Hi, everyone! Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with an up-and-coming rapper based in Hampton, VA: Timothy Bright. Though Timothy has been making music for the last few years, 2020 has been a big breakthrough for him. Earlier this summer, he released his hit song "Quicksand," which has amassed nearly 200,000 plays on Spotify. His music has caught the attention of Brockhampton member Kevin Abstract, with him going as far as making the song a caption on one of his recent Instagram posts. found out about his music when I found it on my Discover Weekly a few months ago, and a few of you readers may have known that it was featured on my "Songs of the Month" list of June's Month in Review. With all of this buzz that's been surrounding his music, I felt I'd be missing out on a golden opportunity if I didn't reach out to the new phenom in underground rap.
bazzreviews: When did you first decide that you wanted to make music?
Timothy Bright: I made that decision in 2016. It was my freshman year of high school, and I had just started getting into Denzel Curry at the time. I really didn’t start taking it seriously until late 2017, though.
br: Which other albums or artists were some of your biggest inspirations?
T.B.: Definitely some other Florida rappers, Pouya and SuicideBoys especially. I also really loved a lot of music from Freddie Dredd, Tyler, the Creator - anyone from Odd Future was big for me, too. I also took inspiration from Brockhampton and other stuff from Kevin Abstract, and I also liked a lot bossa nova music- Astrud Gilberto is one of my personal favorite artists.
br: You mentioned Kevin Abstract in the last question - how did you react to his post on Instagram with the caption of “quicksand?”
T.B.: Kevin and I are friends already, but seeing him do that was really cool. A friend of mine sent it to me when he posted, and I was kind of in denial at first, but then I realized he really meant it. Kevin is a great guy, and it was kind of weird how we first “met.” We were filming the video for “Quicksand,” and someone who listened to my music sent me Kevin’s Instagram stories saying he was looking for rappers. I sent him a DM, didn’t expect him to respond, but then five minutes later there’s a message from him. I freaked the f--k out, because as I mentioned in the last question, his music has been huge for me.
br: What’s the significance behind your beat tag, “Where’s Timothy At?”
T.B.: I needed a beat tag back in September, and I asked a friend of mine if she wanted to do it for me. She sent me a bunch of different takes of her saying that, and it was my tag up until recently. The current iteration came from when I was on this TikTok girl’s livestream. I asked her to say the same thing, and she killed it.
br: Can you describe your process for making songs?
T.B.: I usually make the beat first, write from what the beat makes me feel like, then I record it. With “Quicksand,” however, I was sitting on it for a bit of time. I made the beat back in March, I showed it to Redboy, asked him if he wanted to hop on and said he was down. He recorded his verse, it inspired mine, and that’s how it went down. I’m also throwing it back to my origins with SuicideBoys with the outro, too. They’re known for slowing down the end of their songs, and I told myself that once I got to be a good producer and rapper, that’s what I wanted to incorporate in my music.
br: What’s more important to you, lyricism, or production value and instrumentation?
T.B.: I always like to help with production, that’s been a big part of me. Once I started producing, I would love to listen deeper into songs, picking out each instrument, sample, et cetera. Doing that made me want to produce even more. Not only that, but I like working with other people a lot. I want to see what they can bring to the table. I feel like I’m the same way. If someone sends me a beat, I’ll tell them to send me the files so I can mess around with what’s at hand. I’m constantly finding things in grids that I want to change or make better. Since “Quicksand” has been going off, I definitely don’t want to make another song that sounds just like it. That’s why I’m really excited for a lot of these new songs I’m dropping soon, as I’ll be working with new producers for a change. In my opinion, being able to have a lot of sounds in your arsenal allows you to reach as many people as possible. So if some of my past stuff didn’t work for some people, maybe these new songs will flip their opinion on me.
br: You mentioned you had some new songs coming out soon, can you discuss anything about them yet?
