The background behind Ty Bru’s first song of 2021, “C.A.M. Memories Made It Better”

Exclusive Interview:

About TY Bru: Asheboro, NC native, Ty Bru has been professionally active in the independent music scene for over a decade and a half, performing all over the world with tours in Europe and then being a mainstay in Shanghai, China for 5 years before recently finding a home back in North Carolina as a living legend. A 2005 graduate of Appalachian State University, Bru reached new heights by attaining a total of 5 degrees including International Business, Communication, Marketing, Journalism and Management and always used that education to guide him through maneuvering in the art and entertainment world.

In 2007 his debut solo album, “On The Brink” was released through Mightier Than The Sword Records, caught the ears of OkayPlayer, and made a tremendous impact worldwide by boasting the honor of being chosen by a distinguished panel of judges as the runner up for hip hop/rap album of the year at the 7th annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs) and later in 2016 his collaborative album with a label mate, ending up taking top honors for Hip Hop Album Of The Year at the 15th annual Independent Music Award Ceremonies at the Lincoln Center, NYC beating out hip hop pioneer, Masta Ace. His third solo album, “Triple Bypass: In The Ambulance” which included the Island/Def Jam distributed single “Stereo Sound,” is his most recent solo release, and is currently working on two albums “Rustract Boombap” and “DooWop DiddyBop” continuing his consistency in proving he is exactly “The Way Hip Hop Should Be.

Q: Please introduce yourself to the readers?

My name is Ty Bru, which is simply my real named shorted into two syllables. I’m an Asheboro, North Carolina native, I’ve lived in China for a total of 5 years and toured Europe back in 2005.

I started in the music scene back in 1999 at college parties in Boone North Carolina and after a few years of that co-founded a hip hop group called Scan-Fam with a handful of other likeminded individuals (which I still talk with to this day, a couple on a very regular basis) from all around the state, we dropped three albums within a few years but didn’t really take a fully professional approach to my personal career until my debut solo album in 2007, “On The Brink” Growing up my influences varied, Biz Markie and Slick Rick were a few of my first influences, followed by Onyx, Wu-Tang Clan, Sadat X/Brand

Nubian, and of course The Notorious B.I.G. those all kind of helped me find a love for hip hop, but since music is everevolving my influences expanded much further as I got older.

I always felt a lot of power with what Shaq did with balancing music with basketball and also his attempt at acting, I guess that’s really where I saw the potential to pursue several facets at once, and that was the most important influence.

Q: What’s new since the last time we talked?

I had a couple of setbacks in my personal life, had to have some major surgery on my arm, and with COVID19 looming around us all, we had to push back the recording and release of my next album. Instead of November recording, we had to wait until mid-December and that’s 60% finished now and I’m still excited about that, but in between then, I released a single on December 19th. It was titled ‘Naomi’ and was in honor of my cousin who passed away in 2017 followed by what we are here to talk about, the single I released on January 19th, ‘C.A.M. Memories Made It Better’

Q: Are these singles on the aforementioned album?

Actually, no they are not. ‘Like It Used To’ and ‘Naomi’ will be included in an album that is in its infancy stages. In a perfect world it those will be a complete piece of work totally produced, composed, and engineered by Hawkface and we are slowly working on that but at the same time not holding back good timely singles when they are each completed. With ‘C.A.M. Memories Made It Better’ that will also be on another album, called ‘Rustract Boombap’ and I hope to have another separate interview on that.

Q: So what does C.A.M. stand for in your single title?

It’s the initials from a great friend of mine who passed away in 2011, Corey Andrew Mull.

Q: Was this a childhood friend?

The song has vague lines about when we met, but nothing that actually comes out and says it. We met when I was 23 in 2003, we were both taking Chinese (Mandarin) classes at Appalachian State University, the next summer we traveled to China together in a study abroad program. His brother, Casey was in the program and classes together with us and when we would travel around China, most people thought we were all brothers.

That started us having a connection pretty quickly and we found out how many interests we shared and all three of us were pretty inseparable during that time, we all lived in China for years, and Corey ended up passing away in Beijing. The last time I saw him was in Shanghai in 2008 during one of my tours that Casey helped set up for me. It was at a club called M2 and it was where I opened up for Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne, but we were having so much fun we didn’t even care about anything but spending time together.

