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Sons of Soul is the 1993 third studio album by American R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! The band originally recorded for the album at several studios in California, including Westlake Recording Studios and Paradise Recording Studio. When they became jaded with the various people frequenting those studios, Tony! Toni! Toné! moved their sessions to Caribbean Sound Basin in Trinidad, where they ultimately wrote and recorded most of the album.

Sons of Soul was produced entirely by the group, who worked with various session musicians and utilized both vintage and contemporary recording equipment. They intended to pay homage to their musical influences—classic soul artists of the 1960s and 1970s—and incorporated live instrumentation, funk, and hip hop elements such as samples and scratches. Lead singer and bassist Raphael Wiggins handled most of the songwriting, which featured quirky, flirtatious lyrics.

Sons of Soul was released by Wing Records and Mercury Records on June 22, 1993, to widespread critical acclaim. The record's commercial success included a 43-week chart run on the Billboard 200 and a double platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of at least two million copies. With its success, Tony! Toni! Toné! became one of the most popular R&B acts during the genre's commercial resurgence in the early 1990s. However, after an ill-fated tour, the band went on hiatus and pursued individual projects before reuniting in 1995.

Inspired by live instrumentation, turntablism, and classic soul music, Tony! Toni! Toné! recorded and produced their second album, The Revival, mostly themselves and released it in 1990 to commercial success. The record broadened the group's exposure to fans beyond their initial R&B audience. However, they became ambivalent about their newfound mainstream success and their music being labeled "retro" by critics. In an interview for People magazine, lead singer and bassist Raphael Wiggins expressed his dissatisfaction with the music industry, saying that "every record company wants to get a group and put 'em in a Benz with a car phone and a beeper, show them dressing in three different outfits, put them in a video shot on a beach with lots of swinging bikinis. You won't ever see us on a beach. We're just down-to-earth, funky, like-to-play guys." Before considering a follow-up album, the band recorded several songs for film soundtracks, including "Me and You" for Boyz n the Hood (1991), "House Party (I Don't Know What You Come to Do)" for House Party 2 (1991), and "Waiting on You" for Poetic Justice (1993).

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