapping at the age of 13 over instrumental passages on records by the Ohio Players, Funkadelic, and other funk groups he admired.

He continued to rap throughout the next few years as he tried his hand at full-time jobs, but nothing stuck - and since rapping came so easily for him - he knew what his next step needed to be. He formed a rap group in Los Angeles that didn’t go anywhere but he connected with other rap artists and released his debut solo album Loc-ed After Dark in 1989.

The first single was the wildly successful “Wild Thing” co-written by Young MC (and sampling “Jamie’s Cryin” by Van Halen). The song rose to number two on the Hot 100 charts and the video, which was made for a mere $419.77, was all over MTV. The album became the second rap album ever to top the pop charts.

The follow-up single, “Funky Cold Medina” about a potent aphrodisiac in liquid form, was another hit, reaching number three on the charts. The samples in this one range from Funkadelic to Foreigner (“Hot Blooded”) to Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Loc released just one more album and dabbled a bit in acting appearing in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Heat. Currently, he is among the list of performers on the I Love the 90s tour which has performed worldwide from April 2016 to the present.