Toikeon Parham, known professionally as Ms. Toi, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. She is featured on the

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

song "

You Can Do It "You Can Do It" is a hip-hop song by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released as the second single from the ''Next Friday'' soundtrack. The song features Ice Cube's Westside Connection bandmate Mack 10, as well as rapper Ms. Toi. "You Can ...

" with

Mack 10 Dedrick D'Mon Rolison (born August 9, 1971), better known by his stage name Mack 10, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He was a member of hip hop supergroup Westside Connection along with WC and Ice C ...

, released on the soundtrack albums for the feature films ''

Next Friday ''Next Friday'' is a 2000 American stoner comedy film and the sequel to the 1995 film ''Friday''. It is the first film to be produced by Ice Cube's film production company Cube Vision, and to be written by Cube himself. It was directed by Stev ...

'' and ''

Save the Last Dance ''Save the Last Dance'' is a 2001 American dance film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who ...

''. "You Can Do It" became a major club hit in 2000, and its video received airplay on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

Early life

Parham was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Her family moved to

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 107,762. ...

, when she was 11 years old. Toi attended Inglewood High School, part of its Class of 1991. After being expelled from school, she moved to

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, where she lived with an uncle and his family.

Career

In Sacramento, Toi began pursuing an interest in hip hop. She performed with a group, Thick and the Girls, initially as a dancer. Her first studio recording, "Life Styles of the Rough and Sexy", was by her and

Ronnie DeVoe Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr. (born November 17, 1967), is an American singer and rapper known as one of the members of the R&B/ pop group New Edition, and the R&B/ hip hop group Bell Biv DeVoe. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Career DeVoe wa ...

, the nephew of her manager. She joined a rap group, Militia, and her performance on a remix of their track "Burn" led to further opportunities. Toi's break came when she was invited to record "You Can Do It" with

and

. The song became a hit. Toi was signed to

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

. Her debut album ''That Girl'' was released a year later. It features multiple

West Coast rap West Coast hip-hop is a regional genre of hip-hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast of the United States. West Coast hip-hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during the early t ...

pers, including

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

and

MC Ren Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 16, 1969), known professionally by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the independent record label Villain ...

, along with others like

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

and producer

Dame Grease Damon J. Blackman (born August 9, 1974), better known by his stage name Dame Grease or simply Grease, is an American record producer from New York City. In 1996, he gained recognition in the hip hop industry through his production work with Bad ...

Discography

Albums

* 2001: ''That Girl'' * 2007: ''Not Yo Average Chick'' - Heetseekers - Middle Atlantic - No. 7 * 2009: ''Corporate Thug '' * 2014: ''I Am a Warrior, Part 1'' * 2014: ''I Am a Warrior, Part 2'' * 2020: ''Real In The City'' * 2020: ''Unleashed'' * 2021: ''Vybe'' * 2021: ''HBIC Work'' * 2022: ''On Everythang'' * 2022: ''Ms. Toi Presents The Session'' * 2022: ''Roses'' * 2022: ''From The Hip'' * 2023: ''Rock Hop Vol.1'' * 2023: ''Ms. Toi Presents The Session 2'' * 2024: ''I Said What I Said''

Mixtapes

2017: ''Now That's Gangsta'' - Datpiff.com

Singles

* 2001: "Handclap" * 2013: "I Am a Warrior" * 2014: "Green Like That Green" features

, YukMouth and Nyce in

DJ Pooh Mark Jordan (born June 29, 1969), better known by his stage name DJ Pooh, is an American record producer, rapper, screenwriter, and film director. He is perhaps best known for his production work on Ice Cube's 1993 single " It Was a Good Day", ...

’s movie ''Budz House'' * 2014 "Do You Really Wanna Go There" (Ft Dub-C & Yeahlome)Unreleased from Testimonial Game album * 2017: "Slay" * 2017: "Roses" featuring

Klondike Kat ''Klondike Kat'' is a cartoon produced by Total Television and originally aired as part of '' The Beagles'' on CBS-TV in 1966, and later found in the U.S. syndicated ''Underdog'' and '' Tennessee Tuxedo'' cartoon series, in between episodes as ...

(nominated for Female Perspective Awards Song of the Year in 2017) * 2018: "All My Life" featuring and produced by J Pad Da Juggernaut * 2019: "I Mean I Mean" featuring OYG Red Rum * 2019: "Keep Up With The G.O" featuring J Pad Da Juggernaut * 2020: "Keep Moving" (CW "All American" Season 2 Episode 14 "Who Shot Ya") * 2020: "On Everythang" featuring B.F.L.Y * 2020: "Everything Big" * 2020: "Direct Deposit" * 2020: "Track Snatched" * 2020: "Game Wide Open" * 2020: "No Love" * 2020: "Supportive" * 2020: "Bout My Issue" featuring Mr. Tan * 2020: "Get Outta My Way" featuring Tiga Maine * 2020: "Ready Set Win" * 2020: "Zah Zah On Fire" * 2021: "Weirdo's Talk" * 2021: "About U" featuring Teddy Neutral * 2021: "Im One of Em" * 2021: "And I" * 2021: "Alway's Into Something" featuring Jackie Bad * 2021: "Who Am I" featuring Speak Lo * 2022: "Show U" * 2022: "Play With Me" * 2022: "Is There A Problem" * 2022: "Ms. Toi Roses" * 2023: "Been There Done that" * 2023: "Gen X" featuring K waz The Lyrical Psycho, Speak Lo, J Pad Da Juggernaut * 2023: "Celebrate" featuring Tia P. * 2024: "We So Immortal" * 2024: "I Said What I Said" featuring Mz Nera * 2024: "Say My Name" featuring Sagethegoddess

Guest appearances

* 1999: "You Can Do It" by

(Also features

) * 2011: "Crazzzy" by KiLR

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toi, Ms. African-American women rappers 21st-century American women rappers Living people Gangsta rappers Rappers from Chicago Rappers from Los Angeles Midwest hip-hop musicians West Coast hip-hop musicians African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters Universal Records artists 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Illinois Year of birth missing (living people)