{"id":251643,"date":"2026-01-22T11:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/251643\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:46:10","slug":"handyman-masked-singer-exit-interview-its-who-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/251643\/","title":{"rendered":"Handyman ‘Masked Singer’ Exit Interview: ‘It’s Who I Am’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: The following story contains details about the singer eliminated on Wednesday night\u2019s (Jan. 21) episode of The Masked Singer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are typically two kinds of celebrities who get revealed on The Masked Singer: ones who the judges and studio audience simply can\u2019t pinpoint because they\u2019ve adjusted their vocals and mannerisms just enough to go incognito and ones with such an unmistakable, signature tone to their voice that it\u2019s pretty obvious from jump who they are.<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday night\u2019s (Jan. 21) boot-ee was one of the latter. If you\u2019re old enough to have shopped for CDs in the Bush 1.0\/Clinton era, then you probably sussed out the identity of Handyman from the second he took the stage last week. While the artist was hidden in a bright yellow, Jack-of-all-trades outfit \u2014\u00a0complete with hard hat and prominent tool belt \u2014\u00a0when he got funky with Peaches & Herb\u2019s 1978 Billboard Hot 100<\/a> No. 5 disco classic \u201cShake Your Groove Thing<\/a>,\u201d a lightbulb likely popped up right away.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while he was hidden behind a metallic mask as he waved his wrench arms and sang into a screwdriver microphone, the low, throaty growl and laconic delivery was pretty much a dead giveaway. The first clue package<\/a> was also kind of obvious, with a reference to his \u201cwild guy face\u201d and a crew of past big-screen co-stars including Robert DeNiro (Heat) and Courteney Cox (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, on Wednesday night\u2019s Clueless-themed episode, he joined the rest of the cast for a run through Kim Wilde\u2019s 1981 classic \u201cKids in America\u201d alongside fellow season 14 contestants Pugcasso, Scarab and Snow Cone, with his voice again reading pretty obviously after he described the childhood accident that gave him his signature rasp. His vocals really popped during his run through A Tribe Called Quest\u2019s \u201cCan I Kick It?,\u201d which got both the crowd and the judges on their feet as he showed off his impressive rhyming skills, with the audience enthusiastically chanting \u201cyes you can!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it came time to guess, panelist Rita Ora went with Vanilla Ice \u2014\u00a0based on a clue featuring an ice sculpture of a microphone \u2014\u00a0though the more \u201cgravelly\u201d voice made her think Ice-T. Always wrong Ken Jeong was all the way off with his pick of A-Team legend Mr. T. He was, naturally, totally in the wrong ballpark, as the real man behind the mask was none other than \u201cFunky Cold Medina\u201d rapper and occasional actor (Poetic Justice, Posse) Tone L\u014dc. (Scarab was also unmasked on Wednesday night, revealed to be Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard caught up with L\u014dc (born Anthony Terrell Smith), 59, before his elimination to find out why he didn\u2019t even try to disguise his instantly recognizable voice, who convinced him to appear on the show and why the show may have convinced him to get back in the studio for the first time in three decades.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou said your daughter dared you to do the show. What did she say?<\/p>\n

\n\tShe grew up with me and she was like, \u201cThere\u2019s no way you would do something like that.\u201d I had never seen it, but she had and now I see what she was talking about. [She said] \u201cYou would not put on a mask and costume and dance and sing.\u201d Once I saw it, I said, \u201cYeah I\u2019ll do it.\u201d Most people who called after the first day [I was on the show] saw me on there and had no idea I was doing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did they say?<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst they said, \u201c\u2018Shake Your Groove Thing?\u2019 Huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWere they able to figure out it was you right away?<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, immediately. \u201cOh, dude, first voice we heard, we knew.\u201d I didn\u2019t realize [my voice] was that noticeable. It is kind of, a little bit, I think.<\/p>\n

\n\tC\u2019mon! You have such a distinctive voice, one of the most distinctive in rap, really. Did you even try to switch it up to fool people?<\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, I think I did try, but I couldn\u2019t change it. It\u2019s basically is what it is. When I try to change it even slightly, it doesn\u2019t matter. It is what it is, it\u2019s who I am.<\/p>\n

\n\tSometimes singers will purposely pick a song out of their genre, like you were saying with Peaches & Herb, but then tonight you went with a Tribe song, which kind of made it more obvious who was under the hard hat. Did you do that on purpose?<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t really know. I couldn\u2019t hear it [in the costume] but it was kind of cool. I don\u2019t know how it came out sounding, but I liked it. I didn\u2019t pick Peaches to throw anyone off\u2026 they had some songs they wanted me to sing that wouldn\u2019t have worked out well. I think my agent decided, \u201cLet\u2019s try Peaches & Herb.\u201d I don\u2019t know what was on his mind. Tribe was cool, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve been doing the I Love the 90s tour for a couple years, but haven\u2019t really been on the music scene that much. Why this show to come back to singing on a big platform?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve been doing that tour for like six years and I did this, like I said, because of the dare. I\u2019m still doing shows; I have never stopped doing shows. I\u2019ve always tried to keep it pushing, maintain the people who like Tone L\u014dc, stay in my lane.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Handyman was a bonkers costume. Why did you pick that one?<\/p>\n

\n\tThey handed it to me. It\u2019s a big costume with a big helmet and head. You have to be committed, because that\u2019s a serious costume. You have to make sure you have everything tight. I like Handyman, that was the most masculine one I\u2019ve seen, that worked out quite well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been 35 years since your last album, 1991\u2019s Cool Hand L\u014dc. Any chance you\u2019re working on a new album now?<\/p>\n

\n\tOh man, that long? Man. I wasn\u2019t working on a new album, but I think I will now because of the big song I do have now that is bigger than [my other hits]. It\u2019s called \u201cHey, What\u2019s Up?\u201d and I haven\u2019t recorded it yet. I do it live on tour and the audience response to that is way higher than \u201cFunky Cold Medina\u201d or \u201cWild Thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe judges\u2019 guesses were hilarious: Vanilla Ice, Ice-T Mr. T\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ones who don\u2019t know, who have no idea who Tone L\u014dc is. Then you have people who know exactly who that is from the first word or two out of that graggily-ass voice. Now I see how my voice sounds to people, I had no idea.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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