LaRosa Johnson {dot} com

It’s been a minute since I’ve listened to a Tonex album. After being an adamant fan and having two of his songs in my wedding, I made the decision, almost two years ago now, to stop listening to him and toss all of his albums in the trash, along with many others (read the spill here). It was shortly after I made the decision to drop Tonex from my collection that the whole drama with the “Naked Truth” song came about. To this date, I still haven’t heard the song, nor do I wish to. I did call the brother on the phone after hitting him up on MySpace to discuss the matter, and ended the call feeling quite a bit uncomfortable, to which point I decided to pretty much write dude off, ala the man of incest in 1 Corinthians. Since that time, the only time I’d heard Tonex was on the rare guest feature on albums that I happened to be reviewing for various websites.

That brings me to today. After keeping in touch with my friend AppleJaxx and recently reviewing his mixtape, he brought up Tonex. He had mentioned how much he had grown since the whole Naked Truth ordeal and that he’d been working on some new music reminiscent of the Pronounced Toe-Nay days. Still leery about the whole situation and wanting to stick to my guns as far as my reasons for not listening to him, I agreed to contact Tonex and attempt to review his latest release Unspoken, swallowing any crow that I needed to in the process. I didn’t get a response, but AppleJaxx hit me up with the album anyway, so, here’s my review of Tonex’s latest release Unspoken.

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When I got the download of Unspoken, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Looking at the cover art, I’ll be the first to say that it was a bit disturbing, albeit vintage Tonex in style & effect. Cover art aside, I figured the best thing would be to let the music speak for itself, so I plugged my headphones into the jack on my laptop, loaded up the Zune software, and pressed play to give Unspoken a listen.

When “Fiyah” came on, I immediately got an idea for what kind of album this was going to be; I knew it was going to multi-faceted, both light & heavy. Even though the opening track is a bit pointless and nonsensical, it proved to be just the thing I needed to keep me listening and moving forward with the remaining tracks. After getting through “Bring It,” another fairly light track, I found myself ready to get into the more serious part of the album, given that the first two didn’t really seem to fit with the cover art or even the concept of Unspoken.

“Joy” came up next, which turned out to be a lighthearted R&B/pop track. I found myself liking the song and humming along; the only thing that keeps me scratching my head is that I can’t really tell if he’s talking about God/Jesus or someone else, and if he is talking about Jesus, then I have a problem with the four-leaf clover reference (i.e. a “good luck” charm). That aside, I liked the song and made me feel like the album was finally moving in a positive direction. “Glor3x” came up next, as the album seemed to be switching gears a bit and going towards the gospel/worship type tracks. This song was a bit hit & miss for me; I found myself enjoying the hook, but thought that his voice on the verses was a bit on the whiny & annoying side, which, depending on my mood, can be tolerable or terribly bad. One way or another, the song made its point and put the focus where it needed to be, on God.

Next up was “Bl3nd,” a recycled song from the O’ryn Project some years back. Even though this is a song that has been around since I started listening to Tonex, it seemed fitting and appropriate given the circumstances. It’s one of those songs that says that he’s getting back to what he once was. Honestly, it was songs like this that made me become a fan of his music. The only negative is with this following “Glor3x” I was left wondering how many twists & turns this album was going to make, as it seemed to hop from one style to the next from track to track. About the only consistency is the tempo & speed of the songs, which is more on the slower side. “Cool With U” comes in at track 6, and is another R&B type song that speaks about not doing something if it’s not cool with God; this is probably one of my favorites on the album. It’s really a message that a lot of believers need to take to heart.

The title track “Unspoken” comes right in the middle of the album and it’s a rather interesting song. Even with it’s laid back tempo, it’s a very churchy type of song that speaks about needing prayer over unspoken requests and beseeching the brethren for prayer. In a lot of ways I really liked this song, but I probably could’ve done without some of the “Christianese” that’s used in the song, which again is more personal preference than anything. Overall, this song is solid. I also had problems with the Christianese on the subsequent track “Again?,” as it seemed to be a bit more prominent; it’s definitely talk that you’d hear in the more charismatic circles.

Keeping things moving, “Love Me 4 Me” seemed a bit out of place given the previous handful of tracks, having a lighter R&B/love song following deeper spiritual songs. In many respects, given the flavor of the album, this song almost seems totally out of place with the rest of the content and doesn’t fit. I still liked the song and found myself putting it on repeat a few times. I wonder if it may have been better served as a bonus track at the end of the album or following “Joy.”

The final four tracks are where Tonex steps into his futuristic Nureau style of music. First up is “When I Call,” which is an electronic and dance flavored song that puts a new & refreshing spin on the concept & songs that talk about God answering when we call upon Him. The song is very upbeat, and given my recent musical tastes, it was a very pleasant addition to the album. “Sneeze” is another that is more on the futuristic side blended with a bit of UK pop that takes a play on the 2 Kings 4 account of Elisha and the young lad who had died and was resurrected. I wonder how much of the song is personal experience and how much is creative liberty taken with the story. Given that it’s Tonex, who knows?! “Wired” fits perfectly into the Nureau mold and leads right into the closing track, “F@ce Down.” This is another one of those tracks with some verbiage that I could have done without, but the concept of staying before the Lord in prayer is another one of those concepts that we all need to lay hold of.

Overall, I have some mixed feelings about the album. As I noted, many times, the album seemed difficult to follow and seemed to lack direction in the ordering of the songs. One minute you’re listening to pop music, the next minute you’re given some worshipful music and ready to worship some more, but end up getting hit with some R&B, which gets followed by dance/club music. Taken individually, the songs are great and are pleasant to listen to, but it seems to be a bit of hodgepodge when taken as a collective. Another point I made was the use of a good bit of Christianese in a handful of songs; I understand that it’s a part of his background, but it was one of those things that almost turned me off from giving the album the chance it deserved. Some of it is a bit flaky scripturally, in my opinion, and is highly charismatic, but I get the overall concept behind the songs, so I glanced over it. Those bits aside, I thought it was a good and enjoyable album. It was nice to be able to listen to Tonex again and be reminded of why I enjoyed his music so much. I’ll definitely keep this project around and give it the occasional listen.

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So, that’s my review. What are my thoughts after writing this review and giving the album a listen? Well, as I told Tonex personally, I still regard him as a brother in the faith, despite some of our theological differences. I’m appreciative and encouraged to see his growth and return to the Lord. His growth definitely shines through in some of the songs, which is a good thing. It’s my prayer that he continues to stay before the Lord and in the Word of God, as well as surrounding himself with people who are going to keep him going in the right direction.

As for me, I hope this review shows some goodwill and reconciliation on my part, and for any negative comments I may have. I don’t regret the decision to toss the music I did, but that’s no reason to break fellowship with a brother. I’ve even eaten a good bit of crow in even agreeing to listen to the album, and much more in writing this review. I’m a more humble man for it, and I understand God’s grace all the more. May the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us. Amen.