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Tyga - Swag Inspiration 2008
Interview By: Mike Ivey Jr.
 At a pit stop in South Carolina, on his way with eccentric cousin Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes) to sunny Dayton Beach, Tyga of Compton linked with NBS to build on the future. Hip hop, popular culture in general, is vibrant, true, fresh; at least, it’s due for those types of adjectives. The music and style options have livened and shed some of their stale layers, but it’s a long journey. Most rappers spew the same street stories, club bangers and forced R&B duets.
Under 21, still eyeing the accolades and fulfillment of industry success, the tatted Tyga man’s alliances with hip hop’s air (that’s on everything, right?), Lil Wayne, and one of rock/pop’s best, Fallout Boy, reeks of an unpretentious effort to be universally accessible. “Tyga’s World” is no discomforting mash up of hip hop and rock; it’s an eclectic place where young music fans can get used to hanging out. Busy Internet posting and a bang-up meeting with New Orleans’ rap kingpin led to lucrative offers, but the G.E.D. (AKA Getting Every Dollar) flag waving Tyga chose to partner with free wheeling, Sony distributed outfit Decaydance (Fallout Boy, Panic At The Disco).
Tyga, a live wire tone shifter, toes a line between still fixed lanes of rock/pop and urban. And gatekeepers and consumers will soon offer a wider ranging yay or nay to his style as ‘No Introduction’ the debut album is preceded by at least two ‘No Introduction: The Series’ mixtapes. Also, the entire Madden Nation will next year get to live Tyga’s “Diamond Life” when they jam fingers for touchdowns. The kid even made what is arguably the most anticipated hip hop album of the year, Lil Wayne’s concept conclusion ‘The Cater III.’ Peep.
 Tyga : What’s up with you man?
Nobodysmiling.com : I’m all right. How you feeling?
Tyga : I’m chilling right now in the hotel. Today we got the day off.
Nobodysmiling.com : Tyga, you’re a young guy; where do you get the intestinal fortitude to endure a neck tat? I mean, your whole neck and chest in just tatted. That had to be painful dog?
Tyga : I don’t know man, tattoos is like a hobby. I got a neck tat when I fourteen-I was young. I got my mom’s name. And actually I told her; I was like, ‘I wanna get tattoo on my neck.’ She was like, ‘naw, don’t get that. If you come in the house with that, you can’t live here.’
Nobodysmiling.com : LOL.
Tyga : But I came in the house, I had it, but I had her name, so she wasn’t that mad. Tattoos is like a hobby to me.
Nobodysmiling.com : I’m in Philly and I see so many young people with the highly visible tattoos; why do you think it’s so popular?
Tyga : Especially with the generation now- everybody on this swag shit right now. The whole hip hop-hip hop sets trends; anything hip hop artists’ is doing, people gonna follow, feel me?
Nobodysmiling.com : That’s word. Tyga, how’d you get involved with G.E.D.? That’s your clique, right?
Tyga : Yeah, G.E.D., that’s my label; me and my homie, we just was sitting in my room one day, a couple years ago, and we just was like, ‘we need a squad.’ We always had a squad, but we never had no name. Then we just came up with ‘Getting Every Dollar’-that’s what we wanted to name the squad-then we shortened it down to G.E.D. Then we started thinking, ‘lets add other shit.’ So it’s ‘Getting Every Dollar,’ ‘Getting Educated Daily’ and ‘Grinding Every Day.’ So we just made it into one whole thing, feel me?
Nobodysmiling.com : OK. Getting educated daily; today, what would you say you’ve learned, even if it’s a small thing?
Tyga : Just having a conversation with my cousin Trav; he always be putting me up on game-stuff I don’t even be knowing. Older people man, they’re wise. I be thinking they just be trying…they don’t understand me cause I’m young [and] my whole generation is different, but they be having a lot to say, so I talked to him earlier this morning. He always wakes we up early in the morning; he never lets me sleep in on the bus. I don’t know why.
Nobodysmiling.com : LOL.
Tyga : It’s no show today. But he always wakes me up, so definitely, when I talk to him I always learn something.
Nobodysmiling.com : Tyga, do we have the “Coconut Juice” video coming soon?
Tyga : Definitely. It’s in editing right now. I seen the rough cut the other day…it’s crazy. You know how when you watch videos and you give your opinion like, ‘they could’ve did this better or if that was me, I would’ve did this?’ The video is so perfect it’s like…I don’t think there’s anything we could’ve done, like else, to make it better. It’s bright, it’s fun, it’s definitely spring/summer jam [written] all over it.
Nobodysmiling.com : I hear you. You have a mixtape, ‘No Introduction: The Series,’ dropping right?
Tyga : I’ma drop a mixtape every tenth of the month until my album come out since my album come out June 10. I think I got another mixtape to go, and I’ll probably drop one June 10 too just for downloading-just keeping the streets listening.
Nobodysmiling.com : You got to stay in tune with the grass roots.
Tyga : That’s real.
Nobodysmiling.com : Is there a second single on deck behind “Coconut Juice?”
