It’s Time We Officially Crown Ty Dolla $ign The Hidden Gem Of The Music Industry
Hip-hop’s secret weapon, TY $ is primed to take over the industry in a way we haven’t seen in quite some time.
It’s been a minute since we’ve seen someone like TY come around, if ever before before in rap. And with an ability most comparable to the likes of Babyface or Devanté Swing, he stands looking in from the outside of the conventional hip-hop world.
Let’s start with this though: Ty Dolla $ign can really sing, like really, really sing. He would’ve been successful in any era, and could find ground to stand on among even our most vocally gifted performers — all with a complimentarily comprehensive understanding of instruments, their function, and production.
Born Tyrone William Griffin, Ty is cut from a different cloth, and birthed from a classically American story of musically based triumph and despair. His family’s seen the exhilarating highs of the music industry, but have unfortunately as well become familiar with the desperate lows that can so often come with the career.
His father played in classic Westcoast funk band Lakeside, and his uncle in all-time group, The Isley Brothers. His little brother sings as well, although with more of a baritone, bluesy, gospel drawl; unfortunately though Gabriel “TC” Griffin, member of the Schoolyard Crips, is currently serving the 12th-year of a 67-year to life jail sentence for first-degree-murder, among other offences (A crime Ty maintains TC had no involvement with), while his sister AngelGold does her part as a singer/performer as well.
It’s more than fair to say, the Griffin family have seen more than their fair share of ups and downs, with their music playing as the score to it all.
For them, music is a family business, and the prodigal son to their generational throne is Ty Dolla $ign.
Little more depth than your average artist story, right? Right.
Most of us would’ve first been introduced to Ty in 2009, via a duet with his fellow Westcoast compadres YG and DJ Mustard. All of whom now find themselves among the peak of the same California hip-hop scene they had together dreamed of cracking for years.
As you could have guessed, Ty was the natural musician of the three — and can even remember the day he taught the now proficient producer DJ Mustard how to make a beat for the first time. Gifting him with the drums that he’d later use to carefully craft the sound that had the rap game on its head two years ago.
Funny enough, it’s a song he’s since grown to hate, but to it he owes his start.
Since tooted and booted, Ty has come a long way, both sonically and visually: he’s lost some weight, cleaned up a lil’, and most recently put out his under-anticipated debut album “Free TC”. (A dedication to his incarcerated little brother) that since release has garnered an ocean of fan and critical approval.
The album offers listeners a rarely seen infusion of the old and new, a passing of the torch of sorts from the old vanguard of R&B, to kids like Ty that’ve since claimed the block for their own. ( A genre Ty now affectionately refers to as ‘Rage&B’), watch a show and you’ll get why.
Dolla $ign is like a Motown quartet singer stuck in the mind and body of a 70’s punk band lead, and it’s a clash of worlds that’s naturally taken the industry some time to catch onto. A milky smooth classic r&b delivery, packaged into a weed smoking, codeine guzzling, whiskey devouring, stage diving, tattooed menace — it’s not the type of thing you see everyday to say the least.
Nonetheless, his album manages to piece the two mirroring sides of his character together seamlessly. On it he features the likes of R. Kelly, an acoustic Babyface, and Jagged Edge, but compliments them with head bangers like the Future riddled, Blasé, in a genre challenging display that just wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago.
Additionally, with the release of his debut record, Ty promised to split all of the albums earnings between his brothers case, and organizations dedicated to helping wrongly imprisoned folks from marginalized communities.
It’s his way lil’ way of actively engaging his fans in the process of helping bring his little brother back home.
And what unquestionably sits as the album’s defining moment is a duet with TC — it’s the eighth-song on the record, titled “Miracle”.
It was recorded over the phone, as his brother had no choice but to lay his vocals from within the confines of his max-security California jail cell. Preliminary versions of its recording can actually be found on early posts on TC’s Instagram (don’t ask me how he maintains a functioning Instagram account from inside an max-security federal prison.)
