SCOOPS; REVIEWS TOUCH, BILLBOARD, SOUL PORTAL, FAT CITY … TO BE CONTINUED
NEW YORK’S “BEST KEPT SECRET”
‘SOUL & THE CITY’ DROPPED AND EVERYONE WANTED TO KNOW “WHO THE HELL WAS TL CROSS?” HOTSHOT DJB OF 1XTRA & STATION CHOICE FM ADDED TL TO THEIR PLAYLISTS (CULMINATING IN ‘BEST KEPT SECRET’ FEATURING IN 1XTRA’S RONNIE HEREL’S YEAR END BEST OF).
TL IS USED TO THIS KIND OF ACTION, AS PART OF PRODUCTION GANG DA GUTTA FAM (ALONG WITH BRIAN ‘BEEZO’ PALMER & SERGIO ‘DLX’ MOORE) HE’S PENNED AND/OR PRODUCED HITS FOR MONTELL JORDAN (THE #1 BILLBOARD R&B HIT ‘GET IT ON TONITE’), MUSIQ (‘WHEREAREYOUGOING’), USHER (‘I’LL MAKE IT RIGHT’) & 112 (‘I’LL BE RIGHT THERE’). THE EP FEATURED 2 ADDITIONAL TRAX THE SOUGHT AFTER ‘LOVE IZ A HUSTLE’ & R&B JAM ‘RADIO’.
TL CROSS CAME TO THE WORLD’S ATTENTION AS PART OF VOCAL GROUP MORRISON SLICK. THE STEVE HARVEY (THE COMEDIAN) COMPILATION ‘SIGN OF THINGS TO COME’ FEATURED THEIR GLORIOUS NEW YORK DOORSTEP DOO WOP SOUL SONG ‘DIDN’T I SAY YOURE MINE’ BACK IN 2002. IN THE SJP HQ WE WAITED … AND WAITED BUT NO ALBUM. FINALLY WE TRACKED THE GROUP DOWN IN 2005 AND IT TURNED OUT THAT MO’ SLICK WERE A REVISED LINE UP OF MOTOWN TEEN RECORDING ACT LADAE. TL WAS KNOWN AS LIL’ TONE BACK THEN AND THE GROUP HAD A FULL ALBUM ‘KISS DA SKY’ EXECUTIVE PRODUCED JAM & LEWIS. HOWEVER BECAUSE NEW SOUL VOCAL GROUPS ARE NOT THIS DECADES THING (IT’LL COME ROUND AGAIN JUST WAIT) THE ALBUM REMAINS IN THE VAULTS.
’BEST KEPT SECRET’ A HORN INTRO THAT DEMANDS YOU LISTEN , THEN WARM KEYS, TRADEMARK “OOH WOOH HOO”’S, FATBACK SKIN HITS, AND A MAN THAT CAN WAIL LIKE NO OTHER. CONTEMPORARY SOUL AT ITS FINEST … … ‘LOVE IZ A HUSTLE’ HE STARTS SINGING HIGH AND KEEPS GOING, COULD EASILY BE A MO’ SLICK TRACK WITH ITS DOO WOP INFLUENCE. JUST EDGED OUT BY ‘BEST KEPT’ AS THE LEAD SONG FOR ‘SOUL & THE CITY’ … … ‘RADIO’ R&B IN THE SUMMER OF ’07 TAKES YOU BACK TO THE SUMMER OF ’87.
TL’S CRAP AT KEEPING SECRETS, HE SPILLS THE BEANS ON ‘BEST KEPT SECRET’- RIGHT HERE!
