Despite not being the ‘birthplace’ of hip-hop—California is responsible for some of the most influential movements in music. From the “Fuck The Police,” era with NWA, along with the West Coast vs. East Coast era with Death Row Records, today, a new generation of artists are establishing a new movement of what’s associated with the movement and, Hip-hop emcee, TiRon is on that ride.
Over a year ago, Tiron was introduced to fans with his second mixtape Ketchup. A year later, consumers are still playing the mixtape as if it is brand new. For some, it was exposure to pure talent, and to others, the mixtape served to be one of the best mixtapes of 2009 (I agree). With one song already being leaked from the project, “For Your Smile,” fans are eagerly awaiting Mustard, which will be dropping this month. Tiron allowed Rawe to ask him some questions about who he is as an artist, musically, and what it is behind the condiment titles. Download links at the bottom.
Bella: So who is TiRon as an artist and as a person?
TiRon: As an artist and a person TiRon is growing. TiRon the artist and a person are slowly becoming on in the same thing.
Bella: You have a sound that’s so your own, almost like your telling stories through your lyrics—where do you get your inspiration from and who are your influences?
TiRon: I get inspiration from my life. Everything I speak on has pretty much been something that has happened to me or someone very close to me, if I’m not speaking in the literal “I.” As far as musically, my influences include: Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Tom Waits, Jay Z, Kanye West, Radiohead, MF DOOM and to be honest a lot of the folks around me influence me a lot as well.
Bella: So your last project was Ketchup, which was a dope project – what was the writing process like for that project?
TiRon: It was all over the place because a lot of those records were recordered all over the place and all at different times in my life. In most of those cases it was a situational thing, where I would just be in the right place at the right time.
Bella: Also, one of the other cool things about your music is the fact that it’s relatable to the masses—everyone’s been stuck in the “friend zone.” Everyone’s bought stuff to be fly, knowing that they didn’t have the money—how important was it for you to connect with people through your music, while still being an emcee?
TiRon: It’s very important to me. It makes me feel like less of a weirdo.
Bella: Realistically, going with the song, “Throwing My Money,” and “Hello Money,” what’s the last thing you bought that you kind of thought—damn maybe I shouldn’t have spent so much?
TiRon: 250 dollars worth of alcohol in one night, the last time I was out in NYC.
Bella: Before Ketchup, you had Handshakes and Pounds, with one of my favorite songs, “The La La.” Why do you think that mixtape didn’t get as much buzz as Ketchup did?
TiRon: There are way too many rappers these days, so if you don’t get cosigns from artists that are already established then people won’t listen. People are overwhelmed by the music, so no one really avidly goes out and searches for new shit, at least not like the used to. They pretty much stick to what they know and what they like unless what they know and like says they should listen to another artist—then it grows.
Bella: You seem to be one for condiments with Ketchup and now Mustard, are these titles metaphors for something? What can people expect from Mustard, and when is it dropping?
TiRon: Really, I’m just hungry. From Mustard you should expect to here a progression of Ketchup. I think I know what I’m doing more than I did.
Download:
Handshakes and Pounds download here
Ketchup download here
“For Your Smile,” download here.
