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Tinchy Stryder Interview
RnB/Hip Hop | Wednesday 7th November 2012 | David
Artist, director and businessman – the Star in the Hood has done it all. We caught up with him ahead of the release of his highly anticipated fourth album to chat about getting into business, working with Jay-Z and what he’d do if he was invisible!
Today we’re joined by Tinchy Stryder at Under the Bridge, where he will be performing on November 1st. So, how’re you doing today?
I’m good, you alright?
Yeah I’m cool. So, I want to take you back a bit - let’s talk about your grime days, when you were on pirate radio, when you were in Rough Squad. You’re really one of the pioneers of grime- you brought it into the mainstream. Tell us a bit about how you started out.
You know what, I guess with MCing and the whole grime days, when we started it wasn’t even called grime. And pirate radio... I must have been, I don't know, 15, 16. It feels like it’s more than ten years ago when we used to do what we were doing.And Rough Squad, that’s my people, that’s my friends before family - I mean friends before music should I say - that’s family right there. And it’s like, one of those things where, I don’t know how to explain it, but everything was natural. All the steps, every single thing from pirate radio to the raves to putting out CDs, putting out vinyls, to doing your own videos, it’s all independent and going from that to where I am now, it’s been a journey with loads of ups and downs, but I’ve learned a lot, it’s been great man, having fun.
So, you obviously have a huge passion for the music side of things, but how did you get into the business side of things?
The business side naturally came. The first thing was I guess the clothing line, Star in the Hood. My very first album I put out, 2007 I think it was, and that was just like thinking: we’ve done a few t-shirts, wearing them around just to promote the album name, and then everyone started liking the t-shirts. So we started selling a few on tours, and that I guess funded us getting around, getting hotels to stay in and the rest of it.....but after that it grew, and I had a clothing line, from just t-shirts to having a company, with varsity jackets, snapbacks, tracksuits, gilets, everything, it just kept growing man. It’s come a long way.
So we can basically wear a whole Star in the Hood outfit?
Yeah.
That’s cool. So, how did you get to work with Jay-Z on your label?
Oh, the whole thing at Roc Nation, and that whole team, it’s something where, to me, it’s more like the relationship that we’ve got with them is the most important, away from the business side of it. They must have heard and seen what we were doing and thought, "you know what, they can see us in them when they were young and coming up" and they reached out a couple of times. He came over a few times where they wanted to meet us and talk. Then he had a show in Madison Square Garden and invited us - I couldn’t go because I was touring again, and next time he came I made sure I made time and went and saw his show and just linked up. He’s a real cool guy man, I guess we got things going, and then… it’s just crazy. Like you said, it’s been a long long road and that’s someone I listen to and I respect for everything he’s doing, his music, his business. And getting to meet him and getting in business with them, that’s a big, big thing for me.
That’s really great. For people who are coming up, what advice would you give them and how would you say you’ve made a hobby as you’ve called your music back in the day? How would you change a hobby into a successful career?
I would say it’s like… you have to be real to yourself, and starting out, when you’re doing something, you have to believe in it, the passion has to be there. Don’t just feel like, “I want to do this because he’s doing it or because they’re doing it or she’s doing it”, you know what I mean? Do it because you feel like it’s something you believe in and your heart’s in it. And always be prepared for the fact that people can take a couple of setbacks, and that’s what comes with it; challenges in life are something you have to face, and I’ve always been told – and I learned – that you learn more from failure than success, and not necessarily a big failure, but the smallest setbacks. If everything went right and perfect, you wouldn’t know how to correct it when it doesn’t, and it seems to be working!
So I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but Drake recently graduated high school. Do you think you would ever go back and finish uni?
Erm, maybe, you never know. I did hear about Drake graduating; congrats to him man, that’s big and that’s focus right there, but I went to uni when I was in my final year, that’s when I guess everything was kicking off. I was on tour with N Dubz, I had my number one with Dappy and everything was just getting on top and I couldn’t really… it’s either like 100 per cent or nothing with music, and my heart was in it. But maybe one day... you never know.
Your new single’s out - it’s called ‘Help Me’. What inspired you to write it?Tell us a bit about what it’s about and how you came about doing it.
Ok, now, ‘Help Me’ is something I guess I believe in every way. Whether like in a small way or a big way, everyone needs help at one stage in your life, so it’s one of those songs that everyone can relate to, and on my half of it and on my verses I kind of flipped it. I didn’t want to sound like I’m just moaning, like “Oh, I need help for this”. It’s more as though I feel re-energised and recharged, and help me for what I’m about to do.
It’s taken from your upcoming album Full Tank, what is different about this album?
