Years before they released an album, the Bay Area funk duo Tall Tee began building their fan base off the strength of friendship. Not only does their laidback camaraderie translate easily on stage, but the two members, Joog Mac and Flex One, keep their hands in countless creative communities and hustles. For Joog, it’s his genre-spanning DJ collective Bussdown, comfort food pop-up SMAX, and work in the natural wine industry. For Flex, it’s videography, photography and even muay Thai.
Folks from all of these scenes show up when Tall Tee rocks a show. And whether they’re collaborating or pursuing solo ventures, Flex and Joog support each other completely. But that wasn’t necessarily the case when the two first met as San Francisco State University students over a decade ago, when they opened for underground hip-hop legends Zion I as two separate rap acts.
“I saw what I thought was going to be my rival,” jokingly admits Flex, who was born and raised in San Francisco. “[But he] actually had similar interests, and we were in the same [broadcasting] program.”
The two eventually began working on music together, and after years of growing their hype through shows at venues like Oakland hotspot Crybaby, Tall Tee has officially arrived with their debut album Talk to Me. Released in June, it’s full of feel-good, two-stepping boogie tracks prime for summer pool parties and barbecues. Over fat bass and wiggly synths with a booty-shaking groove, Flex and Joog tag-team singing and rapping, with dynamic flows and unpretentious lyrics that are as fun as they are cheeky. (It’s hard not to sing along, grinning, to lead single “So Fly,” where Joog rhymes “stick-ay ick-ay” with “freak-ay zeak-ay.”)
Tall Tee taps into a deep Bay Area legacy of funk that began in the ’70s with Sly and the Family Stone, who hailed from Joog’s hometown of Vallejo. During the same era in San Francisco, Flex’s uncles formed the barrier-breaking Filipino-led funk, rock and soul band Dakila, one of the first U.S. bands to sing in Tagalog.
It’s not lost on Tall Tee that funk also forms the backbone of the West Coast hip-hop they grew up on. “I was a student of Davey D’s at SF State, and he really made you aware that in the East [Coast] they had DJ crews, but here everyone had a funk band in their garage,” says Flex, referencing the renowned local radio host and hip-hop scholar. “So I really try to pay homage and bring that same energy.”
The boogie style that makes up Tall Tee’s sound emerged in the early ’80s, when funk musicians embraced the sleek, digitized sounds of emerging synthesizer technologies, and blended funk with disco. As influences, Flex and Joog cite Kashif, a hitmaker who penned Evelyn Champagne King’s “I’m in Love”; R&B great Patrice Rushen; and Cameo, the flamboyant, leather-clad band of “Candy” fame.
