MUSIC IS MY LIFE
T-Millz (Main Artist)
From a hit single in the UK charts to several nominations for the MOBO awards, T-Millz without a doubt is the hottest new rapper in the game. With the South Londoners debut album ‘Rags to Riches’ approaching its release date, other rappers may experience a decline in their record sales. Having already performed alongside the likes of 50cent and Eminem he recently teamed up with Kanye West for the mind-bogglingly catchy single ‘T-Millionaire’. Many Critics are predicting his album will be the highest selling album from an artist of such a young age. Life for T-Millz was a bit of a struggle, growing up in the streets of Peckham with no father figure to support him he was left with no alternative as he was kicked out of 3 different schools by the early age of 14. He turned to music out of boredom only to find out that he had great talent. Hearing his latest singles ‘Hood Struggle’ and ‘T-Millionaire’ we can surely say that this youngster has a bright future ahead of him.
Island record is a big record label, how does it feel to be signed to the same label as reggae legend Bob Marley?
I grew up listening to Bob Marley at my grandma’s so I was introduced to reggae at an early age. I didn’t really know much about Island records until the singing with UK artists Tinchy Stryder and Sugababes, when I was told Bob Marley was signed to this label it was a big deal for me as he had achieved a lot through his ability to uplift and inspire different types of people across the globe. The day I got a phone call from Alan Ridge an Island Records executive, I thought it was a prank one of my friends was playing [laughs] that’s how much I couldn’t believe it.
You have faced many criticisms from different music press, what has kept you focused?
I believe that God is my motivation therefore what ever gets thrown at me I will forever still stay focused and put in the work. Behind every successful person whether you’re male or female you will always have a pack of haters, so I use this to my advantage as I know that I must be doing something right. The main thing is to always be focused. I always feel like I’m at the start of my career so that’s in my head everyday when I wake up, I think that have to do something and I’m forever listening to everyone, everyone’s competition so I don’t ever think right now I’m at this stage of my career and all that, I’m always trying.
You started at a very young age how did it feel performing on stage for the 1st time with Dizee?
Growing up I had experienced rapping in front of small groups of people and was involved in a lot of rap battles in my local youth club, but I had never had an experience on being on stage to a crowd of 30,000+. It was defiantly a shock when I first went on the stage, Dizzee brought me along and at first it was like a whole new world, exciting but When I was on stage I didn’t realise I jus said some lyrics head down and said what I had to say, when I went home I realised it was a big thing.
A lot of people are using different sounds, experimenting on different types of music what are your views on this?
Yeah, I think everyone’s just growing, maturing I know a lot people think music artist are changing but its just growth. I do music, I love rap but it doesn’t mean I’m always going to do rap, if you give me a beat that I like I’ll use it, that’s the type of person I am. Most artists have tried different genres of music, there’s nothing wrong with that. Before I got signed I thought that I was only going to do rap, but along the way I have learnt that life’s too short to limit yourself and your ideas.
Your latest single has been at the top of the UK charts for a week now how did you come up with the concept?
Basically, I came off tour with Dizzee and was filled with adrenalin to make something new, so I phoned up producer Divinche who recently made beats for big artist such as Skepta, Chipmunk and N-dubz. After the call I met up with him in his studio and he said ‘what do you want to do?’ and I was like ‘what do you what to do? [Laughs] I didn’t want to bring any ideas to the table as I knew he was the best at making his own beats. I wanted a challenge and promised myself that whatever beat he made I will use. After 2 days he sent me the beat and I jumped on it straight after, my personal assistant heard it was like wouldn’t it be superior if it was featuring an American artist. So we sent the track to Kanye for a feature on the track and he sent it back with his verse on it and the track just so happened to be a hit.
Where did the name T-Millz come from?
Well the letter ‘T’ is an initial of my first name Tyrone, coincidently a lot of people think ‘Millz’ is from my last name Miller but It really came from my cousin joking around with me at an early age saying that I got kicked out of a million schools. From then to now T-Millz has stuck to me.
Do you see yourself as a role model for young people?
What do you say to politicians who criticise hip-hop music for promoting violence?
I think that you can’t point fingers and say that Hip-Hop is the reason for the increasing numbers of crimes in London where there’s things such as media where films show shootings and Knife crimes. Although artists talk about negative things in their music it’s just a snippet of their struggle. So you can’t blame us for violence as violence is a lot deeper than that.
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