Like many rappers, Loc got into the genre because it’s so popular among young ghetto blacks. He, however, isn’t from the ghetto.
“I had to take a bus to get there (the ghetto) to hang out with the fellas,” Loc said. “I was raised with money, on the Westside in a two-story house. My father died when I was 5, but my mother runs a business that makes a lot of money. My friends didn’t have money, but I did.”
His real name is Tony Smith. Tone Loc, he explained, is a gang name, with Loc being short for loco. “I’m not in a gang anymore, but I kept the name,” he said.
These days it’s fashionable for rappers to claim they’re former gang members, since that instantly projects the kind of tough, street-wise image that lends credibility to their lyrics. While some rappers’ boasts of gang ties don’t ring true, Loc’s seem legitimate.
“I was serious about it (gang involvement),” he said. “I was in one of the major gangs. Being in a gang wasn’t really necessary for me like it is for other guys. They’re in it because they’re born poor and don’t have much else. I had all these other opportunities and I was still into the gang thing.”
One big reason for his involvement, he said, was to provide an outlet for his violent nature: “I don’t know why I’m like that. I always wanted to start fights. I always thought I had to be a little tougher than the other kids. I still have this violent thing in me. I’ve learned to control it--to a large degree. But it’s still there. I can get crazy at the drop of a hat.”
Although gang existence is behind him, Loc emphasized that he still has his share of vices. “I drink and I smoke weed (marijuana),” he said. “My mother knows it and as long as she knows it I don’t care who else does. She doesn’t approve, but that’s life. . . . But I don’t do any hard-core drugs.”
Loc attributes his exit from gang life largely to the influence of his first love. “I was about 17 or 18 and I was so in love with this girl,” he recalled. “She didn’t like me being in a gang. She said it was too dangerous. I’d be in fights. I was even shot once. But I didn’t want to lose her, so I got out.”
Now Loc lectures at high schools on the evils of gang life. “I tell them there’s a world outside of gangs,” he said. “I tell them they don’t have to hang out with gangs and be fighting and shooting each other. There’s honest ways to make money--like rapping. You can make a ton of money and still be cool--like me.”
