The Next Episode: Interview with Bryson Tiller
Curated by Apple Music’s Hip-Hop/R&B Editor
Hed: Bryson Tiller on Writing for Chris Brown, Kylie Jenner Being a Fan & Michael B. Jordan Directing His Next Video
A year ago, Bryson Tiller was one of countless up-and-coming artists looking to make a mark in an oversaturated market. Twelve months later, he’s Apple Music’s Best New Artist of 2015. The Lexington, Ky. native, 22, independently released his breakthrough hit, “Don’t,” in October 2014 and eventually managed to garner millions of plays with little to no blog support. Drake took notice early. The Toronto rapper reached out to Tiller via Twitter at the top of 2015 and offered him a deal with his OVO imprint in the spring. It wasn’t until an Instagram photo of Drizzy and Tiller partying at popular West Hollywood nightclub Hooray Henry’s surfaced in June that the hip-hop blogosphere finally began tracking the singer-rapper.
Tiller quietly signed to RCA Records in April and released his second mixtape, TRaPSOUL, on October 2—the project was exclusively issued a week early on Apple Music. The ‘tape was well received by famous fans ranging from Tiller influence Trey Songz to socialite royalty Kylie Jenner and actress/model Karrueche Tran—both attended Tiller’s second sold-out show at The Roxy in Los Angeles in October 2015.
Tiller—aka Pen Griffey (a clever play on legendary baseball player Ken Griffey Jr.)—appears to be the latest in a string of artists from the Internet era who shot to stardom on the heels of a single project; The Weeknd (House of Balloons), Frank Ocean (nostalgia, ULTRA), Chance The Rapper (Acid Rap), and of course, Drake (So Far Gone) come to mind. With the exception of Acid Rap, the aforementioned projects were freebies, promotional tools issued to cultivate a fan base that would eventually spend money on a commercial release. Tiller’s moving units out of the gate. TRaPSOUL’s sold over 180, 000 in pure sales in roughly three months and with “Don’t” nearing its peak on terrestrial radio—the song was in heavy rotation on Apple Music radio in February and Zane Lowe made it a World Record on Beats 1 on July 1—the mixtape is poised to keep selling well into 2016. Our hip-hop/R&B editor spoke to Tiller to discuss life after TRaPSOUL.
You recently started performing live. First, as an opener for Travis Scott and then for your TRaPSOUL series. How did you prepare for your first solo shows?
Honestly, those Travis Scott shows were like the best preparation for those shows because if I never did those Travis Scott shows, boy, I would have been so nervous out there. I was just telling my boy. Me and [Kejuan] Swan used to talk about this actually. We used to be turning up backstage, kinda like in a football huddle, “Yea, you ‘bout to do this, boy. You out here killing it.“ I used to be all nervous and I’d go out there and it’d be crazy. It’d be adrenaline just pumping. Now I’m excited to get back out there. I hate when it takes me too long to get back on the stage.
You announced the TRaPSOUL Tour with THEY. as openers. What can we expect from the tour?
It’s gonna be a longer set because all the shows I’ve been doing… originally we just rehearsed a 30-minute set just to open for Travis and for the TRaPSOUL experience. When we do our tour we’re gonna do the full project and then some other songs too.
Fans are really living with TRaPSOUL. It’s giving you the luxury of taking your time because people are really enjoying the mixtape as a body of work. You just released “Self Righteous” in December. What made you want to put new music out?
The main reason I wanted to put that song out is because that song was actually from TRaPSOUL. It was supposed to be on TRaPSOUL but we couldn’t get it cleared. I was listening to it in my car. I think I was gonna give it to somebody at first. I was gonna give it to another artist. I think Chris Brown wanted to use it but he ended up taking another song from me so I just said, “f*** it.” And I just put it out. I’m actually headed to Miami tomorrow morning to record some more music.
You mentioned Chris Brown. He ended up taking “Proof” from you and putting it on his album, Royalty. Is that a song you already had recorded?
Yea. That was also a song that I was gonna put on TRaPSOUL. It’s crazy! It was like the last song I got. I was like, “TRaPSOUL is done, blah, blah, blah. We gotta turn it in Friday.” They sent me the beat and I was like, “This gotta go on TRaPSOUL. This gotta go on TRaPSOUL.” Then the more and more I listened to it I was like, “It’s too R&B for me.” Of course all my songs are mostly R&B-driven but if it just sounds like… Killer Instinct days. I don’t know if you heard that mixtape. Chris Brown likes it. He took it. I was excited about that. Somebody actually told me that before my SOB’s show. Mark Pitts came. Mark Pitts and Tunji [Balogun] came downstairs and he’s like, “Yo! I just wanna let you know that ‘Proof’ is on the album.” I was like, “What? Are You Serious?“
How did Chris Brown hear the songs?
Mark Pitts and Tunji. Tunji hit up Mark Pitts I think. He ended up showing him the songs and then Mark Pitts showed it to Chris and Chris was f***ing with it.
It seems like every other day Kylie Jenner is posting a video on Instagram featuring one of your songs.
For real? That’s crazy. I’ve only seen [the video] from a long time ago. Then I’ve seen some blogs saying that she was listening to it. When I first heard [about] it… I ain’t even gonna lie it was another one of those surreal things. It’s like when my favorite artists are just reaching out or my favorite artists talk to me on Twitter. Something crazy happens every week I swear, something just out of this world, like some great news. My manager Neil [Dominique] always hits me up. He’s like, “Yo, this happens. Yo, Wayne’s rapping on your beat.” I’m just like, “What?” It seems like something is happening every week. I’m not numb to it all the way yet but it’s still crazy.
A photo posted by pen griffey (@brysontiller) on Nov 20, 2015 at 10:13am PST
You recently connected with The Weeknd. How did that happen?
My manager Neil, he’s really good friends with Abel’s manager. They’ve just been talking and he was like, “Yo, Abel’s really liking Bryson’s music. He’s been bumping TRaPSOUL. He was like, “Y’all should come to the show and vibe" so we went to the show in D.C. We were just vibing. I knew he was the coolest dude ever when he said, “Yo! You wanna play Call of Duty?” I was like, “Of course.” That was my first time playing Black Ops 3 so I got to experience that with him.
Has there been talk of you guys working together?
Man, I don’t even wanna say. Hopefully, one day.
Fans are excited about “Exchange.” It’s already charting and people think it’s going to be even bigger than “Don’t.” Do you plan shooting a video for it soon?
Well, Michael B. Jordan is actually cool. He’s like the homie. I’m actually talking to him. He reached out to me a while ago and just showing love for the music after TRaPSOUL dropped. He just said he wanted to work on some stuff with me so we’re actually gonna work together to do the video for “Exchange.” He’s gonna direct it. I don’t know when we’re shooting that, though. Hopefully, in the next few months.
