5 on it: DialTone

Tulsa has many attractions, museums, ball parks, the zoo, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, and the BOK Center. But tucked away is one small unknown oasis in Tulsa called Tones beach. A place where there are good vibes, good people, inflatable palm trees, el caminos, the beach dog named Charlie, and of course good raps. And the life guard of this rap oasis is none other than Dial Tone.

When did you start rapping? Man..Uh..I started rapping in the... I wrote my first rap when I was in the 8th grade. Yea 8th grade. Do you remember a little bit of it? My first rap? I don't remember my first rap but I remember the song. It was a... Dial Tone starts singing, "Gangggsteeerrrfied Gaaanggggster shit. It was me, my homeboy Kevin Goodeau, Reggie was there, my homie Marcel Goodeau. Rest in Peace, yea he made the beat too on this little weak ass keyboard bro, and thats my first song ever.

What's the story behind your name DialTone? Well...um man for a long time growing up. Growing up out where I grew up from. My name was 420. And um that name was just... just my name. And then when I started really getting serious with music and the rise of Curren$y and Wiz Khalifa, people just took that name as, let me get you on a weed song, let me get you on a weed song. And this was crazy cause I didn't even know that 420 meant weed. Cause at this time I wasn't smokin weed. But it was 420. And then I switched it up to Dial Tone cause its like a play on that. My real name is Antonio. And dial tone is like.. this is when you end the conversation. Like its over. Its just a play on my name too.

When did you know that you wanted to be a rapper? Man 1996-7. When  I seen Nas's video "If I Ruled the World" video. The first time I ever seen that. Thats the first time I wanted to rap. And niggas be bro, like he on the Khaled album bro, and the flow is like... y'all niggas is crazy bro. like...y'all out y'all mind bro.

Who are your influences musically? Man..umm.. Nas, Snoop Dogg, Curren$y, and Dam-Funk. Dam-Funk. Put Dam-Funk on there.

Do you have a top 5?  Top 5 is uhhh....Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z, Kendrick (Kendrick Lamar), Steph Simon.

So how do you feel about the Tulsa rap scene right now? Man I like its thriving. Man for a long time I use to say its gonna take 20 rappers bro. knocking on the door before we get noticed. Then, that was like a year ago I said this. And now its like damn near 20. And when you think about it, 20 good ones. You know like 20, Its just now gonna take us going to the bigger markets, LA and New York. But thats the thing to, like ya'll don't understand, us being small town people we gonna stand out bro. Like why are they? Who are they? Who is this? Do you do any shows out of town? Uhh man, honestly I haven't done any shows out of town in a long time man.the last one was probably Dallas and Houston. We do Dallas and Houston a lot. I been just focusin on making music right now. Honestly. And you can't do nuthin without that.

So what's your process when your picking a beat? Man process...process when picking a beat. It has to. It has to get that first line out of me.If I hear a beat and it don't get that first line out of me, then I can't. That. And the order of the drums. The drums get me. I don't care about the.. The drums gotta be tight. If the drums is tight then I'm wit it.

Do you have any special process of how you write? Or anything you need to help you write? I really, honestly bro. I be hearing people say I don't write, I don't write, I don't write my shit down. Which is cool, but crazy. but I write my shit down, but I'm freestylin it too at the same time. You know what I'm saying? I'm freestylin while I'm writin, I'm writin it down. I'm writing it down as I go, that's why its sloppy and scratched out cause I'm freestylin it. And the reason why I write it down bro is cause like. cause its just somethin you can just touch and have. You know what I'm saying? My phone, I got like raps in it, but its like, if those raps were deleted today. I wouldn't like care. I care about these ones (Picks up pages of notebook paper). Cause these ones, you can frame these mutherfukas. You know what I mean. It means something bro. It's on paper. Its like being on wax. Its on wax. I can look back on this and see this, like damn. Ima start writing a date on this shit too. So I can know when I wrote it. Thats like that 2Pac shit when people find old stuff he wrote. Think about that, that's memorabilia, that should be in a museum bro.