On it you can hear the pain in TC’s voice as he sings of the miracle that’s become his brothers life — as he considers this new life, and opprotunity that’s been given to his family. It’s as if you’re listening to him realize his prayers have been answered — and the poor recording quality only lends to remind listeners of his federally funded living status.
Ty on the other hand sounds much clearer, and when juxtaposed with his brother plays as a perfectly subtle difference in the status of them both.
TY sounds confident, his vocals are clean, and the presumably million-dollar recording record studio did a wonderful job at getting all of this across. The juxtaposition worked perfectly; and sits as the backbone to the album, delivering context for not only the album’s title “Free TC” but also the world from both Ty and TC had emerged.
Even though he’d made it out, the animal that is the hood claimed his closest friend, and you get the sense that Ty is just beginning to process what this may mean for him moving forward — as so many of us end up having to.
It’s a theme they revisit occasionally, with his brother having just released a mixtape from jail. The single, “Family” sees Ty, TC, and sister AngelGold introspectively asses their current situation, as only they’d know how. The three delve even deeper into themselves then they had on Miracle, but it seems a continuation of the same narrative
The track plays like a leaked private Griffin family moment that we’re all intruding on, but with an eerily prepossessing r&b sauce that only they could’ve added — it is the family business after all.
In the fallout of “Free TC” selling only just over 30,000 copies in its first week, many expected to see a rapid decline in Ty$’s trajectory: less features, less producing credits, less shows, and an eventual and steady decline.
But Instead, we’ve seen him on the up and up, finally beginning to live up to the family potential. His debut album was his way of readying the world for the music he wanted to make this whole time.
He’s wanted to make big pop-smashes since he’s been in the game, but it’s taken a while to prepare the market for the transition (although he’s been writing smashes for quite some time).
Example of his growth can be found in the fact that in just the past year we’ve seen him featured on Fifth-Harmony’s SMASH single , on a Nick Jonas single, Afrojack single, and Charlie XCX single, among others.
He’s just now, seven years after his arrival on the scene, beginning to assume the role he’d been perfect for since the beginning.
While we wait to see what’s next from the South Central crooner, and his revolving carousel of concert ready family members, Ty will climb closer and closer to the big-money, billboard chart, mainstream superstardom his abilities warrant.
He’s also continued making music with his incarcerated brother, who recently released a note-worthy mixtape from within his federal jail cell; and the chemistry between the two has only continued to grow.
Since being incarcerated, his brother has also become a devout follower of Islam, which paired with what Ty considers to be a wrongful incarceration, has had glaring influence on Ty’s message and music.
Evidence of which can again be found in the brother’s most recent release, a beautifully charged, new age, r&b acoustic ballad “No Justice”. On it we hear the brothers plead with their America to come to terms with the reality of blackness, and its relation both contemporarily and historically to policing in their country.
It’s them in their comfort zone, doin’ what they do best — possible in due part to the new perspective his brothers incarceration has offered him. A new perspective on life; on its importance, and its unavoidable realities.
There’s no doubting Ty has a gift, but in many ways the trials of his life have created the perfect storm for him to finally max out on his unlimited potential, it’s what’s made him, him.
In a world dominated by Drake’s, Future’s, Wiz Khalifa’s, Frank Ocean’s, and The Weeknd, Ty has played the middle of the pack beautifully. He’s played the sidekick, the guy next to the guy, and he’s done it well. But his unique ability falls almost central to the current landscape of popular music, and because of it he’s finally ready to step out and into the star that he’s created for himself.
It’s been generations in the making for the eldest of the Griffin children, and with the impending release of his second-album “Campaign” we’ll see his abilities manifest in the mainstream on a scale he’s never before been privy to.
And with TC’s next appeal fast approaching, he may soon have his family back together as well. The pieces finally seem to be falling perfectly into place.
I guess there are some things you just can’t avoid — for him, it’s destiny.
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