Hip Hop Habit: Tone Trezure
posted in: Features • Urban
Every child has a dance you understand/ every child has to grow into a woman. At least that’s how Tone Trezure sees it. For her, the juvenile dance was rebellion, a dance fortunately accompanied by the dream of making it big in hip hop. Thanks in no small part to her dazzling vocals and unique beats, that dream stayed by her side during her transition into womanhood. If you think you’ve heard her shimmering pipes before, it’s probably because you have. A phenomenal blend of happenstance and talent has landed Tone Trezure (born Latonya Geneva Givens) some pretty amazing opportunities over the years, most noticeably the chance to sing backups on Snoop Dogg‘s “Promise I” from 2004’s R&G(Rhythm & Gangsta) and Xzibit‘s “Ride or Die” of his 2004 LP Weapons of Mass Destruction. But let’s not get distracted here, this is a hip hop column after all. Tone Trezure’s singing is gorgeous, but you wouldn’t be reading about her if she didn’t have an agile flow and intelligent rhymes to match.
The autobiographical My Destiny is a first person narrative looking back on Tone’s cycle of ambition, from the inspired (Since I could remember/ way back when I wanted fame and fortune/ used to stand in front of the mirror and portrait/ my brush was my mic and the fans was Moses) to the discouraged (but fabrication raised a bull-headed kid/ prevailed to rebel because I didn’t want the biz). She was confused out of the gate, but got her shit straight when she saw the light, a truth spelled out in the chorus. The track’s disjointed instrumentals, consisting primarily of a purring bass and plucky guitar, are glued together by Givens’ warm resolved vocals when she sings and reliable verbal rhythm when she raps. Evidence of Tone’s musical talent and creativity”this Mozart of drumming plays 6 instruments, and is well versed in jazz, classical and modern gospel”is easily found here, predominantly in her ability to keep the track moving with minimal percussion (nothing but bass kicks on 1 and hand claps on 2&4) and repetitive half step modulations throughout to change things up. How many rap songs have a modulation?
Made it big? Not yet. But she’s on her way. On top of the aforementioned collaborations, she’s made music with Erykah Badu, Pharoahe Monche, Rick Ross, Quincy Jones and a slew of indie artists. Who can deny a resume like that? A line of EPs, including one featuring duets with her mother (gospel recording artist Cherry Givens), is in the works to lead up to her premier LP, which hopefully will hit shelves soon. Before her fame erupts, check her sound out in the player below and let us know what you think about her style in the comments!