Tinchy Stryder has been writing verses since the young age of 12 and he is one of a select UK artists there when grime was more of an idea than a genre.
His story is in many respects a feel good story of hard work in his chosen field to become one of the bankable names from the grime scene.
His last album was meant to be Full Tank but after feeling that the album ‘was not right’ Tinchy by his own standards went a little quiet. Thankfully for his fans however there’s some fresh music for their listening pleasure with a collaboration with the force that is Fuse ODG.
Indeed Tinchy Stryder is still a star in the hood and in a union of two big Ghanaian artists from the UK, the guys go in on the commercially viable track Imperfection. Produced by the huge afro-beat creative Kill Beatz, Imperfection brings touches of afro-beat and a sound quintessentially Tinchy Stryder.
Flavour got some time with Tinchy Stryder to talk about his future plans and of course being an entrepreneur.
I wanted to ask about your charitable ventures first because you have been doing some sterling work.
I am involved with a few different charities but when I did the Chuckle Brothers track for the ACLT it was about making sure all the profits went to charity. I heard one of the main people in the charity give a speech and the speech touched me and so I knew I had to do something to help such an important charity like the ACLT-so I do try and make sure that I always give back.
And what is about your business ventures; was it always a goal?
I would not say that it was always a goal but it naturally came about as I was growing in the industry and it has all really been linked to my love of music and my career in music: The clothing line Star In The Hood came off my first album Star In The Hood and the t-shirts were made to promote the album which worked out really well. Then the head-phones came about, again due to my love of music and of course now I have the label. I am learning new things every day, it’s opened my eyes and made me see there is more to the world.
Music has been your gateway to even more.
That is so real about this music thing. I remember back in the day music was the most important thing-to put out a track that was absolutely banging but it feels to me now that this is changing slightly so that people use their music to promote other things and get people to buy into different aspects of their brand.
So musically the album Full Tank which you did not put out what happened there?
The realness of this is I had a whole album recorded but I released Spaceship with Daps which went to number 5 so there were a few things. The thing is I did not want it to come out and be like a compilation of big songs because there were so many big tracks on the album. The album did not have a theme and I had moved on from that time in my life so it just did not feel right. The thing is it is still there and no one has heard it so it can still come out.
Will you modify the album to bring it out?
I might modify it because yes I do listen to it sometimes and it’s funny because when I listen to the stuff I realise I was doing stuff then that is cool now. Back then of course people weren’t ready-this whole thing is about timing-things change like that.
So let’s talk about your brother Fuse ODG and his impact briefly; he has really tapped into the whole African culture and of course the music really well.
Your right-I was on his tour actually to drop a few guest performances and it was. On one of his tours we performed Imperfection and the crowd did not know I was there so I have gone to the back with my hoody on and I was listening to one of the fans singing the national anthem for Ghana and he was not black and he was not Ghanaian it was mad. People who are Ghanaian do not even know the full anthem and he was singing it all the way through-I just said to Fuse ‘look at what you doing’!
So Imperfection-the perfect Ghanaian union-was Fuse on it as soon as you got in touch with him about featuring on the single?
Funnily enough Imperfection came about when I phoned Fuse one day and I said I want to just make some fun music. So I went there and Kill Beats from Ghana was there and we all just vibed off each other. I was speaking about someone special where things are not perfect but things can be worked through and Imperfection just grew from that initial idea.
So you have someone special then Tinchy?
Funnily enough the first three lines of the track explain everything really. Even in the video people are asking whose is the girl in the video but of course it could not have been anyone else in the video so you know what things are good between us.
How is she coping with the fact that you are in the media because it is an alien world?
Well for me I have been writing since the age of 12 and this life is all I really know but it is an alien world, so when you get a girl that can take it is important that you keep them.
Last thing you want your fans to know.
This time I have made an album that I actually stay with a producer and worked on something rather than getting a beat. The album feels like it has a theme and I have stuck to that like if I have a track and it is massive but it does not fit the theme then I did not put it on the album. This time round I am going to keep it consistent and keep things moving.
IMPERFECTION OUT NOW RELEASED ON TINCHY’S CLOUD 9 LABEL
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