Bay C Unapologetic About T.O.K.’s 90s Hits But Now Making More Inclusive Music

Former T.O.K. member, Roshaun ‘Bay-C’ Clarke, recently sold a reggae NFT.

In this interview, we talk about his two-decade journey in music and how he came to learn about NFTs.

How did you enter the music industry? 

Basically, I always had a love for music. Never saw myself as an artist. When I went to high school I started singing in the choir at Campion College. Every school had a boy band back then but we had a choir background. It started as a dream of being Jamaica’s first R&B group.

Your bass voice has a distinct sound, where’d you develop that? 

It’s hereditary. My father has a bass voice. I started writing conscious music and then I started writing DJs and we created this new space on dancehall beats and performed dancehall in the clubs and this new sound emerged. DJing in the low register never existed in dancehall and still not duplicated to date.

What was your first hit song? 

Hardcore Lover with Lady Saw but my first number 1 was Eagles Cry. In 1998 Wap when we got our first and we started in 1992 so it took us six years to get a hit song.

Nowadays they’d kick you out of the industry, so tell me about the process in their years before the hit song. 

We started out playing around with different producers. We got the stamp of approval from our peers but it was still a journey to record us. Even on Sumfest we used to sing backup harmony for Ghost. All of that teach us showmanship and we learned from Monster Shack and (Bounty) Killa. Sly and Robbie too but it was Stephen Greg we saw us and said he wanted to manage us.

You were signed to a record label, what was your first record deal? 

We signed to VP Records in 2001. They reached out and gave us a contract. We did a ten-year tenure with VP.

When you guys signed with VP records you already had hit songs? Did they offer you anything you didn’t have before? 

Yes they offered resources and machinery. Obviously the more Independence the better but VP had the machinery in terms of getting the brand out there. We learned that you can’t build a career with singles but with a body of work. All of the greats that people refer to now have some form of album to go with that career. So VP gave us the opportunity to have four solid albums out there.

You recently sold a song via NFT, how was that process and how did you come to learn about NFT?

I have to shout out Salario in Berlin. He showed me what was going on. NFTs have been around since 2017 but this is the year everyone going crazy for it. It’s a digital asset that is a collectible that’s stored and sold and traded in the crypto space on blockchain technology. You are able to own like a baseball or basketball card, it’s the same concept to create unique assets unique to your brand.

Owning the art now becomes what the artist needs to do? 

Exactly, now more than ever ownership is a big part. It is the biggest revolution some say since the renaissance. Now in this space you are able to create something and say invest in brand and potential growth because I am going to create these things and it will increase in value. It’s really exciting times and I have big plans to be as integrated with it as possible.

Every-time the song is sold you get paid? 

Yes, every-time it’s sold I get a cut of it.

So do you own your masters? And do you wish you could go back and own those? 

I own everything that was produced by Bay C but T.O.K. was a group we own our Masters, for the stuff that went out with VO we have a co-ownership arrangement but technically they are the owners of it. I wouldn’t change anything because I don’t think T.O.K would reach where we reach if it wasn’t for VP. That’s the compromise but we walked away from our deal without compromising anything further.

Do you think dancehall contributes to violence and are you sorry for any songs you made? 

Saying that you are sorry or having regrets I’d to say you aren’t happy with where you are now. Every decision you made back then whether good or bad is a contributor to where you are now and I am very happy with where I am. I am not sorry about anything I have sang or done but I know moving forward my music should bring people together and not discriminate with anyone.

And no I don’t think dancehall causes crime it’s an easy scapegoat because of its influence.

Bay C thank you so much. 

Respect!

For the full interview listen to World Music Views Podcast of Apple and Spotify