Dancehall group T.O.K says that they have now officially been released from their VP Records contract.

The group, which consists of Alistaire 'Alex' McCalla, Roshaun 'Bay-C' Clarke, Craig 'Craigy T' Thompson and Xavier 'Flexx' Davidson, rose to fame in the 1990s and signed a contract with VP Records soon after.

According to group member Bay-C, this partnership marks the end of a bitter, sweet relationship.

"Nuff respect to VP Records, they helped to build our brand around the world. However, for many years, we felt as if our hands were tied and we made the move to get out of the contract. We did what we had to do and at the end of the day both parties are comfortable," Bay-C told THE STAR.

Alex also echoed Bay-C's sentiments, telling THE STAR that the parting was inevitable. According to him, the group had reached the point where they had to make a change.

"Right now we are just focused on getting more stuff done, and we are really looking forward to the future. We have more creative control now which is what we really wanted. I think we are making a positive step towards the future," Alex said.

With their contract based on the number of albums released, Bay-C told THE STAR that the albums had been taking a long time to be released and based on that, they were tied to the label for a long time.

Flexx said that this year was not only Jamaica's 50th Independence, but also represented TOK's new found independence.

"This is independence for us. For the last couple of years we have had problems with the release of our albums. But now we are re-inventing ourselves and coming with new recordings," he said.

Efforts by THE STAR to contact VP Records for a comment proved futile up to late yesterday.

In the meantime, the T.O.K members say they are currently working on elevating their own X.C.A.R label and are also working on a new album that is set to be released in Japan soon.