Former Aventura member Toby Love experiments with "Crunk-chata."
Having made a name for himself as one of the few Puerto Rican contributors to the Dominican merengue sound with his stint in the hit group Aventura, crooner Toby Love is exploring a more individual sound as a solo artist. On singles like “Don’t Cry” Toby not only mixes up Spanish and English lyrics but also Bachata rhythms with 808 claps and dashes of reggaeton courtesy of Alex y Fido and Voltio, arriving at a sound he calls ‘crunk-chata.’ The hybrid is a natural product of a Bronx childhood wherein the Puerto Rican youth came up on hiphop and reggae while learning Dominican-accented Spanish from his neighbors. It may sound like future shock but channels the best qualities of older pop influences like Debarge and the latin freestyle of Timmy T, ensuring Toby will open his music to a whole new audience without losing his Aventura fans.
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