So what's your goal in music? Man my goal in music, is honestly bro. It to put the light on Tulsa. Put a light on Tulsa. Create a community of artists bro, that's thriving, thats helping each other bro. Just growing bro. Just to see everybody growing bro.

Where do you see your music going in the future?  Man.... um... I see my music going honestly going way left field. Like way.. Not too crazy. But its never going to get too crazy cause I ain't one of them weird o's type artist. You know? But I just been trying to find my sound, thats why I really ain't been putting out music. I just been wanting to find my sound. Have you ever thought about incorporating Auto tune, I know like that's really popular now? I can't fuck with that bro. I can't do it. I can't even do it (Laughing). No knock on it, but I can't do it bro.

Do you have anybody you want to collaborate with?  Ummm.......... I don't bro. I collaborate with everybody I want to. I don't know. You talking about big artists? Anybody. Anybody...Nas, Curren$y, Snoop, Dam-Funk. Like Dom Kennedy. Thats it.

I see you like Penny Hardaway, whats the story behind that? Man that's just my all-time favorite player. He had a... compared to Micheal Jordan bro he had.. my dude Penny had the second best shoes. second to none. I just, I don't know Penny, he was just cold man. He just didn't get him one. But its all good. That don't mean nuthin. I fucks wit Penny man. I saw the 30 for 30 on him, he was cold. He was cold bro. I swear I will get on 2k right now and get the old school Magic and go to work, and be raining jumpers like.

I see you have the song Penny 1's. Whats your favorite Penny shoe? My favorite Penny shoe is probably the uhh. Penny 2's the original. Either the black ones or the white ones. But thats my favorite the Penny 2's.

What basketball player do you feel emulates you and your style of music? I don't know bro, I'm kind of like Gilbert Arenas. He put up buckets on the court, but he do like crazy stuff off the court. You know like. I don't know, I'm not gonna say I do crazy stuff. But you know, I'm just like 100% raw, so I just feel like Gilbert Arenas bro. And he's one of my favorite players. So thats what I think about. I'm like Gilbert Arenas.

I saw you had a track named Penny and Jordan? Do you think they could actually be on the same team together? Hell naw. Naw bro. Let my nigga Penny stay with the Magic man. Let my nigga Jordan stay on the Bulls. Hell naw.

I saw there was a little controversy on your Facebook about the Oklahoma Music Awards. Do you care to comment about that a little bit? Yea I'll comment on it bro. It just....It just don't matter. Think about it on the grand scale of things, the Oklahoma Music Awards do not mean anything. Its nothin. And then its like. Its just  an ego stroker bro. Thats why people get mad cause its like... You over here hatin on the music awards, and they doin something for the artists. What are they doing for the artists bro? What are they really doing? Giving y'all a Bulldogs trophy bro. You know what I'm saying bro? What is they doing? People over there flashing they Tulsa hood awards. You know. What does that mean? I got recognized. It made me feel good (In a jokingly tone). It made me feel good. That don't mean nuthin. Who is the person throwing it? Who is the person putting it together? When I ask someone, no one knows. I don't know the ins and outs so I'm not gonna speak on it like that. But um.. Are they like paying the artist to perform? Everybody get benefited but the artist bro. Thats whats so crazy to me. The video, the graphics, the promoter. They make they money. The artists it like.. Just get up on the stage and rap. Oh iyou don't wanna do it for free. then we'll just get somebody else, its 3 million of ya'll. I don't know. But where's the love at man? I wanna talk to the people throwing it.