Tyga : Aw man, nobody knows yet man cause it’s like, everybody is just waiting to see what happens cause it’s so many expectations right now like, don’t nobody know what’s gonna happen. I know what’s gonna happen…but it’s just crazy. We got the whole lineup ready though. If they wanna get a girl single, if they want another club [song], if they want something real-we got a nice little lineup so we just waiting to see how this does. We’ll see soon.
Nobodysmiling.com : Word. Clear this up for me: are you signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money as well?
Tyga : Yeah, Young Money is like my street shit. It’s like another step cause I be messing with Wayne all the time. But Decaydance- Fall Out Boy’s label-and Sony is putting it out. Young Money is like G.E.D., my personal squad.
Nobodysmiling.com : So you have more control over that situation?
Tyga : Yeah, definitely.
Nobodysmiling.com : How’d you link up with Lil Wayne anyway?
Tyga : The VMAs actually.
Nobodysmiling.com : Really?
Tyga : Last year, September. It was crazy. That was the first time I ever met em. And we just clicked from there. After the performance he was like, ‘take down my number and we gonna do some tracks; I want to fly you out to the studio.’ And when he flew me out he asked me my situation, and I still wasn’t signed. I just signed my deal a month ago-two months ago. So I was like, ‘I’m just trying to get signed.’ He was like, ‘you gonna be Young Money.’ We just started recording, no contract, paper work. We just clicked from there. Ever since then we been back and forth on stuff. I’m on ‘The Carter III’ too, which I think comes out in May or June.
Nobodysmiling.com : May, right. I know you’re a young artist and Lil Wayne, even though he’s a young brother, has been in the game for ten years or more; do you feel like an inspiration to him? He doesn’t bang with that many folks outside of the Cash Money/Young Money circle.
Tyga : I definitely feel that when he looks at me, he sees me when he was younger. And that’s what my cousin Trav told me too-what he sees. So I probably give em that feeling of, ‘I remember when I was younger!’ Just hungry, just trying to get on; that’s probably why he keeps me around too; I know he sees my hunger and I remind him a lot of himself when he was younger. I think that’s definitely a big thing.
Nobodysmiling.com : I hear you. Tyga, what’s a little know fact about yourself that make you relate-able to the average 14-21 year olds who will hear Tyga in the next few months and years?
Tyga : Me man, I’m normal. I go to the mall, all that. But one thing somebody knows about me, I always was on my music. I was never…I party and everything but I really didn’t even care; I was more the person like, ‘I’ma just wait my turn, cause I know I’ma get my shot one day.’ And I’m like thirteen, fourteen years old thinking this-‘no, I don’t really wanna hang out all the time; I wanna do this music.’ If you ask anybody in my city-LA, period-they’ll be like, ‘I’ve known em since he was young and he always did music.’ There’s nothing else I’ve ever did, lol, besides music.
Nobodysmiling.com : Really focused. I read that you had to muster up the courage to give your cousin Travis a CD. He didn’t try to bring you into the fold right away? You had to prove you were hungry for it?
Tyga : He knew I was hungry cause I would always hungry for it. I didn’t know his situation. I didn’t even…I knew he rapped but I thought it was more so rock cause of the style and certain stuff I heard back in the day. And I was like, ‘man, he probably ain’t gonna feel this type of music I’m spitting. When I first started rapping, of course I was just on some street shit, just rapping until I finally found myself and started talking about real stuff. So I gave em my CD, but I didn’t think he was gonna think nothing of it; I thought he was gonna be like…I recorded it at my house in the room, so it was like my own little personal mixtape. I gave it to em though, and he was like, ‘this shit is cool man. You only fourteen, fifteen, but I like the hunger. I hear it in your voice; you got hella potential.’ Since then, he brought me out on tour, introduced me to a whole ‘nother lifestyle.
Nobodysmiling.com : Tyga, how will you set the tone for future artist as the first solo rapper signed with Decaydance? You spoke about your cousin having a different style, and these are rock n’ roll guys-Fall Out Boy.
Tyga : I definitely feel like younger people are gonna start to find themselves at an earlier age like I did. They don’t got to do this-they don’t got to gang bang if they don’t want [to]. Just be yourself. And people see that about me. It’s easy, I coulda…people ask me, ‘you live in Compton out there [but] you don’t be on the gangsta rap.’ That wasn’t me! I wasn’t a gang banger. I was around it, but why talk about it if that ain’t what I’m doing; I just talked about what I know, you feel me? I think kids is basically gonna be feeling like, ‘I just wanna do me-be my own person.’ So…
Nobodysmiling.com : Is it safe to say that you didn’t listen to much Fall Out Boy before you met those guys and got involved with them?
Tyga: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I heard of them…I heard the radio and commercial stuff; it’d be stuff stuck in my head cause it’s catchy, but I wasn’t too big on the rock and the pop stuff; I used to just listen to rap-just all rap and then a little bit of R&B-Michael Jackson and all that, you know.
