FSD: Was it a mutual dissolution?
TY: We just went our separate ways. He had a child and a family, you gotta do what you gotta do. I didn’t have a family at the time, all I had was the music so I pursued it 100 percent. My first solo mixtape was Free Money which came out in 2012.
FSD: What I noticed about Free Money is you have a slower ATL-type flow going on but by Cinco de Money it’s a lot more midwestern fast rap by way of Migos and Lil’ Herb. What changed between the two tapes?
TY: What changed between Free Money and Cinco de Money is my growth. Because I recorded Free Money before I got locked up for a year so once I came home I had a whole a different mindstate, I was a little more mature. I did Free Money before I got locked up, Turn Up GHOD as soon as I got out, and Cinco de Money like a year later. And Cinco de Money has been my biggest project so far.
FSD: Twista makes an appearance on “Come Again” off of Cinco de Money and he drops a really top notch verse on that. Do you guys have a relationship?
TY: Yeah me and Twista have a really good relationship. His homie hit me and said “T[wista] said send him something”. I said, “I’m going to challenge him” so I sent him “Come Again”. One of my best songs to date. Shout out to Twista.
FSD: On “Ricky Killer” you rap a whole song from the perspective of Ricky’s killer from Boyz N The Hood. How did you come up with that?
TY: All my life people have been telling me I look like the dude who kills Ricky. So I’ve always had in my subconscious “I gotta do a song about that.” And I’ve always been a fan of the movie so one day we was getting high, watching the movie, and I start making the beat. I also produced it for those who didn’t know — that was the first beat I ever made, “Ricky Killer”.
FSD: How has your life changed since Cinco de Money?
TY: I think I’m becoming more of a rapper. I didn’t really think of myself as a rapper at first, it was just a hobby, then when Cinco de Money dropped and I started getting all the writeups it was like man, I gotta keep this shit going.
FSD: Your video for “United Center” is simply the dashcam footage of Laquan Mcdonald being murdered by a police officer. What was the creative impetus behind that decision?
TY: Because it makes a statement. The day that footage was released was the day I released my video. A lot of people didn’t see the dashcam footage until they saw my video. I just wanted to shed light on that situation, that it was 16 shots being fired at this young man and I think that should be talked about a little more. I recorded “United Center” about four months ago but it just goes to show that shit don’t change, we go through the same shit every season.
FSD: So when the Laquan Mcdonald shooting surfaced you decided “it’s time to drop this”?
TY: Not necessarily when that happened, a lot of things happened like the nine-year-old boy that got killed and I lost a lot of homies or they been catching cases so it was like a lot of stuff that came into play when I made “United Center.” Plus, I was out of town. I had to leave Chicago to record it, I had to go away and see it from another perspective.
FSD: Is “United Center” a harbinger of more protest/politically minded songs to come?
TY: I’ve always been mindful about what’s going on in the black community and I got a lot of people on my team around me that make sure I stay mindful about those things so it should be more to come. Shit ain’t never going to stop happening so I’m always going to have something to talk about.
FSD: I’m sure you’ve experienced your fair share of corruption in CPD.
TY: There’s been hella corruption. My neighborhood actually has a lawsuit against Markham Police Department, we’ve been seeing police brutality out here.