T.R.O.Y. Wimbley is a multi-platinum singer/songwriter from the west side of Chicago, serving up a gumbo of music in various genres, including soul, R&B, funk, trap, house and of course, pop. He just dropped his latest single, “Leave Wit Me” (formerly titled “True Enough,”) feat. Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Bryson Tiller. The two artists bring their unique mix of R&B and hip hop for an uptempo, sultry song that serves as an appetizer to T.R.O.Y.’s highly-anticipated mixtape, “Musical Gumbo,” set to drop this summer.
Your name is an acronym. Can you tell me what it stands for?
Truth Reigns Over You. It represents the fact that I live in my truth. I am who I am. I don’t try to be anything other than TROY.
I like it. So congrats on your recent collaboration, but I would like to take it back to the beginning of the Death Row Records days. How did you become a part of the whole Death Row family?
Well, I went to school with Danny Boy. If you’re not familiar with him, he sang on a lot of records like Tupac’s “I ain’t mad at you” and stuff like that. He and I went to school together at Orr high school in Chicago. When he got signed, he always knew that I was a great writer so he wanted to bring me on to write for his project… Once I got up in there, it was like a sledgehammer to me. It was definitely a wake-up call to what the real record industry was all about. You know I was just a kid out of high school. We both were young and we got thrown into a whirlwind of what this music industry is being over there.
What impacted you or surprised you the most from your time there?
It was the realness of the music industry. We would see things on television and we would hear about stuff that happens but you never know what’s real and what’s true until you really are involved in it. It was a real situation where people were getting taken advantage of for their music. There were fights and things we had never seen before that. We now had front row seats. Some of it was so crazy, it was like a movie.
So working with Danny Boy led you to write for other artists on Death Row and where did that take you?
Once people started hearing my music, Suge had a lot of associates and artists. We had Michelle and Tha Dogg Pound. Suge was doing a lot of work with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige and Tupac. Due to my association with Suge and Danny Boy, I was able to write for people like Michelle, who was one of my first projects project. Michelle took me in and I wrote songs for her. I wrote songs for Jodeci. I did choruses for Tupac and also Tha Dogg Pound; it really became a family atmosphere out there once they realized I wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t no punk (laughs). You really gotta show that you’re a man around there at all times and once they realized that, I started getting the love and respect from them.
Working with such big names out the gate, did that intimidate you in the sense that you felt like you had set the bar so high and it might be hard to maintain?
In the beginning, I felt pressured because I was young and it was pressure to keep up with the celebrity status of the artists that were in there. Once I got in there and they really started showing me that they loved my writing though, it actually gave me the confidence to keep going. At first, it was scary being in the studio with Tupac and Jodeci. It was very scary at my age because I wanted to make sure they liked what I had. This was my shot. Coming from Chicago to the westside, we didn’t really have a lot of opportunities out there so I had to really pray and take advantage of it. I was so grateful that they really loved my music, my writing, and my singing. They took me under their wing. It was a great feeling and confidence booster.
Speaking of Chicago, you also worked with Kanye West. What was it like being from Chicago, but having to go out West to get established and then coming back to work with a Chicago artist?
It was amazing because I had never really reached out when I was in Chicago. I never got opportunities to work with people such as Kanye and all of them. It wasn’t until I got with Death Row and came out West that people started really understanding me and really loving what I was doing. All I did was just use my West Coast influence, I didn’t change who I was. I stayed true to my roots in Chicago and I just brought that flavor and mixed it in with the West Coast. I put that Chi-town on top of the West Coast and it made a really great sound.
Writing songs is a great revenue stream. I noticed you are very into music licensing, how did you learn about that? What made you get into licensing your music?
Well, when I got into licensing music I had actually taken a break from being an artist and I was like you know what? My last record deal was with Vincent Herbert at Blackground records… I had fun doing the artist thing but I wanted to try some other writing avenues. At this time though the music industry had changed, it took a little shift into licensing. I started studying and reading about it. I started submitting my songs to a lot of companies for movies and things like that. I actually have a Platinum plaque from Men in Black with Will Smith.
I submitted songs to Save the Last Dance which is platinum as well. I also started submitting songs to the NBA, television shows like Young and the Restless and Keeping up with the Kardashians. You know, it was just amazing to me to see that you can actually do music without being an artist. You can submit your music and have the right to play it across the world. People would just watch television and I was getting paid. I like that you don’t have the pressure of having to do a big campaign for a song and all that. I can just write a song, license it and people can still hear it around the world… I advise every artist or producer or songwriter to really look into licensing because it’s a very lucrative revenue stream.
With the current state of the industry, finding new streams of revenue is important. What would you suggest to artists in looking for different avenues?
I would highly suggest digital platforms right now. A lot of artists during this virus, can’t tour. They can’t do shows. They can’t do anything really right now; but if you have a license and you have your music in movies and commercials. You can still make great money without leaving your home. You pretty much can sleep at night knowing that your record is being played on a television series or a movie and you’re getting paid…
Speaking of movies and television series, you were part of a documentary called “Where’s the Soul?” Tell me about that.
Yes ma’am I was, it’s an amazing documentary that is talking about the essence of music. R&B and Soul music took a little hit as far as the things that were being discussed in music such as love and uplifting one another. A lot of those records right now have been misplaced. There is a lot of soul missing from music right now. It’s pretty much focused on instant gratification right now and it’s missing the soul. It’s missing the love.
Everybody is so caught up on money but you still have to put the soul and the love in it. You know that makes a person feel some type of way when they hear your song. There’s more to it than just not talking about money, jewelry, and drugs; we need to talk about the things in life that we need. Especially in these crazy times we’re going through,we need real music to touch the soul. The documentary is speaking on that and the fact that we lost our way and we need to get it back.
As an artist, you have to appeal to the young people. So, how has your writing changed and how do you stay relevant in this musical climate?
That’s a great question because when I first got back into the music game, it had changed a lot. People were streaming music and you know the young people took it over. I just took what I had always done in my life with my music. I just take real-life stories and I write about it. If I go around some young kids while they’re dancing and having a great time, I study that. I ask them questions about it. I write about that. If they say this dance step is what’s going on, I write about a dance tune. I just really write about everyday life and I’m around a lot of young beautiful vibrant people. I’m not an old man myself. I just take all of that and I put it into the music.
Tell me about your current single.
The new single is called “Leave Wit Me” featuring Bryson Tiller and it is out right now on all musical platforms. It’s amazing. I was blessed to be able to work with Bryson Tiller, who’s an amazing singer/songwriter in his own right. I mean this song came out tremendously well. This song is so fun. It’s a great dance record and has a nice Caribbean beat. It’s really good.
I really enjoyed the record, so what is your current situation as far as a musical home.
Right now, I am independent. We have a record label called ABG Media Music House and we are really moving right now. It’s been working out good for us.
What can we look forward to in the immediate future?
Well, you can look for more videos, more beautiful songs, and my album called “Musical Gumbo.” There are a lot of different ingredients in there. I have songs with Lil Wayne, Bryson Tiller, T Pain, and Sean Paul. It’s just a lot of beautiful music from around the world. It is not stuck in one genre. I have a lot of stuff that I bring to the table and it’s going to be good for people who love music.
I look forward to hearing more from you.
Thank you Urban for having me. I appreciate you guys.
