We Hear Tribe 95
Ty The Dude of Woodbridge, VA is making waves with his music and crew. If you haven't heard, the project Retrospect released yesterday, August 21st.
Who is this Ty The Dude?
I was able to get some one-on-one with Tyler Hawkins, best known as Ty The Dude. He hails from Northern VA and works within the group Tribe 95. This conglomeration of musical, visual artists, and engineers inspire his music. Ty's own life situations also inspire his music and he draws from the spiritual growth he's currently going through to keep his music relevant. He hopes that his fans and listeners take his music and learn to know themselves and think for themselves.
These are lofty aspirations Tico,
Indeed they are, so lets jump into this review.
Content
Words. Words are important in music, especially hip-hop and rap. The content introduced in Retrospect is classic "I Smoke Marijuana, I Rap About Reality". While there is nothing new under the sun, there are definitely more enigmatic ways to relay relatable, sometimes tired stories. Ty The Dude introduces themes of thinking past social constructions which is dope, but this highlight is marred by the fact that every other-other bar he also brings up how much he smokes marijuana and raps. Of course you rap dude, I'm listening to your tape.
There are also the usual masochistic/party themes bought up in the mixtape. For instance on Corrupted Conscience, the song goes into this trippy hook where Ty says he just wants to get completely trashed.
Flow
The entire flow of the mixtape is easy-going. This tape was definitely an easy listen. Ty is just going bar for bar, no rest, no breath. Ty's vocals are textured for sure but his voice is not overbearing at all. I appreciate how while the overall flow is easy-going, Ty's flow is actually hard-hitting. He does not let up on any part of the tape; he rips into each and every song.
The flip side to this rain of words is that Ty's voice has no diversity. There is no difference in his voice at any point in most of the songs and it gets monotonous in one play through.
Production
The beats are fire. I can't really comment further.
Why not?
At first I questioned the beat choice, I don't think all the beats used should've been rapped over. These tracks are reminiscent of something Selah Sue or Lana Del Rey sings over. Maybe even some RL Grime or Flacons remixed- sounding beats. But I like that Ty The Dude is pushing the boundaries of Hip Hop. So many other artists are growing past 808s and its paying off. Thanks to pioneers like Cudi, Chance, Pharell, and now Ty The Dude: Rap is so much more diverse.
I think the entire tape could've been mastered a little better, but I like how all the vocals sit on top of the tracks and have a texture to them. Like that old 90s rap texture. The features were also chosen perfectly, each feature matching the song to a tee. For a young artist, it is refreshing and evident that Ty The Dude has a proficient understanding about musicality and production value. I commend the dude.
Overall
This debut mixtape gets 2/5 stars from me. There are some things that went very well on this tape, however the list of things that could've went better, is longer.
edit: To Relieve ; Relevations
There were too many 'mary-jane' shout outs that weren't creatively done. Not enough word play for me, and the diversity of sound on the tape could've been better since Ty The Dude clearly has the edge on production value. I commend this artist though. Coming from an area thats not on the map, being young, and this being the first real project put out are some real obstacles; the potential is there for this dude and I personally wish him and his music the best.
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