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Fasten your seatbelts, please: here comes ‘crunkchata’ What’s with Toby Love’s new urban groove? Toby Love’s appeal appears to come from a very dynamic musical upbringing. Born in the Bronx, Octavio Rivera was influenced by his Puerto Rican parents, who are also musicians, and the sounds he heard all around him in the musical melting pot of New York City. His style is half Latin, and half hip-hop and R&B. That may not sound like it adds up, but judging by the success he has had with his self-titled album, the former back-up singer for the powerhouse bachata group Aventura is on track to mapping the uncharted territory that is “crunkchata.” With the Batanga tropical charts being usurped by reggaetón and bachata lately, that’s something we’re ready to explore. You were a back-up singer for Aventura for six years, how was that experience? That experience was crazy. It was like being with my brothers on the road. It was sort of like the Jackson 5. We had fun on and off stage. It was just so much fun. What did you learn from working with them? Discipline, how to act around business people, learning about the business, how to act around fans, how to treat fans. I’ve learned so many things just from being with them. I’ve seen how people will try to jerk you in this business. I’ve seen how people will try to take advantage of you. Only the real people stick with it through good and bad times. I was just a kid when I first started, I became an adult with those guys, and I grew so much as an artist while I was with them. How is your music different from the music you made with Aventura? My stuff is more urban than theirs, but don’t get it twisted. They bring that whole new style to bachata. I just feel my style of bachata is more urban. I’m not saying it’s better — I’m not in competition. Those are my brothers. If you were to see my show live you’d see hip-hop choreography. I have a Latin soul band, like the Latin version of The Roots. The show is just different. We do it with a hip-hop perspective. It’s not straight bachata. It’s 50% traditional bachata and 50% “crunkchata.” That’s what makes me different. What is crunkchata? I have traditional bachata on the album like “Tengo Un Amor,” but I’m also trying to bring in the whole “crunkchata” thing… slowly. It’s a new style that I’m trying to introduce, which is urban, hip-hop, reggaetón, and crunk all mixed in one and we put it to bachata. We have the bachata percussion, which is the bongo and the guiro. Around the whole bachata percussion you’re going to have strings that will be more hip-hop/R&B. The vocals are going to be rugged, real hip-hop. You’ve said that a new age of bachata is coming. What does this new age sound like? I feel it’s going to be this urban thing. Like I have a song on my album called “We Got It” featuring Voltio. It’s a crunk track with bachata. It just hasn’t been done before. I also have a song called “Stripper Pole.” Even the titles of the songs are really urban. You don’t see that on bachata albums. Who is going to put “Stripper Pole” on bachata album? I’m not trying to change or take anything away from the Dominicans, I respect Dominicans. I respect all Latin races. I don’t know if it’s going to take over the world, I just want to bring something different to the table. How was the experience of recording this album from start to finish? I knew I didn’t want to follow the style that Aventura brought in because everyone was doing that. Everyone who has copied them has failed because Aventura are the creators of it. So in the studio one day I was telling my producer, “We have to be creative and come up with something that’s going to take bachata to the next level. We’re hip-hop and R&B, so let’s urbanize it.” My producer Eddie Perez, who is a hell of a producer and produced for Lumidee and many other people, just started off with the bachata percussion and just letting it loop, loop, loop. He put some sounds around it and it turned into a whole new thing. That’s where I came up with the word “crunkchata.” It got crunk in the joint. We had our Red Bulls, so you know we were hype. You know what I mean? It was just crazy. We’re getting a lot feedback from the women about all the love-themed music and we’ve got the thugs feeling the club bangers. It’s 50/50. Do you see yourself as R&B first or bachata first? In my heart I’m a straight R&B dude. That’s what I love to do. I want to start a new wave. So I’m definitely R&B first before anything. But… I’m also a bachatero at heart. I did six years in a bachata group. I learned the bachata culture. I’m an R&B voice with a bachata feel. Your name is Octavio Rivera, where did Toby Love come from? Toby is actually my father’s nickname. His name is also Octavio Rivera. “Toby” came from my father. “Love” came from when I was young hanging out with my cousins. I was always saying, “Hey that girl’s cute,” “Hey I’m in love with that girl.” So my cousins always called me “Toby-Love.” Anthony from Aventura made it official by putting it on the first CD we did together. So the name just stuck with me. Every R&B album has to have a song for momma and this album is no different. Tell us about your momma. My mom is the most incredible woman in the world. My mom has always been there for me through good and bad. Anything I needed, I always had it. I wasn’t a spoiled brat though. She got me where I am today. I’m humble and I have manners because of her. My mother is also a musician. She played bass for quite a while and she’s a singer. She was always behind me 100% in all of this. She told me to go for my dreams. She always gave me this consejo: “Do what you want to do but stay off the streets.” I’m not an innocent angel though. No one is perfect but when my mother said get your ass upstairs that meant get your ass upstairs. I respect her and love her to death. I hope one day I can buy her a house and show how much I love her. I know money is not everything but I would love to do that. That’s the reason I had to put the song “Momma’s Song” on the CD. You said that your music is for second- and third-generation youth… you can hear that in your lyrics with the mix of English and Spanish. Do you think that could backfire and ostracize the person who only speaks Spanish, the diehard bachata fan? I’ve thought about that and it can backfire. Like I said earlier, that’s why it’s 50/50. You are either going to love me or hate me. You’re either going to accept me as a bachatero or not accept me. I’ve put in my years. I’ve proved myself. Toby Love is a bachatero. Only now you can say Toby is an R&B bachatero. I have thought about that because Dominicans are very proud of their music but when they called me from Santo Domingo, from the motherland of bachata, and they told me that we were popping out there and that we were in every corner making noise — it’s good to hear. People are actually accepting something different. Sometimes you want hear something different. I’m not trying to change bachata. As long as the people in DR are going for it, we’re good. Has salsa and merengue taken a back seat to bachata and reggaetón? In the ’90s merengue and salsa were all that was known as tropical music on a nationwide scale, in the clubs and on the radio. Now we’ve seen the rise of both bachata and reggaetón and you’re lucky if you hear salsa or merengue at a club or party. You’re right. You know why? It’s all about bringing something new to the table. I did a merengue and everybody flips when they hear it. You have to respect the salseros and merengueros. It’s nothing against them. They still play everywhere. The difference now is that if you don’t bring something fresh to the public they are not going to want to hear it. Salsa isn’t on the map right now with the young people. Everyone wants to hear bachata, rap and reggaetón. You won’t hear a salsa at a young club. You’ll hear a merengue because you can dance to it. Right now it’s all about perreando. Bachata has grown. It is respected as urban and people are actually accepting it as that. It’s the truth. |
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Toby Love 