"Wild Thing" handwritten lyrics by Tone-Loc

Tone-Loc (Anthony Terrell Smith, b. 1966), is a rapper and actor from Los Angeles, California, who wore Loc sunglasses in numerous photographs and video appearances throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hip-hop artist Tone-Loc penned these lyrics for “Wild Thing” with inspiration from Spike Lee’s 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It. The specific influence was a line spoken by legendary graffiti artist and rapper Fab 5 Freddy, “Yo, baby, come up to my house. Let’s do the wild thing. Let’s get loose!”  Tone-Loc’s song discusses the pleasures of doing the “wild thing” and describes what happens during its pursuit.

Record company Delicious Vinyl wanted Freddy to record the song. When the label couldn’t make this arrangement, they asked Tone-Loc to record it, and signed him as their first artist. His scorched-sounding voice complemented his clever lyrics and the Dust Brothers’ sampling, and the single soon sold over a million copies.In 1989, he released the second highest-selling single in US history titled “Wild Thing” on Loc-ed After Dark, which became the first No. 1 album by an African American rapper. Following his 1991 album Cool Hand Loc, Tone-Loc focused on his acting career, appearing in the movies Poetic Justice, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Heat, and in such TV shows as Touched by an Angel and Roc.