Q: So when did you write the song, ‘C.A.M. Memories Made It Better’?

Oh wow. This one is ten years in the making. I remember the day his brother, Casey contacted me and told me that Corey had passed away. I was in shock, it was like 2 a.m. my time. I started crying and then I immediately turned on my studio equipment and MIDI keyboard and made the beat for the song. At that time

it wasn’t meant to become a song, it was just an emotional outlet for me to create something and find a way to help me cope with the situation because when you are all the way on the other side of the world and hear something like that, you feel helpless and trapped.

I posted the beat on Soundcloud about a year later, just to get it out there, but always marked it UNAVAILABLE. My labelmates and I would freestyle to it here and there, but it was always sacred ground and I didn’t think that I ever wanted to make a song to it. Then COVID19 came last year and I was struck by all kinds of emotions and feelings that it was time to pay those respects and create a story that would be out there so people would know what kind of bond we had and how much he meant to me. So I sat down in August 2020 with the beat on loop as a stared at a photo of us three and cranked out this hybrid song.

Q: I’ve been brushing up on your discography, I can’t help but notice the similarities between ‘Trying’ and ‘C.A.M. Memories Made It Better’ is there a relation, or is it repetition?

Damn, you’ve got a good ear, and therein lies a good story. The last trip I took to China that Corey was alive, I was working on my sophomore album, ‘Heart Core Hip Hop’ and wrote a good chunk of that album during that 2008 ‘Carolina To China Tour’ and ‘Trying’ was one of those songs I was letting Corey hear some of the new hooks and verses I came up with and he really loved how ‘Trying’ was turning out, so we would sing it together.

The hook is “I woke up, put my clothes on this morning, just like I did yesterday. Hoping somehow this would be different and it

would be a better day” so ultimately with ‘C.A.M. Memories Made It Better’ it was springboarding off ‘Trying’ by saying “I was thinking about you yesterday and those memories made it such a better day” kind of like, the days back then I were hoping would be better, actually were and are when I think about Corey and memories of other friends who have passed away.

Q: That’s special, how many of your songs are like that?

Quite a few relate to one another. Take another dive into the discography and ask me next interview about whatever you think might link together. I promise every single bar or word, lyric or feeling has a meaning to it. I don’t do fillers, never ever ever.

Q: I noticed you have been featured on a couple other albums this year so far, and January isn’t even done yet, is this a good taste of what we can expect from Ty Bru in 2021?

Of course. It’s been 10 years since I released a solo album and like I said with COVID19 looming, it’s now or never. I was fortunate to link up with a young woman who is trailblazing the North Carolina scene at the moment, EDAWG for a song with her called ‘Too Hot Too Handle’ from her album Enero Deniro which was extra fun because it was with my labelmate/crewmate, Ed E. Ruger and we recorded that in the same night at Livewire Studio in Greensboro. The second feature was with an old friend that I met in the Charlotte music scene back about 15 years ago, Pete Wurthy. It was a track called

‘Look Deeper’and is a really fun storytelling joint in which he produced, engineered, and mixed down.

Q: So I know how you met Pete Wurthy, because you said it but what about EDAWG? Was it in person or over the internet?

It was in person, before COVID19 we were all very active in the live performance circuit. We networked a few times at shows that we were both on the bill with and then she came down to my store in January 2020 for an event we had was able to chop it up enough to really want to work together.

Q: Speaking of live performances, when will your next one be?

I’ll be doing a Livestream performance on February 6, 2021, on twitch. It will be just the artists in our crew and label, Iconoclast Crew/Mightier Than The Sword Records. Ed E. Ruger, Stitchy C, Kyng Rash, Tenacious, and DJ Phillie Phr3sh. I have no plans to perform at any bar or venue in the foreseeable future and will be VERY selective with where I do perform when and if this virus lifts.

Q: Social media links: https://www.instagram.com/livebyacode/ https://www.facebook.com/TyBruGoesGlobal https://twitter.com/TyBru https://linktr.ee/tybrueilly