Today (August 25) Madeintyo gifted fans with his new True’s World EP. The 6-track project, which offers production from FKi 1st, DWN2EARTH, Nard & B, Yada Yada & Di$ney, and Tokyo himself, is inspired by his biggest win this year: the birth of his newborn son, True.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This year TYO also got engaged, received cosigns from big names like Pharrell, Travis Scott, Big Sean and 2 Chainz, relocated to Los Angeles, and even fit in a few trips to Japan.
We were able to catch him fresh off of the flight to LA to learn more about the new EP, his growth as an artist, his dream collaborations and more.
The Source: Your year has been pretty big!
Madeintyo: This year has been very lit, but the main thing has been having my son. That’s been the highlight of everything. Everything else has just been a blessing.
In your freestyle you addressed an ongoing topic in Hip-Hop right now: mumble rap and its critics. Why did you decide to address it?
People thought it was going to be “oohs” and “aahs” and “skrrt skrrts.” So I was like I’m going to rap something that nobody expects me to rap and put it in the mix and see what people think. A lot of people talked about it so much, and a lot of people didn’t like it but they talked about it so that worked.
Well, now you have True’s World. “Too Quick,” “Depends” and “Eating” are my favorites. What are yours?
That’s lit, you got a good vibe then! “Depends” is one of my favorites, “Eating” is me stepping out and doing something different, and “Too Quick” is the one we thought was going to be an instant hit! That’s hard.
My favorite is “Depends,” my record that I think stands out is the singing one, and “You Dig” the beat is crazy. I don’t know I really love this project. Regardless if it sold five dollars, five times platinum, I just wanted to give my fans something.
Your sound has changed as well.
I’m working with more than one producer, and a lot of people see the credits on the project and they’re like “Where’s Swisha. No Uber. No Skateboard P.” We still working together. I just want to show people we can make a hit on another record and me and Swisha will come back and drop some more on y’all later.
Absolutely. A lot of new artists will rush to put out an album once they get some traction. But you have been touring, dropping songs and now this new EP before the album. Are you taking your time on purpose?
Honestly, I don’t care about albums. I feel like every project I put out is an album, the industry just puts that pressure on you to say like okay this is his first album. But I don’t make stuff that will make you say it’s a mixtape song or an album song […]
But of course I’m going to put out an album, I just hate the title.
And I want to stand on my own too. That’s why most of my projects don’t have features on it. I’ve always wanted to put music out and people think of me and not the features. But maybe this album I’ll treat people and visit some feature songs.
Who would you want to collaborate with on this album that you haven’t worked with already?
I wanna do something with M.I.A.! Obviously Big Sean and Travis [Scott] even though we already worked together.
Toro Y Moi, I rock with him. Gwen Stefani would be lit too, that would be hard! On some uptempo Missy Elliot type vibe. And Gorillaz or something!
Wait yes! I love Gorillaz!
Gorillaz is lit! So lit! Their artwork is on point, everything they do is on point. And they recently did some songs with some of the homies so in the future it could be possible.
You’ve been all over the place. Just got back to LA, born in Hawaii, lived in NY, Texas, Virginia, and of course Japan. What’s it like to see what’s happening in America now?
Oh man, I don’t watch the news. All of that is such a downer. I’m not ignorant to anything or what’s going on though, but I like to focus on the positive things. Being a good father a good fiancee, a good son. And everybody just wants to do good, and I just want to do good.