“I like to give a positive message in my music regardless of the emotion or feeling that the song brings, and I like to make music for all people in order to be an inspiration for everyone who listens to me.”
Hip-hop rapper, Timmy Brabston, was born in Palo Alto, California. At age 2, he moved across the country to where he now lives in Mahwah, New Jersey.Â
His early influences were artists such as Eminem, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent who Timmy would hear on the radio when I would listen to rap. However, since he started recording, he has been greatly influenced by his manager, Biggs, and his producer, Blickie Blaze, and he is now developing his own unique style.
Timmy is an extremely articulate young man; in his music, but also in describing his work. His answers to my questions were so comprehensive I am mostly going to allow him to speak for himself rather than attempt to paraphrase his words.
I asked Timmy how he would describe his music:
My music is very versatile, I try to appeal to all audiences, creating tracks that range from party songs to tracks with a lot of emotion and feelings. I like to give a positive message in my music regardless of the emotion or feeling that the song brings, and I like to make music for all people in order to be an inspiration for everyone who listens to me.Â
I love to write and I write my own lyrics to my songs. I write lyrics every day. I try to stay as creative as possible with my word play, and being in an honors/advanced English course in school helps me to do so. I have only worked with my only producer, Blaze, who also makes the beats for the music I sell on iTunes (except for 1 track where I used another producer’s beat). For my mixtape tracks, I pick industry beats that I like, and then write and record to them. I also recently started making my own beats with the equipment I have at home, and Blaze helps me to enhance and use the beats I make. I have worked with other rappers, including Chinx and MeetSims, who have featured on my songs. We are all part of Four Kings, which was created by my manager, Doug Ellison (Biggs), who has helped me every step of the way.Â
It is never all clear sailing for young artists. In fact, it is very rare that I come across a young artist who has not had some major challenge to overcome and these struggles usually increase with success. I asked Timmy if he had ever had a major obstacle and how he defeated it:
Recently, on youtube, a spoof channel made a video that made fun of me and made incorrect assumptions about me. That channel has many subscribers, their videos get 150,000+ views, so it brought a lot of hate my way, especially from internet “trolls.†It was surprising to deal with that kind of hate. I had to ignore it and remember who I was as an artist. Fortunately, it still greatly increased the views on my own youtube channel, so it is still bringing in publicity. Any publicity is good at this point in time when I am doing nothing but growing. The video gave a bad impression of me to people who do not know me, but I am soon going to drop another mixtape and continue to change the negative impressions to my listeners.
Young artists need the support and encouragement from family and peers if they are to defeat the challenges that they face. I asked Timmy where he draws his inspiration from:
Of course my family inspire me every day to do what I do. My girlfriend and my friends also inspire me because ever since I have started they have been to my shows, bought and downloaded all of my songs and supported me. It’s fun to do this for my friends because they see me as someone who is already doing what he will be doing for his entire life, as I know I will. Rappers such as Logic, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, and Chris Webby help inspire me to make my music as lyrical and as intuitive as possible because even though everyone likes a good beat, there is nothing better than a rapper who can paint a picture in your head, even though it may sound a bit cliché to say so. Jon Bellion is another musician that I idolize because he makes his own music, plays live instruments, sings and raps. He is a very versatile artist and that’s how I’d like to be.Â
Of course you can help me by purchasing my music on iTunes, downloading my free music and mixtapes on SoundCloud.com, and sharing my music with everyone that you know. Spreading the word is very important because you never know when something can catch on, or when the right person finds out about someone. It always helps for the fans to tell their friends because then they become fans and so on. The word of mouth along with social media is crucial in the music industry.Â
I always enjoy asking young artists what advice they would give to children or youngsters trying to achieve their dreams. There are usually some wonderful insights and always a great generosity in their response:
I want to let young people aspiring to be involved in music to know they should start now and believe in themselves. There is only one opinion on this planet that can influence what you believe and what you do and that is your own. You make your choices and you decide how you will pursue your career. Starting now will give you more time to do as much as you may want to, because music is so complex and involved that you can’t possibly do everything that you want to do in a single lifetime, so it is best to start out as soon as possible and do as much as you can. There is nothing stopping you from doing anything you desire.Â
And finally, I asked Timmy if there was anyone he especially wanted to thank:
I would like to thank my family and my younger brother for supporting me every step of the way, and my parents for driving me to all of my events since I am not old enough to drive myself there yet. I also want to thank my friends for being so supportive and for reading my lyrics, letting me rap at parties, and pushing me so hard to do what I have so far done. Of course, I thank my manager Biggs for helping and guiding me on exactly what to do for every step of this incredible journey that has merely just begun. And lastly, my producer Blaze for being an inspiration both musically and as a mentor; making most of my beats for me and teaching me so much about writing, producing, mastering, and about the industry.
Find and support Timmy on his social media here:
His instagram and twitter are both @timmybrabston
And finally Timmy’s Official Website with links to all of the above
When he was only seven years old, JoJo from Sydney, Australia, started rapping to raise money for children living in extreme poverty. Almost four years later, the adventure continues and JoJo not only raises money himself but spends much of his time encouraging others to do the same.
JoJo told me where he draws his inspiration from:
“And let’s pretend that this story’s true