You know what, with ‘Help Me’, I’m actually going to do a thing where: when I first released "Spaceship" in 2011, I haven’t had an album out since, so I’m going to put a couple of them singles and a few new tracks. I had a track with J Spades recently, called ‘I’ll Be Up’, and I might do an EP just before the year ends, and next year I’ll be fresh for Full Tank, so… and that feeling, like, I don’t know how to explain it. Like, I’m excited about it - it feels fresh and I feel like I’m more open. I’m just opening up about different things where before I might hold back on some personal things where you feel like "this ain’t for everyone’s ears", but I guess my life’s in the public eye and through the music people get to know you better, so you get to know a few things with friends, girls, relationships...it’s out there. There might be a couple of names dropped in there, you never know!
Watch out for that, guys. If you know him, don’t mess with him! So, obviously we know about your clothing line, Star in the Hood. Recently, you’ve moved into the technology side of things and you’ve got your own brand of headphones now, talk to us about that.
Yeah, the headphones with Goji, that’s something where, like you said, I’ve always been in. I like the whole business side of things, and everything naturally comes to me. With the headphones, it’s something where, when Goji reached out to me, at first I was thinking yeah, but people might think he’s just trying to be like Dre, because 'Beats' by Dre, everyone’s talking and likes that. They’re good headphones, but then I sat down and spoke to them and made sure everything was like how it sounded, the quality was the most important to me, so I got that right. They had to go back and forth to try and I was like, "nah it’s not quite there", and then come back until we got it exactly how I wanted it to sound. How it looked was important as well, and then I guess price as well, to make it affordable. Being compared to Dre is amazing, because he’s a legend, and one thing I can say is the quality...obviously I’m gonna big up my own headphones! But I don’t want to say, because you’ll think I’m just saying it for the sake of it to say it’s better... but to make it humble: it’s level. But the price - his is, like, three times the same amount as what mine is, and not everyone can afford to spend that much money on headphones. It’s not just headphones as well with Goji; it’s branching out, for instance I’ve got some portable Bluetooth speakers. They’re out now, a few other things, man...yeah.
I have to say, the look of your headphones is really cool... like, I’m not the kind of person that would wear big headphones like that, but yours actually look really, really cool. You’ve done so many things - what would you say has been the highlight of your career, what have you done that has made you think “wow, I’m actually successful in my career”?
You know what, it’s so hard to pick mine, there’s so many things. I appreciate and I’m grateful for everything, but I’d say the peak… the feeling I had, you can’t match the feeling when I first got a number one. That’s just like... you can’t explain that. When I got told, I thought at first that they were just playing games or just joking! I was just like “nah, you’re not…” I didn’t dream of having even a top 40 – where we come from, we don’t even know about the charts, we just watch this and watch that and know what’s going on. But when I got a number one, (it was like, number one for four weeks I think) I was thinking: woah, people just liked it and liked it and liked it again, so yeah, it was all good.
You’re quite an active tweeter, and obviously when you were coming up, people weren’t really into the whole social media - maybe MySpace, but they weren’t really as much into it as they are now. Do you think it hinders or helps an artist’s career?
I think it’s a bit of both - it sort of does help, because it makes your supporters or fans feel closer to you and they see what you’re up to when it’s straight from you. It's kind of another promotional tool to have, but at the same time it sort of makes people too exposed and people feel that "I might not like you anymore because you say this, or you’re like that, or you don’t reply or respond to me". It’s not easy man - you got a lot of followers and people adding you... it’s hard. If you want to reply to everyone you might as well forget your whole day, sit at home and dedicate it to Twitter, and people have got lives. It’s a bit of both, but I guess it’s more plusses than negatives, definitely.
You’re headlining at Urban Jam on Sunday - are you looking forward to it?
You know what? I love performing! I love performing but I guess it’s something where there’s loads of different people there. It should be fun man. I feel like sometimes before you do an event or show, you can feel that good vibe in the air, and I can feel it about this, so it should be a good one.
If you could fill a swimming pool with anything in the world, what would it be?
A swimming pool with anything in the world? I’m gonna sound boring, but I’d probably just fill it up with… I’d get loads of people first, male and females… I’d probably just fill it up with money and everyone can jump in and everybody live good. I’d like to just share it - you can come!
If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
If I was invisible for a day… I would like go in some record label offices and hear what they’re discussing, and some other places as well. That sounds wrong, if I say I wanna go in someone’s dressing room and you think like “woah, is this guy some perve or something?!” (Laughs) Not in that way, but just to see what they’re up to.
And what people do behind closed doors?
Exactly that, to see what people do behind closed doors. There are a few people I’d like to see what they do behind closed doors.
Any names?
Yeah, there’s a few names… I’ll leave it!
