TYRESE - AKA BLACK TY (December 2006) | Interview By: Nima

       Dubcnn recently sat down with the multi-talented Tyrese aka Black Ty to discuss his new moniker and album. The long awaited "Alter Ego" is now in stores however just before its release we got the lowdown on the record, how it was recording with artists including Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube & The Game, touring and what the move into Hip-Hop means to him. We also delve into his past, touch on his other ventures including movies and R&B and much more in this exclusive interview.



As always we have the transcript and the audio for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: nima@dubcnn.com



Interview was done by phone in December 2006


Questions Asked By : Nima


Tyrese Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here (Audio)

Full Tyrese Interview : Here

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Dubcnn: Today we have connected with one of this industries multi-talents; Tyrese. You're an actor/singer/model/rapper...Who is Tyrese?

I'm all them people you just mentioned!


Dubcnn: So who am I talking to right now?

It all depends on what you ask, each person could jump out at you.


Dubcnn: You're originally from Watts, tell us a little bit about your youth, and your first steps in the industry.

When I first came up, I was exposed to a lot. My story is kind of out there, but I was basically one of the brokest cats I knew on the block. I went through a lot in my upbringings, from drugs and alcohol, abuse in my family, so I was just trying to figure out an outlet. I was trying to figure out who I am, and what was my life's purpose. I ended up discovering my love for music, and I started playing the piano, the guitar, the drums, and singing. That became my day to day high. When I went home, my high went away, cause of all the shit that was going on at my house. That's kinda it!


Dubcnn: What kind of music did you listen to, coming up?

My momma play a lot of oldies man, but I went from everything, from N.W.A. to Al Green. All of them in one day.


Dubcnn: When did you get your big break, when did you feel like "I can do this!"

I believe that I got my break when I first decided to do music. I was like "Damn, now I'm finally coming close to what I wanna do with my life!" It's so many kids, and so many people out here, we all got gifts, but if you don't ever discover what your gift is, then that's just horrible.


Dubcnn: But the gift isn't enough nowadays, with so many people trying to get into the music business, it's more to it than just having the gift!

Yeah, but it's like a knife. Somebody gives you a knife, and you gotta sharpen that knife man, or you'll never be able to slice through that meat.


Dubcnn: You're known as a singer and actor, how did rapping get into the picture?

I used to be in a rap group called Triple Impact. We used to just write, we did a few records, it was a rap group. The singing opportunity came up first, for me to get out there, and I took advantage of it. I pushed my Hip-Hop thing to the side, and just decided to focus on that.


Dubcnn: I've heard people say that you're just jumping on the bandwagon cause Hip-Hop is what's hot right now, what do you have to say about that?

Oh well, the thing is, Hip-Hop has always been big to me. Hip-Hop has always been hot, Hip-Hop ain't never stopped, ain't never cooled off. If I wanted to jump into the Hip-Hop game, because it's hot right now, then I should have done it a lot time ago. That's the answer to that. To me, people go
from one career to the other cause they want money, they want more money than what they already have. I don't need the money, I don't need no extra screens on stage, cause I get my screens. I don't need no cars, I don't need no cribs, I have got everything that I could ever ask for.

If I wanted to keep making money, I would only do movies. Cause anybody who's really in the music business knows that there is no money really being made in the music industry, all these companies are merging, that's why Sony's Urban Division just got shot down, 50-60 people are out of jobs, and
it's a little crazy right now in the music business. Even Jay-Z's sales, if you look at the sales, he went from almost 680,000, now he's down to 139,000 the second week! So the music business is really suffering right now. So I'm not getting into the rap game for any other reason than being passionate
about it.


Dubcnn: What are you trying to achieve as far as rapping goes?

I just want to contribute. I think Snoop is the living legend, he's the king of the coast, he's sold the most records, and he's been doing it so long, consistently. I couldn't even imagine the pressure that Snoop lives with from day to day, with being as big as he is on the West Coast. Then you got
Game, you got Ice Cube, you got Kurupt, Daz, Bishop Lamont, Dr. Dre, it's so many West Coast cats out here doing it, and the pressure that they deal with is kind of crazy. So I don't want to be the biggest rapper out of the West Coast, I just want people to know that I definitely got a story to tell.


Dubcnn: You were supposed to release a CD with Bishop Lamont called "Best Of Both Hoods" a while back. What happened to that?

Well Bishop went on and got signed to Aftermath, and he's focusing on getting his records done, what he's doing for his album. I kind of went off and started doing my thang. I ended up putting out a mixtape together called "The Best Of Both Hoods".


Dubcnn: Yeah, with DJ Warrior?

Yeah, with Warrior. That was my first mixtape ever! That shit ended up being crazy.


Dubcnn: Do you still keep in touch with Bishop?

Oh that's my nigga man! I ain't ever ever ever have a problem with nobody. I'm finna Russell Simmons the whole situation. If somebody is trying to go out there and talk shit about me, I ain't gonna respond. I didn't get in the rap game to be putting out diss records or talking shit on no records. That ain't what I do, that's another kind of rapper to me. That ain't what I'm doing.


Dubcnn: You've released two mixtapes so far, "Best Of Both Hoods" with DJ Warrior and "Ghetto Royality" with DJ S&S. Tell us about the mixtapes.

Well what I did with "Best Of Both Hoods" with Warrior is, we put all original records on there. I printed them up myself and got them out there. That was a way for us to allow the fans who never heard me rhyme, get over the initial hump about me jumping on the mic as an MC. So everywhere I went, I handed them shits out myself and did full press.


