While a lo-fi prison recording of a verse from his incarcerated brother TC makes for a tender moment, it’s not long until Ty’s dirty mind gets the better of him in the second half.
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Sure, there’s some filler in the latter half of the tracklist – Bring It Out Of Me repeats the trick of earlier club single Saved with less effect, and Only Right serves little purpose other than to dutifully allow his old friend YG to chip in with a guest verse.īut there’s a soulfulness to Free TC which reaches its peak during Miracle / Wherever – a choir-assisted double track which forms the album’s centerpiece. But if you’re expecting more, it’s best to just walk away before you get hurt.Īnd although he spends a large bulk of Free TC’s run-time reiterating his disinterest in romantic commitment, this LP – Ty’s debut retail album – is sonically ambitious, with an indulgent amount of instantly gratifying hooks spread thickly across a selection of luxuriously produced beats. If you’re up for the ride, he often seems to be saying, there’s fun to be had. Throughout his career, Ty has been obsessed with the role of the irresistible womaniser, coating the questionable sentiment of his lyrics with an enticing, buttery croon. Less widely appealing is his on-record persona. On paper, Ty Dolla $ign is a very appealing prospect. And due to the educational influence of his father – a funk session musician – Ty’s sound transverses genres from different eras, including the current form of radio-dominating, hyphy-inspired club rap that his longterm ally DJ Mustard has perfected. Born in the mid-80s, the LA artist is just about old enough to be inspired by the golden era of West Coast gangsta rap first hand. It's worth sticking around for.Ty Dolla $ign is a hugely successful songwriter, a dextrous multi-instrumentalist and an incredible singer. Though a bit of a slog at points, what could have easily been a 16-track collection of Griffin's ambition becoming his downfall, is a worthwhile look at the multifaceted nature of his musical brain. The most left-field musical moments on Free TC are also oddly endearing: strings and vocal harmonies bolster the straightforward strumming of the pseudo-country cut "Solid," the smooth blues guitar complements the rampant double-entendre of "Horses in the Stable," a hedonistic hook makes the house-leaning "Bring It Out of Me" an earworm and SA-RA and Thundercat's otherworldly tones gently close things on the severely stoned "Finale."
Kelly-assisted "Actress," more palatable than they would've been otherwise. Undeniable bangers? He's got those on deck too, courtesy of "Blasé" and the DJ Mustard-produced "Saved" and "Only Right." Such sonic care even makes a few of these cuts, namely the clunky Kanye and Diddy-featuring "Guard Down" and the R. He and guests Kendrick Lamar, Brandy and James Fauntleroy bask in the exquisite arrangements of opener "LA," while he takes on that duty himself not long after on the slinky "Straight Up." The record's apex, which comes with "Miracle/Wherever," features a verse from Ty's incarcerated brother TC, reaching both a musical and emotional peak in its latter half. The record's length (which falls slightly short of an hour and a half) and a feature list that could be deemed overcrowded would both be enough to turn some away.īut Griffin largely achieves his lofty goals here, with the record serving as a good indicator of his compositional talent.
Such a skill set undoubtedly requires a high degree of perfectionism, a trait that may have kept his long-anticipated debut, Free TC, out of reach until now. It's long been recognized that Ty Dolla $ign, born Tyrone Griffin Jr., is much more than solely a rapper and R&B singer, but also a talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and arranger.
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