Exposed Vocals Interviews Teezy
Born in San Francisco, raised in Michigan, I grew up with a strong love for music. I used to spend most of my days freestyling with my little brother Darius Timmons. In 5th grade, I started beatboxing and making beats on my desks in school, and all my friends would gather around me and start to rap. I knew I had a ove for music because one day when men and little brother was in Lansing, a little town in Michigan, we stopped by at my big cousin Will’s house. When we got there He had his studio set up, te beat was playing, and I was watching him record a song for youtube (That was when youtube first came out). I instanty got on the track and told him, “just drop a beat”. All I remember is hearing the beat and just letting whatever on my mind flow out. When I was down, my cousin was like “Man that was nice, you just freestyled for 4 mins straight”. I was juiced. I wrote my first song when I got to the 6th grade. I showed it to my older sister and she was like, “boy you got skills, you better keep it up, you become famous one day”. Right there I knew muic was for me. My biggest inspiration is Tupac. He is a poet, he spits real knowledge about what he been through and that’s what I tried to do with my music. I spent hours practicing, writhing songs in notebooks or typing song on the computer. I made it a dream to become a legend and be remember ike my favorite artist Tupac. When I got to 8th grade, me and a group of friends decided that we were gonna start a rap group. Me, my boy Calvin and Deon would be rapping, and My boy Raymond woul be beatboxing. it got so much that we got to perform a mini concert for the whole school during a morning assembly. I loved it. The mic in my hand, the crowd dancing and cheering, my friends reording me with there phones. Not to mention all the attention we got afterwards. It was the first time I ever really felt like a celebrity. After high school, I decided I wanted to get SERIOUS with my music. I would go to my cousin Marcellus house, use my phone for a beat and use his ipod to post the video on youtube. I did that until I bout my first microphone. After discovering audacity, I decided to learn how to record my own songs, thus putting together my hme studio. I taught myself how to record, mix, make beats, I make my own mixtape covers and I’m currently teaching myself how to master and make music videos. I have my own label that I want to bring to the top called Prophets Product Ent. Our motto is “Turning Dreams Into Reality” It wil be big one day and I will go down as one of the greatest of all time.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Teezy: I was born in San Francisco, Raised in Detroit. I spent a lot of time freestyling with the kids in our neighborhood, and that eventually led me to wanted to be the greatest independent artist in the world. I used to get praised all the time on my flow and my metaphors, so it was no surprise that becoming an artist would become a dream of mine.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Teezy: When I came back to California and decided to get serious with my music, I used to go by the name of Lil J Tizzy. My big brother got out of jail and saw I was doing music. He told me that Lil J Tizzy just didn’t sound right, and eventually he blessed me with the name of Teezy. Later on down the road, I went on to go by Teezy Tha Product, but now I go by the name of Teezy Ya Beezy. My brother was my inspiration behind my name. He was the first person to every see any real potential in me and my music. Eventually Teezy just became my everyday name and I love it. Everybody knows me as “Teezy, The Guy That Raps on YouTube and Facebok” lol.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Teezy: I think online sharing is amazing. It gives you the opportunity to reach out to an unbelievable amount of people in the world. Right now all the music I post is free. I know what it is like to have a hard time getting your music out there. I taught myself everything, so I know how hard it can be. I do free collaborations because I want to be able to work with everybody, and I want everyone to have an equal opportunity to work with me. We can talk prices when we are doing big shows like Kevin Gates or Mozzy lol.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Teezy: All I can say is keep your head up, keep working hard in the studio and on your craft, and keep promoting your music EVERYWHERE. Soundcoud, YouTube, Reverbnation, Twitter, Instagram, EVERYWHERE. The more you promote, the better chance someone will come across your music and offer you a show our some radio time.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Teezy: I get my inspiration from my past experiences that I went through. Everything I went through, I use as inspiration to become an even better artist.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Teezy: You can find my music on:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9EpWbQgUIxtpT9D0GqIUNQ
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/teezyyabeezy
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Teezy: Well first I would pay my bills. After that, I would try to invest in some type of stock or something. Ive always wanted to run my own label, so I would definetly get all the equipment I would need for my company. I would help my fiancé with any business idea that she wanted, and I would basically just use the rest of the money to spoil the kids and the rest of my family.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Artist: I always google search different ways to promote my music. For me, I found that Facebook and Soundcloud works best for me
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Teezy: I do. I plan to start working on my very first mixtape. I’ve yet to create a title for it, but I will assure you that when its done, it will be an amazing mixtape. I will be helping one of my boys with his first official album that I will be producing, so be on the lookout for that.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Teezy: If I wasn’t making music, Id probably be doing some type of sport like football or basketball.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Teezy: Well I always take care of my responsibilities first. My family always comes first before my music. I wouldn’t be able to do my music if it wasn’t for the support of my family.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Teezy: Be on the lookout for my mixtape and my homies album. Names of the artist and his album, and my mixtape will be posted on my Facebook page.