INTERVIEW:
We met with new upcoming rapper Tubby Boy to interview him about the start of his career so far. During our interview he was dressed in a simple hoody and trousers and was just a chilled out guy. He spoke to us exclusively about his single and upcoming album, which hasn’t been spoken about anywhere but here. We also went deeper and talked to him about the people who inspired him to enter the rap game and other things that he learnt before following his dreams.
As an upcoming rapper, what sort of challenges do you feel you would have to face in order to become a top hip hop artist?
To become number one... be unique, different. You have to be hungry, gotta have passion. You have to be top... you have to be the best. Success doesn’t just happen overnight, you have to strive for success.
What do you feel makes you different from other artists within the hip hop genre?
My craziness, my wildness, and just being fun. MC’s in this day are too angry. We need to bring back the fun to hip hop. I mean don’t get me wrong we need to have the serious part of our music as well, but we also need that bit of humour and fun in it too.
Your single “Don’t Fade Away” has been released and it seems to have a very deep meaning that many people will be able to relate to. When you wrote this song, was it at a point when you felt it was really time to pursue your dream or was it mainly for people who could use such meaningful advice?
Do you know what, it was a bit of both at the time because I had done that tune when I had just released “Go crazy”, and “Go crazy” had got a lot of good feedback, and that was a couple of years ago, and now it has been played across different clubs. Then people started to know me as just as the fun crazy quirky guy. So I decided to record “Don’t Fade Away” because it went to show that I went from being any average Joe to actually putting my foot down on the scene. And also within the message of it, it’s basically just saying that no matter what you do and whatever has happened to you in the past, you can make it. You have to just, as I said, be hungry and go for it. So yeah it was to inspire others but also for people to know more about me.
This is the single to your upcoming album which you’re currently promoting. Does your album contain similar soulful music throughout, or is it more of a mixture of track styles?
Look the album (he says as he looks towards manager). Are we allowed to give the album name today? (He gets approval). Well basically the album’s called “Jerk Chicken and Guinness Punch!” That’s my favourite mixture of food and plus you know Jerk Chicken is hot and spicy and Guinness Punch is smooth but a packs a punch, a bit like myself. So it goes with my album because it is going to have so much variation. It will be applicable to the public. It will be different so that everyone can like it. So there’s gonna be reggae, hip hop, R N B, there’s gonna be garage, there’s gonna be electro, there’s gonna be everything, you know what I mean, there’s gonna be a touch of everything. So if you don’t like one song, you will like a tune on it eventually. Someone may hate five but will like one, or vice versa. So I’m making sure the album is something like no one’s ever heard. They’ll be like; he was just doing a hip hop track a second ago, now he’s doing a rock tune, what’s that all about?
Have you done any tours recently?
I have been touring but I’ve stopped for a bit, as you know I’m also a doorman, so I’ve got to work the weekends, but I just got started back to work for about a three or four week break where I was doing basically tours across the country like I was down at Music bar doing gigs, and also up in Brixton, and in Camden which was in the Bliss Bar. I’ve also got a big competition coming up.
Do you think you will be touring any time soon?
Yeah anything that comes up, like hopefully later on in March I’ll be getting a day’s sponsor from Apple at the iStore up in Crawley because obviously the 20th of March is the big day of the iPad 2 releasing, so hopefully I’ll be doing a little supporting act at the iStore to get the people in and what not. I’ve got a thing coming up for Liberty Radio. So you know a lot of things coming up everything’s popping up.
I’m assuming you listen to hip hop so what types of rappers inspire you?
It most definitely, one hundred percent, undoubtedly has to be Biggie and Busta Rhymes. For me they bought Hip Hop to a different realm, you know to a different standard, to make people think twice about what they come out with. You know before Biggie and Busta Rhymes came out, Hip Hop was just about your rhymes, how good your rhymes were, then it came to how gangster you were and who you roll with, how many women and cars you’ve got, they all had that same Hip Hop flow. As soon as Biggie dropped, he still used them old school beats, that were lazy and more laid back, and people were shocked, and he just brought it to a whole new level. And after that Busta Rhymes came out, and he came out with this absolutely crazy voice, wild hair and just making you wanna jump about the place, while he’s singing and screaming. And I’ve always tried to be of that calibre. I’ve always tried to be that guy who can bring something different.
Do you enjoy any other types of music?
Yeah I like everything. Reggae, because that’s what I grew up with. Soul, Rock, Heavy Metal. I love AC DC. I even like Blues and even a couple of country tunes. I like to be as diverse as possible.
When you come up with an idea for a song, would you usually try to remember lyrics that came in your mind, or do you find something to quickly write down your ideas on?
I used to do it all the time and I hated it, like I would think of a lyric and be like oh that’s sick, and then five minutes later, I’d be like what did I just say. I hated that so if something happens I’ll write it down on anything I can find, even on the back of my hand. You know inspiration comes from the music itself; you get an idea from just listening to a tune.
How do you keep your fans updated on upcoming projects and other important things that you would feel would be of their interest?
Yeah, it’s all done over Twitter, Facebook and video blogs. It’s just about constantly updating the people because they’re the ones that listen to your music so it’s about constantly updating them. You know like every industry revolves around Facebook and use it.
Well thank you Tubby Boy for coming and speaking with us, we really appreciate it.
No problem, it was a pleasure.
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