Tony! Toni! Ton! — Oakland Stroke

[Spoken Intro] I got something to say, man, you dig? I mean, you cats been up here rapping Ain’t said nothing about the real thing, you know what I mean? [Verse 1: D’wayne Wiggins] Individually picking out the brothers that jam Commonly known are people like Sly and Graham Something kinda special about the grooves they wrote They all had the flavor of the Oakland Stroke That’s the bass drum kickin’, the high-hat lickin’ A groove so hard it makes your feet kickin’ To a dope groove, I mean, a fresh groove It’s a guaranteed hit to make your body move Others try to hang but they just can’t cope They must come to realize, it’s the Oakland Stroke [Chorus: Dwayne Wiggins + Vanessa Williams] Yo, miss thang… Uh-huh, uh-huh Can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh…Oakland, Californ-i-a [Verse 2: D’wayne Wiggins] If you get the nerve then you might wanna try You can’t hang, you’re getting mud in your eye So don’t even flirt or you might get hurt And you’ll wind up looking like dirt From a dope groove, I mean, a fresh groove It’s a guaranteed hit to make your body move Others try to hang but they just can’t cope When are they going to realize, it’s the Oakland Stroke [Chorus: Dwayne Wiggins + Vanessa Williams + (Raphael Saadiq)] (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh Make your body move, you can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke (“Yeah y’all, come on”) Uh-huh, uh-huh Now give me something… (“Yeah y’all…”) That’s right Uh-huh, uh-huh [Verse 3: D’wayne Wiggins] Well, to sum it up, all I’m really trying to say Is that the Oaktown brothers like to do it one way Funky, greasy, nasty, hard And never once do we drop our guard When the bass starts lickin’, the high-hats kick in The guaranteed hit to make feet start kickin’ Others wanna hang but can’t cope It’s the Oakland Stroke What, what, what, what did you say that groove was again? What’d you say that groove was, man? (“Boy, you shoulda known by now…”) The Oakland Stroke [Interlude: Raphael Saadiq] (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) (Everybody knows, it’s time to Oakland Stroke) [Outro: D’wayne Wiggins + Vanessa Williams] We gon’ ride it out this way… Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke (“I know you’re gonna dig this”) [Break] Let, let, let me hear you say, “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na” (“Yeah y’all come on”) ”Na-na-na-na-na-na-na” Let me hear you say, “Ah”…”Oh”…”Uh…uh…uh-uh, OW!” You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t hang… Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t hang… Uh-huh, uh-huh You can’t cope with the Oakland Stroke