Music Reviews URF Tone

Published on September 8th, 2022 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

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URF Tone: Raising the Bars

If you’re growing a bit tired of rolling your eyes at the aggressive showboating of popular hip-hop, or worse still, flinching at the chauvinistic machismo of trending hits, you’re not alone. For hordes of hip-hop lovers, it’s become a choice between the Devil and the deep blue sea. Either listen to catchy music that’s rife with profanity and glorifies casual sex and violence, or switch to some other genre… like lullabies.

Facing this dilemma myself, I turned to Spotify’s ‘discovery’ feature for help… and got lucky. The track – ‘Energy’, by URF Tone – turned up right after ‘What You Were Lookin’ For’ by Apollo Brown, and it just knocked my socks off. Its butter-smooth jazz riff and rich, acoustic quality were a delightful change after the same ol’, same ol’ of synth beats and heavy bass that permeates hip-hop so thoroughly. After playing the track through for the third time (yep, I liked it that much), I realized it reminded me of one of my other all-time favs, ‘Cantaloop’ by the UK band Us3. (An aside for those of you who’ve been wondering: the name of this 1993 track does, in fact, pay homage to the inimitable Herbie Hancock and his evergreen ‘Cantaloupe Island’.)

URF Tone

Needing to hear more from these guys, I listened to every single one of the URF Tone tracks on Spotify. To my surprise, I liked them all… some more than others, of course. ‘Get Busy’ had me literally shimmying through my chores, with its upbeat vibe and slightly faster than average tempo. Again, this one reminded me of an old favorite… ‘Juice’ (aka ‘Know the Ledge’, by Eric B. and Rakim)… without the dark lyrics and violence, of course.

One that especially resonated with me was ‘Mi Amor’, a mellow anthem to true love. Lyrics like, “it ain’t about bottle shape, it ain’t about model face”… “I may be the luckiest man ever, I got sunshine even in bad weather” had me floored. It felt so real and refreshing, this respect for one’s partner and lover that came through so clearly in the song. I found myself groovin to ‘2 Cents’, while ‘Something 4 Ya’ grabbed my attention with its quirky but harmonious juxtaposition of a cello opening followed by the almost honky-tonk feel of the track. ‘Feel is Real’ was yet another track I found myself playing over and over, its sheer positivity getting to me, with the line, “when did love your neighbor become underrated?” lingering in my head long after.

There was no question. I had to talk to these guys, find out what motivated their music. In less than a week, I was on a Zoom chat with Nicholas Demps, aka The World Famous N.I.C and MC Ila Parvaz (known simply as Ila), the DJ-MC duo who make up URF Tone of southern California (the ‘URF’ stands for ‘United Republic of Funk’). A few sound-bytes from our chat follow.

N.I.C and Ila’s answer to the question of what drives their music elicits the affirmation I’ve been expecting, given their sound: “We’re inspired by the genre’s golden-era sound”… “we have a purist’s approach to hip-hop”. Next up is the one I’ve been waiting to ask since I first heard their music: Do they see themselves as musical missionaries or activists? The response, while not quite what I was expecting, is reassuring at the same time. “In a landscape of excessive braggadocio and shock-jocks, we raise questions around what is being elevated, while decency and simple goodness fall to the wayside. We’re both full-time workers and, more importantly, husbands to our wives, so we give everything we can to music from a place of passion and childlike joy.”

Obviously, these guys take not only their music seriously, but their values as well. Talking to URF Tone is a reminder of how much I’ve missed good, clean music, and of how powerful a tonic it is for the soul.

What do they see as the future of URF Tone, I want to know. They’ve seen consistent growth since the mid-2021 release of their first single (‘Feel is Real’), they tell me. And by focusing on one single at a time, they’re able to sustain the pace, while delivering audience satisfaction. What they’d really like to do is have their music reach an audience of like-minded people; there are bound to be tons who truly appreciate the pure pleasure of good hip-hip (which I fully agree on).

And on that note, we wind down. Seeing how this duo’s been able to maintain the classy simplicity of its act, I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about URF Tone, as well as from them, in the days to come. Make sure you don’t miss out on the feel-good factor that URF Tone’s music is brimming over with… you can follow them on Instagram, or even tune in to their YouTube channel for a weekly podcast-style discussion called ‘URF Tone Tuesday’.

 




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About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.


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