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TobyMac

After his hugely successful career in the 90's with dc talk, TobyMac (Tobias Kevin Michael McKeehan) decided to go out on his own and released his debut album, Momentum, in 2001. Toby has been throughly enjoying his solo career and recently released his second album entitled, Welcome to Diverse City. This CD tells of Toby's passion to start a revolution that will sweep through cities and erase the lines that divide and keep people and cultures apart.

Toby's style is much like that of dc talk but with more of a hip-hop sound. He likes to refer to his style as "musical gumbo" because of the diversity of sounds he incorporates. Toby uses a mixture of rock, pop, rap, and reggae to reach people of all races and color. His influences include Arrested Development, U2, The Police, Black Eyed Peas, and Bob Marley. Toby feels that U2 and Bob Marley have the greatest expressions of spirituality in their music, even through Marley sings of a different god.

TobyMac wants to start a revolution, one that will sweep through cities and erase the divisive lines that keep people and cultures apart.

Throughout the 1990s, TobyMac achieved considerable success with his Grammy winning group dc talk, stockpiling a number of gold and platinum albums with seven million combined copies sold.

As the group moved into the rearview window, TobyMac boldly stepped out on his own with his solo debut, Momentum.

Earning rave reviews from Billboard to CCM Magazine, the 2001 album debuted atop the Billboard Heatseekers chart, sold over 400,000 copies, and landed two number one singles, "Extreme Days" and "Somebody's Watching Me."

The DC born artist went on to win several Dove Awards, including Producer of the Year, and two BMI honors as Christian Songwriter of the Year.

As a true artist, it's not his impressive sales heights or awards that fire up his voice, but rather it's an unwavering quest to make songs that connect and inspire all who hear them. Crafting the perfect songs to match his vision, TobyMac ignites the first spark with Welcome to Diverse City.

Accentuating his celebrated career with dc talk, TobyMac made his solo bow in 2001 with the Grammy-nominated Momentum.

As the title implies, Diverse City is an album bursting with musical flavors and nuances, and yet this stylistic blend finds unity through faith as it's threaded through a melding urban rock and hip-hop frame. Reaching into a world of different sounds and cultures, this album knits it all together with a genuine artist's touch.

The disc marked a return to TobyMac's hip-hop roots, the very style with which dc talk first emerged, and yet the rapper-singer once again finds himself branching out from this base. "I'm not on a mission to flex musical diversity as much as possible, but I don't fear it," admits the emcee. "I don't fear where the music is taking me. There's a blending going on as I drop it all in the pot making what I call musical gumbo."

Building upon this throwback style, TobyMac infuses new life with raps, hooks, and melodies that transform the party energy into a celebration of races

united as a single city on a shining hill.

Case in point, the title track recalls a time when disco rolled into funk and groups like the Gap Band and Parliament rocked the perfect party soundtracks. After moving feet with its retro revival touches, the album trades in the dancing shoes for bangin' heads as "Slam" and "Phenomenon" surge with rock guitars, explosive vocals, and anthem-like choruses. Then, as a song that feels like summertime in a cup, "Gone" uses a progressive west coast pop style to tell about a friend who gave her disrespectful boyfriend the curbside-kick.

"My style is diversity, it always has been," says TobyMac, who co-produced the album along with such notables as Chris Stevens, Paul Meany, Robert Marvin, Mike Linney, Joe Baldridge, and Solomon Olds.

"It's about taking hip-hop and injecting pop melodies and guitars and harmonicas and whatever else it takes to make the song fit the message I'm trying to communicate."

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