Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
If you want to be a superstar in the hip-hop world, it’s not enough just to sing, rap, write or produce. You need to do it all. 23-year-old Bryson Tiller is pretty close, ticking three of those boxes (he leaves the production to the professionals) on his debut album, T R A P S O U L, released last October. Like most new hip-hop artists at the moment, the Louisville musician made his name on Soundcloud, where his debut single Don’t racked up over 25 million plays. The track, which was recorded in Bryson’s living room and samples lyrics from Shake It Off by Mariah Carey, was taken down when he signed to RCA US in 2015. However, it didn’t take him long to better the number on YouTube, where the official video has been viewed more than 45 million times. Bryson’s songs have earned him comparisons to Drake and Chris Brown, both of whom have lent him their support on social media. Timbaland was another early champion, and went on to produce the recent single, Sorry Not Sorry. So far, Don’t has only been a hit in the US, where it reached no.13 in the Hot 100, but listeners to 1Xtra, Beats 1 and Capital Xtra will be familiar with the single. Last week his UK fanbase made their presence very well known, when tickets went on sale for his gig at KOKO in London.They were gone in seconds, a second show has also sold out since, and a third goes on sale on Wednesday. The clamour to get tickets even got his name trending on Twitter in the UK, and resale sites are now offering the chance to attend… if you’ve got a spare £150.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cVLE4SaN0]
Who has seen Bryson Tiller perform? Top 5 performers you’ve seen? Im in there February 3rd.