Why is Tizo Touchdown everywhere? – Rolling Stone

When Teezo Touchdown appeared on two Drake’s songs For all dogs “Amen” and the wild falsetto finale of “7969 Santa” were just the latest in a series of loud, attention-grabbing guest spots from the Texas-born singer/rapper. That’s what he croons in a cartoonish British accent on “Modern Jam,” one of Travis Scott’s best tracks. Utopiaand taking the first verse from Lil Yachty’s Tame Impala-like song “The Ride” from Let’s start here.

In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Tizo talks about some of these features, as well as the making of his excellent, if controversial, debut rap-rock album. How do you sleep at night?, and more. Some highlights follow; To get the full interview, go here and select the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or simply click the Play button above.

Janelle Monae, who took part in the recording of Tizo’s single “You Thought”, was the first to hear his completed album.

“One thing that really stuck with me,” Tizo says, “was that she said, ‘It’s not perfect, but I like that it’s not perfect.’” I feel like this debut album is what you want to hear. A lot of people want to put all their marbles on that whole Teezo Touchdown thing from the first album to decide whether I’m going to be here or not and whether it’s going to last. But I think it’s just my number one album. This is me extending my hand to say hello.”

The vocal style of Teezo’s next single, “Impossible”, was partially inspired by… Bruce Springsteen.

“I was on the Bruce Springsteen bandwagon for a while,” Tiso says. “I just discovered his first project after seeing how he DIYs it and how popular it is in the bedroom. On “Impossible,” it was minimalism: “I want to limit it to just me, right down to my vocals.” I don’t want to sing too much. I just want to have that stream of consciousness.”

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Although Teezo’s album is a much more aggressive rock-rap fusion than Yachty’s psychedelic album. let’s startthe processes behind the two albums have a lot in common.

First of all, as Tizo points out, he and Yachty shared three producers/co-writers—Fushi (who also co-wrote Steve Lacy’s Bad Habit) and the Raisen brothers (Jeremiah “Sadpony” Raisen and Justin Raisen). ). “For the Yacht session. It was just musicianship, just a studio full of talented musicians. So I think that’s probably the common denominator.”

Yachty believed in Tizo from the very beginning..

“Yachty was one of the first people to look me in the eye and tell me how big I was going to be,” says Tiso.

Working with Travis Scott was inspiring.

“He really loves this art,” says Tizo, who is also opening for Scott’s current tour. “I think it’s so inspiring when I come across people who do it at such a high level and have a childlike love for what they do. To be on a Travis Scott album, that’s one of the moments where I have to pinch myself.” Regarding Tizo’s unforgettable vocal style on “Modern Jam”: “I think if you want to pinpoint the research process, just look at all the great rock ‘n’ roll frontmen. Look at Lennon, look at Freddie Mercury, look at David Bowie, look at Prince. You just go down the list of top frontmen. I think that’s how you come up with a song like “Modern Jam.”

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He wasn’t afraid to play his album to Drake, who ultimately called it “one of the best music of all time.”

“I was excited and wanted to start this conversation,” Tizo says. “I knew where I was sitting.”

His rock-inspired debut album wasn’t a surprise commercial success, but Tizo says he’s in it for the long haul.

“My team told me something like, ‘Hey, expect a long game here.’ So I just work on the project individually. I look at how many people can I talk to in a day? Because I can control it.”