Tyga : Of course.I wasn’t really too big on Fall Out Boy until I started going on tour with them. This is just recently, a couple months ago; I finally listened to their music and then breaking down their lyrics. I don’t know, I couldn’t catch on to the lyrics with the melodies cause I didn’t understand what they were saying. But they really broke down the lyrics to me-what they were saying. And I was like, ‘damn! This is crazy. This is deeper than hip hop.’ So I listen now though.
Nobodysmiling.com : What are the biggest pros for an “urban” artist working with a popular rock band like Fall Out Boy?
Tyga : Definitely…I’m crossing over; I got both fields-both crowds without even…I ain’t even come in the game officially; I haven’t even dropped anything and I already got both sides. A lot of hip hop artists, they can’t do that; it’s hard for them to…once you go a certain route, it’s hard for you to go that other route. But, me? I don’t think so cause I’m coming in right in the middle-no too on this side, not too on [that] side. I could put out any type of music and they gonna be like, ‘oh well, he does be with Lil Wayne; oh well, he does be with Fall Out Boy.’
Nobodysmiling.com : Best of both world, I hear you. What are some drawbacks? I would expect some of your home-boys to perceive it negatively like, ‘aw, you messing with those rock dudes?’
Tyga : My homies…that’s why I got such a small circle. It’s only so many people in G.E.D. We just keep it solid over here. The homies support. You always…I be reading lil blogs and stuff sometimes-people always hate. But nobody cared before!. It was the craziest thing; I really didn’t have any haters whatsoever, now it’s like so many, it’s crazy. Now I feel like I’m doing something right. When I read lil stuff or I hear lil stuff, it motivates me; it really motivates me more. When I’m on stage, I do it like for those types of people almost. It’s sad to say…it boosts me up; it’s like a energy drink for me when I hear that stuff.
Nobodysmiling.com : LOL.
Tyga : For real. If you wasn’t doing nothing…you got to think about it; people that don’t be doing nothing, do they be having haters? They be the ones hating. People that be doing good? I don’t never see people doing good be hating.
Nobodysmiling.com : Who’s executive producing ‘No Introduction?’
Tyga : Of course we got Pete [Wentz]-he run through everything. Wayne, he run through songs…Trav…it ain’t just one person. The dude that did ‘Coconut Juice’-…-he did “Cupid;” he did a lot of big, big pop records; he wasn’t too big on hip hop but he did a lot of pop records, so I think he gonna cross over with this one right here; it’s right in the middle, so…we got him on the album.
Nobodysmiling.com : Does it get confusing or troublesome to have at least three significant pop artists overseeing the project?
Tyga : Um…nah. When you be with people all the time, you just…it just becomes regular. People don’t be believing I be with Wayne all the time. When I be with him it’s just regular now; Fall Out Boy…everything is regular, so it doesn’t feel like it’s pressure. You always gotta come with your A-game, but I wouldn’t be put in this position if I didn’t come with that in the beginning. It’s never no pressure or nothing like that though.
Nobodysmiling.com : How far into the album are you?
Tyga : It’s done; the album is done. The other day I recorded a new track though. We might put that on the album. We got about fifty tracks to choose from. We got a lot of tracks just sitting around that we gonna throw on soundtracks. I got this one track called “Diamond Life,” it’s gonna be on Madden ’09.
Nobodysmiling.com : That’s what it is.
Tyga : That’s gonna be a big look. So many people buy Madden. I know I do. It’s gonna be cool listening to myself on the game while I’m whooping somebody’s ass.
Nobodysmiling.com : LOL. Word up. Who’s your team?
Tyga : They kinda sorry now, but I go with the Bucs.
Nobodysmiling.com : Oh really?
Tyga : They gave me one championship.
Nobodysmiling.com : That’s true. They have talent. I like Clayton at wide-out. He’s tough.
Tyga : Yeah. They got Galloway over there.
Nobodysmiling.com : Oh yeah, Joey’s a burner.
Tyga : They’ll be back one day.
Nobodysmiling.com : I watched the Youtube video of you in the Interscope offices last year. Was there a crazy bidding war over you before you signed with Decaydance/Sony?
Tyga : Yeah, definitely. Warner wanted to sign me and Interscope. You know what I’m saying? We was just going in meetings and seeing what people was talking about. But my management, Krush, they like a machine, so they know-they know the whole industry. Me, being a artist, just trying to get signed, I really didn’t care; I was trying to start a bidding war as far as like, ‘look, I’m Tyga-yada-yada-yada,’ It was definitely like a bidding war, but the reason why I didn’t sign [is] cause the whole industry thing is messed up right now. We wanted me to have creative control and everything, so that’s why we just went the independent route and was like, ‘we just gonna do it like this.’ I already got a independent buzz. We doing everything on our own so why not keep doing it, you know?
Nobodysmiling.com : OK Tyga man. Anything you want to leave the Nobodysmiling.com faithful before we depart?
Tyga: Just look out for the album, June 10, ‘No Introduction;’ the single, “Coconut Juice.” Check me out on Lil Wayne’s album, ‘The Carter III.’ We got a lot more coming, so just stay in tune for Tyga man cause…I’m not going no where.
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