Not your traditional Coney island: Detroit rapper Tone Tone opens Toney Island

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit rapper Tone Tone is still laying down fresh tracks but he's also got a side hustle with his new restaurant, Toney Island, which is anything but another Detroit-style Coney island.

Tone Tone is opening up Toney Island on Saturday at 3:13 in Detroit. A perfect fit for the area code of the Motor City. And he's using the name of the song that put him on the map for one of his dishes.

"This is where all the famous 'What up doe' burgers going to be," said Tone Tone. "We still getting it all together for the grand opening tomorrow."

Tone Tone calls Warren and Dickerson on the east side the "Million Dollar Corner" and grew up just down the street, off Morang.

"It's in the heart - this is the heart of the east to me, on my side," he said. "A lot of artists get successful and they leave, they might move to LA, move to Hollywood."
 
Instead of moving out, Tone Tone is doubling down on the neighborhood and his family - they're running the place. He also isn't forgetting his late grandmother, Hattie, who lives on at Toney Island.

"These legends, but this my legend right here," he said.

Tone Tone's grandmother

The reason for his location is more than just because it's home, it's an example for the next generation.
 
"You don’t have to rap. Everybody trying to rap, so more kids can be entrepreneurs, but they surrounded by the rap so they don’t think it's cool. Now they see someone like me doing it, they think, 'Oh it's cool,'" he said.

That's why Toney Island will be a safe place for families.
 
"I come from the trenches. To me the two most dangerous spots, like when I'm watching y'all, it's the gas station and Coneys. Every time. It's like it never fails," Tone Tone said.

Toney Island will be open 24 hours a day with armed security around the clock.

"When you care about something you are going to surround and protect it," he said.

With his success in the studio and hopefully in his restaurant, Tone Tone believes this summer will be bigger than ever.
 
"It’s crazy because right when this popped up I just dropped this record," he said. "It's going to be a good summer with that, all of it from the music to restaurant."