ARTIST INFO

 

Ben Chijioke aka Ty is one of UK Black music’s true innovators and popularisers. And with his third album, “Closer,” this critically-acclaimed MC and producer is set to hit the mainstream.

Ty’s strength of mind is legendary. His debut recording was on one of I.G. Culture’s (New Sector Movement) legendary One Drop Inter Outer albums. He has worked with the likes of Tony Allen, Terri Walker, Natasha Williams, Scratch Perverts, Afro Reggae and Estelle and has featured on more albums and singles than could easily be listed. Kiss DJ Shortee Blitz started out in a group with him. He has been invited to share the mic with luminaries such as Talib Kweli, De La Soul and Platinum Pied Pipers. He has been namechecked by Lily Allen and has performed with Damon Albarn. He has been nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, has won numerous Hip Hop Awards, has even presented awards at the Nigerian Music Awards in Lagos and also in Azerbajian and Latvia. He has taken his vision of hip hop culture into prisons and schools and has acted as a spokesman for his musical culture in the studios of Newsnight. {BRITSH COUNCIL}

Ty’s family moved to the UK from Nigeria, although their son was born here in London. He was fostered for a brief minute while his parents worked double shifts to establish themselves and grew up with the strict Nigerian discipline that frowned on popular music. As a result, Ty was a "secret music listener" soaking up the music of the sixties, seventies and eighties away from his parents gaze. “It intensified it for me,” he says. “I was addicted to remembering songs and melodies. It was unhealthy! The genre never mattered. If it was good it stuck in my head.”

Ty has long been involved in the spoken word/poetry scene, as well as running workshops in schools and beyond since his pivotal involvement in the mid-90s Ghetto Grammar organisation. “It was the beginning of us trying to formulate platforms for ourselvers rather than waiting for someone else to do it. It was the beginning of the DIY ethic. It was the beginning of us thinking about what we do from our persepective rather than an American perspective.” The most important lesson he learnt was the injunction to "just be yourself".

He first demonstrated this need to be himself on his debut album, “Awkward,” where tracks like “Hercules” and “The Tale” established him as far from the braggadocious norm. With the Mercury nominated “Upwards” Ty took over production duties and drew on every aspect of his heritage and life to that point to develop an honest and at times beautiful portrayal of the Black British experience. Fellow nominee and music legend Robert Wyatt picked it as his favourite record on the shortlist and described it as “a knockout”.

With a truly memorable live show, Ty has toured all over the world, everywhere from Morocco to the USA and has established a fanbase wherever he goes. In particular, his reputation has grown in the States to such an extent that he can claim the likes of Platinum Pied Pipers amongst his admirers and all his American guests on the record (including De La Soul, Speech from Arrested Development and Bahamadia) are personal friends and associates of the Vauxhall-based musician.

At last, with “Closer,” Ty feels he is coming ever nearer to what he was aiming at all along – hip hop that is as moving, funny, thoughtful and clever as the great Black music of the sixties and seventies. “For me it’s become about the music and the lyrics becoming one. About expressing myself and trying to sink into the music. Spoken word helped me to focus on the lyrics becoming part of the music. It’s not just about Ty rapping over a beat anymore.”