Tomas Olesen grabs a quick chat with TY ahead of the release of his latest album, Special Kind of Fool.
Yeah! I have to do that otherwise I'll just make music like the people I like.
So do you remember your first record?
First record was, I think, Breakdance Party. Yeah it was Breakdance Party I won that in a breakdancing competition.
Nice! So was it always about hip hop or was it just about music generally?
Well it was an interest in music generally but I think I had a fascination with hip hop even back then.
So what do you listen to now? Does it influence what you make musically?
I really don't listen to kind of current music. I'm really trapped in listening to mad records, crazy records, one off records that don't even have a meaning they were just made by musicians for the sake of it. Because I'm in to sampling and playing around with beats, bits and bobs that's kind of where I'm at, I switch off from letting people's current projects influence me when I'm making music, I don't really focus on anything.
So that your stuff grows in a vacuum?
So are there any current artists you like?
There's definitely UK artists I think are great yeah, I don't normally go into the 'I think this or that persons hot blah blah blah', but I'm definitely feeling what Mystro's doing, I think Mystro's miles ahead of what's going on right now, really amazing. I love what Charlie Sloth is doing too, I think his mind and his vision are amazing. Skandal too, he's really good, I've done a tune with him, it's a bonus track, only available for digital download.
You know the whole Lily Allen retiring from music because of illegal downloading thing, do you think illegal file-sharing effects you?
No, I definitely don't think I'm retiring 'cos of that, but I'm not in the same bubble that Lily Allen obviously lives in as regards music and fame, I live in the real world. Also this situation right now kind of separates the wheat from the chaff, and if you're not a real artist and you're not really about your live show and your not about actually making music then yes you're going to have a problem.
The new album is fantastic, it's on a new label and it comes after a bit of a break, was the focus different on this album than on previous work?
I really focussed on this record, and it's something I don't think people do that much any more, on making an album. Rather than making a compilation of songs or you know spitting over instrumentals. I made every single beat, and you know it took a while, I could've had records out every year, but I decided to take two or three years out and just do my project. The shame for me is that we live in a world where everything is based on the single. I've got 15 songs that need attention paid to them, not just a single. It's about a cohesive map of expression that can be taken and chewed up on the highway, in headphones on the tube, on the dance-floor, its definitely not about just one or two songs, there's an overall message and document I'm making, for music, for the UK.
So did you have a vibe you were going for before you started on the album?
This was all about the truth, as soon as I sussed out the title. This is the first time I've actually done an album where I was clear on the album title before I started.
Really?
Yeah, the process was different for this record I really feel like I was on my own making this record.
More involved in the production side?
I'm always involved in the production side. I've always made the beats, it's just that people assume Drew makes the music. But this time round I'm really stamping my foot down, making people understand that the co-production things is actually I make the beats.
The beats are definitely one of the things that make this album unique.
The rap doesn't happen 'til we're happy with the beat I'm really not into slapping acapellas over beats. We're selling instrumental albums too. It's the first time I'm selling the instrumentals as well as the album and think with the instrumental album it'll be kind of cool for those people who are interested in the music side to have so they can really see what's going on production-wise.
Sticking with production, what's your favourite bit of music equipment and why?
Mpc3000! I love how it works and I can get a basis for my ideas with that. And sometimes it's just me and the drum machine. It's not even about the public or making beats that people will ever hear, it's just a personal piece of equipment that I use to actually extend and express myself.
Like a sketch pad?
Definitely. People are always going 'you should make beats for people', I'm like nah man making beats for people is a personal process, I take it very seriously. Making beats on this machine, sometime I'll make a beat on there and it's just for me to hear, anyone who owns a drum machine knows what I'm talking about.
What would you pick if you were on a desert island with just one song for company?
(starts to sing)...There's no beginning...and there is no end...da da de dada...you know it, er...Genius of Love by the Tom Tom Club!
Nice. Why's that?
The groove is infectious, I could hear that every day and, you know, just be content with the fact that there is no beginning and there is no end on that island.
What do think of the current state of music? Where's it going?
I think the current state of music is healthy, there's a lot of commercial success happening which is brilliant because back in the day there wasn't enough commercial success to allow the doors to be opened for certain things to happen. Now that there is all this commercial success there's no excuse for radio 1 or some of these magazines to exclude hip hop, so I'd like to see that success open some doors that were not open before. I'm looking at myself as the balance to a lot of the poppy stuff. It'd be nice to be able to do the other conventional stuff, the other traditional hip hop stuff and be allowed to do that and not feel like I need to wear sunglasses, or tight pants or colourful clothing or or you know dress as a woman, to be allowed to be in the public domain.
For you what are the best and worst things about living in London?
The worst thing about living in London is after a while you've got to get out, after a while if I'm not sat in an airport about to go somewhere else I'm going crazy.
The best thing is the access to incredible people.
What one thing do you regret buying more than anything else?
Second hand-hoover! I should've just bought a new one with a warranty.
What would you like as an epitaph?
Ty created a lane and an opportunity for people to enjoy hip hop without the stereotype attached to it in the UK, and definitely mastered the level of making music that actually represented where he came from rather than just copying American semantics.
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