That shift into the afrobeat space can be heard on new singles ‘Tally That’ and ‘Jugalatto x GRS’, which have a real bounce to them — is it important that you make music people can move to? “I wanted to make more music that could have more widespread enjoyment. I was making music like drill that only a certain faction of people can relate to and enjoy, but I wanted to make music that was more universal.” What are the main lyrical themes you tend to tackle in your verses? “Bossing out, success, and grinding, that’s the main undertone in my music. I have to have some sort of element of: ‘This guy’s doing his ting, he’s seriously working.’ I like to add a lot of wordplay into my lyrics, which ties into the thing I did with opening my GCSE results. I like to learn new vocabulary and tie it into my music.” How would you define success? “Everyone has their own success, it doesn’t have to connote to wealth or money… but that’s not me, I want mills! And as long as you’re grounded and hitting milestones consistently, that’s success. Playing Reading & Leeds, that was a milestone for me, because that’s my first festival, it’s an event in my career. Even hitting the studio consistently is success, making sure you go studio and progress in some sort of way from when you’ve walked in.”View this post on Instagram
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One of the things that’s most striking in your tracks is the complex rhythm and syncopation of your flows — is that a skill you’ve worked hard on developing? “No, that’s something that comes naturally. Since I was one or two, I’d pick up instruments and make music, so I think it’s just a musical inclination that I have. In my college, there’s other rappers, and I like to analyse their rapping and see if there’s anything to imitate or take inspiration from… I don’t really look at or study syncopation or rhythm, it’s just something that comes to me naturally, and I just put the lyrics together and it bounces off well.” Which three rappers have influenced you the most? “Dave, because of his lyricism, the way he can build up a story. A song like ‘Lesley’, that song is 11 minutes long and I don’t get bored listening to it. When you listen to it, it’s like he takes you on a journey — lyrically, I don’t think there’s anyone touching him right now. Headie One, for me he’s at the top of drill, he has definitely influenced me a lot. And the third person would be J Hus — in terms of sound, I sound like them the most, and culturally, they’re from my country, so it just makes sense.” What have you got planned in terms of releases over the next few months? “I have a feature coming out this month, and then I have a single coming out in November, and a single coming out in December. Then in terms of a project, that will probably be towards the last quarter of next year. I wanna make sure if I drop a project, it’s the best of the best. It’s gonna be completely different to ‘Lagga Szn’, every type of sound is gonna be in there, so you can’t tell me there’s nothing you don’t like in there!” If you could pick one artist in the world to collaborate with, who would it be? “J. Cole, because I like to listen to lyricism and dissect it. J Cole’s pen is untouched, even further than Dave’s or Kendrick’s. When I make music with other people, I adapt to the person I’m making the song with. So even if you might make this style of music and I might make this style, I’m gonna adapt to the style that you’re making and even try and be better than you, because that’s my natural personality. If I was making a song with J Cole, it would push me lyrically to my limits.”
Listen to TS Lagga’s new single ‘Tally That’ here.
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