Dubcnn: They were released through Headquarter Ent. Is that your own label?

Yeah. "Ghetto Royality" the mixtape, I did it with DJ S&S out of Harlem, and that mixtape is more along the line of what is normally done, as far as mixtapes. Cause it was me rhyming on top of a bunch of beats that everybody else owns. "Ghetto Royalty" is up to 450,000 downloads from
headquarterent.com, so it's crazy. But "Headquarter Ent" is a multimedia empire, I got nine different companies under one roof. We do everything from graphic design, print work, sound and television division, it's full on!


Dubcnn: Are you going to be releasing acts through the label?

Oh yeah, we got Rehab right now, which is Stix out of Watts and B.J. from the Southside of Chicago. Stix rhymes, and B.J. sings, so the group is called Rehab.


Dubcnn: Who are the Frontline Boyz?

The Frontline Boyz are my in-house producers. They produced my whole Hip-Hop album other than the joints that Scott Storch and Mannie Fresh did. They are the producers of the coast, they are the new group of producers that's going to change the world for this whole rap shit.


Dubcnn: What do they sound like?

Incredible. They just got bangers, they not just producers that got tracks for West Coast rappers, they got records for everybody.


Dubcnn: Your debut rap album "Alter Ego" is set to drop real soon on J Records, is that correct?

December 12th man, I'm about 6 days away! [Editor Note: Album now in stores]


Dubcnn: Are you about to go on a promo tour or what you doing?

Yeah I'm about to do a 35 city tour, I just came off a 35 city tour, we about to go right back out!


Dubcnn: Do you have a video shot for the single?

We're about to shoot a single right now, Black Ty featuring David Banner and Lil Scrappy called "You Scared", Benny Boom is going to direct it. That's coming sometime in the next couple of weeks.


Dubcnn: You ain't going to shoot a video for the song with Method Man?

For "Get It In"? We're still thinking about shooting one for that too.


Dubcnn: What kind of guest appearances can we expect on "Alter Ego"?

Snoop is on the album twice, R. Kelly is on the album twice, you got Game, Mannie Fresh, David Banner, Lil Scrappy, Kurupt, Too $hort, Method Man, Lil Jon, Scott Storch, The Underdogs, Frontline Boyz, everybody. It's star studded man, it's red carpet!


Dubcnn: I suppose you're going to be handling most of the hooks yourself?

Yeah. Black Ty featuring Tyrese, why not?


Dubcnn: In the short period of time that you've been rapping now, you've hooked up with a wide range of big name artists, from Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Method Man, Kurupt, The Game and more. Tell us some of the most memorable moments in the studio with the artists.

All of them are memorable man. I think at the of the day, every man is a little different, every man has his own opinions. Ice Cube couldn't believe that it was me rhyming, and made me feel good. He didn't put 2 and 2 together until I told him, "yeah that's me!" He was like "Get the fuck outta here, you serious?" That's me dogg! So he jumped right in the booth and did the record. I think what I want people to know about me, I didn't get this far in my career lacking determination. My whole career started with a 30-second Coke commercial, and for me to still be here and still going is a
reflection of me being someone than didn't just keep to doing one thing. If the opportunity presents itself, and you don't take advantage of it, it's your loss!

A lot of people also associate the first week sales with their success, saying "I made it because of what I did the first week." I'm not big on the first week, I'm never big on the first week. My shit comes out, and it grows, it grows, it grows. It has legs. So I'm not even tripping man, I feel
like this is my best work yet, and when people get it, it's gonna shock most of them. I got a real album. I got a real rap album and I got a real R&B album. This has never been done in the history of music, ever!


Dubcnn: Before we end this off, let's take a quick look at your movies. I recently saw Waist Deep, and I gotta ask you man. What was up with the ending? Walking on the beach and all of a sudden you arrive walking on the beach like nothing happened? Was that supposed to make any sense, or just a way to give the movie a happy ending?

*laughs* Oh no, it wasn't no happy ending man. Well it was a happy ending, but remember throughout the film we established that my name was o2, and my reputation comes because I'm known for doing a bunch of bullshit and just disappear!


Dubcnn: So you just broke out of jail?

I never went to jail! They never caught me!


Dubcnn: Oh okay, cause I thought when they showed the kid with Meagan Good in Mexico, a lot of times had passed, cause he looked older.

Well, what it was, I disappear, I went under water, I was able to swim to the shore, and I got away from the police. I had to take care of some other shit, and I got out there to go see my son as soon as I could!


Dubcnn: Are there any other Tyrese movies fans can anticipate?

"Transformers". We just did that with Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. Coming 4th of July 2007.


Dubcnn: I think we've covered everything there is to know about you, did I miss anything?

We all good!


Dubcnn: Any last words?

Yeah, I wanna tell everybody, if You're not passionate about something, you need to figure out what you wanna be passionate about. As far as this new transition into Hip-Hop, ya'll ain't got to worry about me going to play super thug, Crip walking, Blood walking in videos, wearing Dickies and Chuck
Taylors trying to be super gangsta, cause that's not what I am. I'm from the streets like everybody else, I was born and raised in Watts. I just wanted to put that out there, my music is my music. I'm passionate about what I do, I put my heart on the mic, and I'm looking forward to ya'll receiving this
album on December 12th, so ya'll can know what I stand for as a man on the Hip-Hop side. There's a bunch of rap shit that I could never sing about, that's why Black Ty is here, and it really doesn't matter what the haters say, I'm here to stay. Black Ty is in the building for ever, so get used to it.









 

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