After making several major moves last year, including his Khaled certified mixtape and acting appearance in Bloodline, Toro is taking even more steps in the right direction. Here he discusses his new single with Rick Ross and his return to the movie game. You have some new features out right now. Who all have you been working with? I have a new single that’s on the radio right now getting a lot of spins. It’s featuring Rick Ross. It’s called “Ride” and it’s produced by Gorilla Tek. It’s blazing real heavy in northern and central Florida. Miami is killin’ ‘em. We’re just working that. I got another single with Brisco, BallGreezy, and Ice Berg called “We Live.” Do you think it helps an artist to have some major artists co-sign them? It’s good, but basically I built my buzz myself. The artists that I do work with, we grew up together in the Miami industry scene, like Rick Ross and Brisco. Those are my friends besides the music. E-Class, Flo Rida, I’ve known all of them forever. It’s a good look because you can attract their fans to your songs. You can all get fans at the same time. There’s a lot of hot artists coming out of Opa-Locka. We support each other and do a lot of music together. You got One Life, Street Mob – that’s a group we just put together with me, Brisco, and BallGreezy. We got like eight songs now. As far as Opa-Locka, it’s a couple of artists we know of so far, but you never know what’s gonna come out of there. But we work with everybody in OpaLocka, Liberty City, Carol City, and Miami period. We’re not just messing with only our section; we messing with everybody. Last year you had a CD out hosted by DJ Khaled. Have you worked with him since then? Yes. I worked with him on the Ace remix for 99 Jamz. I do a lot of shows with them. As far as new music, I just reloaded my mixtape. I just added a couple of more songs to the one he hosted. I got the DJ Drama Gangsta Grillz that should be out Memorial Day Weekend. How long have you been working on the Gangsta Grillz project? It took me basically a year to put it together. I had trouble with my management but we got it done. We’re ready to ship ‘em out
Memorial Day Weekend. It took a while with him going through all the mixtape drama [with the RIAA]. We had to take it slow. What happened with your management situation? I was with Lifeline Management with Zo and Jimmy Henchmen. My manager is incarcerated right now but we’re still doing the same thing. I got a new manager named Merc with Big Idea Management. We’re still a family. We’re doing shows and basically keeping the buzz up in the streets. I got one of the biggest buzzes in Florida right. I’m with the Iconz Music Group for production so I’ve got the hottest tracks in Florida. Iconz did the Bloodline movie, right? Yeah. We just did Bloodline 2. I’m in that, Bloodline, M.I.Yayo, East Coast Ridaz, the “I’m So Hood” video, Ace’s video, Plies’ video. I’m just working right now. I’m just doing everything I can. I got my “Ride” video on YouTube featuring Rick Ross. We’re just working right now. Was it difficult to get into acting? The role they gave me was just being myself. I’m not an actor but I’m good at what I do. I can do anything I put my mind to. It’s really nothing, memorizing the script and everything. I just changed it up a lil bit to cater to my lifestyle. It’s easy though. Which character did you play? Smurf in the first Bloodline. I was working under Koke (Suthunboy) and Ump. Now that Ump is gone, it’s just me and Koke. It’s gonna be really big. It will probably be released in the fall of ’09. We should be wrapping up the filming in another month or so. Thanks for everybody supporting the first Bloodline movie. We did real good numbers on that. What else do you want to say? I just want to let everybody know I’m the best nigga breathing so just get ready for me. Check my track record. I got the mixtape game on smash. I got the movie game on smash. We’re just vibing right now. Y’all check us out. You seen me everywhere. I’m at your flea markets, your malls, your clubs. I’m getting independent money. Catch me riding on fo’s, selling my CDs out the back do’. That’s how I do it. Free Zo! Website: Myspace.com/Toroiconz Words: Ms. Rivercity OZONE | 31