I see you guys had the TulsaXWorld Music Festival? What was that about? Man it was just giving....Putting together a hip-hop show for artists. So that they can showcase, artists who don't get to perform everyday or every weekend. Thats what it was for. And thats exactly what it was. It was from my homegirl Millie Mash from OKC, to CT$ had a great performance, to fuckin.... Bro just everybody bro. It was that.. Somethin to look back on. And its something to look forward to. Like. I didn't hear no complaints. It was about the city. The things we been doing Downtown, we been doing for a long time. and that's what it was about bro. That's who it was about. Think about next year. And that's why we didn't want really any footage, cause people who were there gonna know, like next when it comes around we gonna have one. It was just a combination of all the artists who were on it. It was tight.

So what is TulsaXWorld? Man, TulsaXWorld a collective, Its an umm.... I don't want people to think TulsaXWorld is just me, Steph, and DV. It is us. But at the same time. its just giving that... Its every artist. Really a group. its St. Dominick, its fuckin Hakeem, Its fuckin Keeng Cut, its Verse, Burns (Mr. Burns), its just everybody. It's TulsaXWorld bro. People don't get caught up on just us 3.

What is Tones beach? Tones beach came to me bro when me and my girl, we went to Ft. Lauderdale. And that was my fist time ever really going to a beach like that you know. And it was like.... Why do we live any where else bro. Why do we live in the snow? We live in the snow. We live in tornado alley. I don't know it just changed my life. So Tones beach is just a play on that experience honestly. I just wanted to hold that experience bro. My album is called Tones beach. So is that a clue, an exclusive to the name of what the new album is going to be? Yea. that's the name Tones Beach. Its gonna be like the Chronic 2001. Forreal, its gonna hit just like that.

OK, so if someone was going to come to Tones beach what would they need? Man they would need a pen, a pencil, and a phone. So they could write some raps, cause thats what we gonna do. And thats what Tones beach is. This right here man (Points to microphone and booth setup).

Just getting into your music. On your second verse of 'Pay the  Bills' you go, "Do more Tonio, Go harder, Dig deeper, have courage and honor." Was there a specific thing you were speaking to in this line? Bro that bar was honest me talking to myself. Like sometimes you gotta motivate yourself. You know what I'm saying. And that's all it was bro. It was just me telling myself man to do what I said. OK. So have you taken that advice lately? Yes, I have, I have. I take my own advice

The title of your last album was called "Right Back Aint Cheating" Is there a story behind that? Or meaning behind that? Naw its just a saying we use to say when shooting dice. They'll be like. They'll roll 7. Somebody catch it. Then they'll roll a 7 again. And they'll be like damn.. This is Right Back Aint Cheating bro. And I might just drop another tape tonite.

I see you make stuff also. Were you in wood class? Naww.. lol. I never messed with wood in my life until my homeboy Chris showed me how to do it. And at the time I was just tired of making music man, Steph had just dropped and finished up Visions. And I was kind of like this is the album, this is it. And I just felt like I need to do something else. It just clears your mind. Its cool. People think its tight. My girl likes it. You don't have to buy furniture now. Just make it on your own. But she still aint gonna trust me to make my own. But its all good.

What venue is your goal to perform in bye the next year? The Tulsa Arts..Whats it called? The Tulsa Living Arts. Thats my goal. I think I can make that happen.

What questions that I haven't asked that you would've  wanted me to ask? What I'm working on. What are you working on? (Both hysterically laughing). Man I'm working on an album, not an album, a few EPs. One with my man Norega Norris, he's out of this world man. And my dude Cityboy Chop got an EP about to come out, My man 91MaKeen, me and him gotta an EP, and its about 3 songs we about to drop, and me and Steph still ain't, we about to lock in and make one. We been around each other for soo long, that its nuthin  for me to get a verse from him.

With the weather in Tulsa still in the 90s, this rap oasis is the perfect place to cool off, kick back, and listen to some good raps. Tones beach is the perfect get away, and from the music being putting out here, it is on track to be a not so unknown musical attraction. So like DialTone said bring your pen, bring your paper, bring your cellphone, but most importantly bring your raps.

Thanks to DialTone for the interview. Check him out on SoundCloud, Twitter, and Instagram.

http://tonesbeach.com
https://soundcloud.com/dialxtone