T.B.: I can say that "Turmoil" and a few other songs coming soon were produced by Romil [Hemmani] from Brockhampton, but I think that’s all I want to say about them at the moment. I’ve recorded a couple over a couple of the beats already, and I plan on dropping one of them as a single very soon.
br: What are your favorite songs that you’ve made so far? Are there any stories behind them?
T.B.: I have a song called “Happy,” which I really liked making. I was home alone for a weekend, and I remember that my mom bought me two big jugs of apple juice before she left. I don’t know what it was about that juice, but it sure as hell got me hyped up. I made the beat and recorded my verse on the same night. It was me talking about how people thought I needed to be happier in life, but how it’s really hard for me to do that. I was dissing myself a lot in that song, talking about some of my flaws but through another person’s eyes. The most recent song I dropped, “Knock Knock,” was one I liked making a lot, too. I was talking about how this new pressure of people always giving you attention has started to catch up to me. It can be a lot when you have record labels and producers left and right trying to hit you up for deals, collaborations and stuff like that. I like to make myself as available as possible and be nice to these people, but sometimes you can’t really be that way. Of course, if a producer sends a beat that’s fire, I’ll reach out to them and say it sounds good. If it sounds bad, I’ll give them the feedback they deserve and move on. I don’t want to leave them in the dark in that regard. It also makes my day to have someone tell me, “hey, I really look up to you” or “your music really inspired me,” and I will always respond to that. Being a role model to people is something that shouldn’t get overlooked or left on read. On the other hand, it’s hard to keep responding to everyone that sends me s--t like memes or whatever, because you’re going to be busy with X, Y or Z.
br: If there was one song you could rewrite or delete, which one would it be?
T.B.: As much as I said I loved working on “Knock Knock,” it could have been better with a little bit more time. My delivery wasn’t great, but I liked the beat I made. It was a little too ambient for my liking, but I was in a time crunch to get it all out. I said I was going to drop it on July 10, but I hated how it sounded just a few days before it was going to drop. I sent it to some close friends and they said everyone would love it. And they all did.
br: Knowing everything you do now about music, what is one thing you would tell your past self? T.B.: Don’t trust everybody that you meet, and be consistent, not annoying. There’s nothing wrong with checking up on the people you’re working with every so often, but I used to get pushy and reach out too often. You can’t do that. It takes time to get something going, and it’s not any disrespect to you if they’re just not in the right headspace. If someone is under pressure, the resulting art is not going to be its best.
br: I noticed you have a list of goals on your Instagram page, tell me a little bit more about them?
T.B.: Yeah, definitely. One of my goals is to move out within the next two years. It would probably be a transition to either LA or Las Vegas, because I used to live there and know a lot of people in that area. I also think as weird as it sounds, 5,000 followers on Instagram would be nice. I haven’t blown up, but the matches have been struck, if you know what I mean. I’m currently at around 3,800, but getting to 5,000 would establish more of a devoted fanbase. Another smaller goal I had was to be more open to new experiences. I don’t think I’d have some of the friends I do now, or would I even be doing an interview with someone like you, if I hadn’t put that goal into my head. I try to stay to myself and keep my circles tight, but with everything that’s been happening musically, I want that to change. One final goal I had was “don’t push anything that isn’t working.” In the past, I would be trying to sample something for a beat. For some samples, it just would not work, either due to the fact that it wasn’t ever meant to be sampled or whatever it may be. I kept trying to force it, but at a certain point you have to be able to tell yourself that something isn’t working; move on. I sent these to Kevin because we talk regularly, and he said they were all within reach. Hearing that meant a lot, and I’m really excited for everything that is coming up.
I'd like to thank Timothy for sitting down to do this interview, and I wish him the best of luck with everything that is coming up for him! If you haven't heard any of his music yet, go do it. Thanks again to everyone who checked this out, hope you're all doing well and staying safe. If you want more cool interviews like this, give me a follow on Instagram, @bazzreviews, to keep up with who's getting featured on the site. See ya soon!
To hear some of Timothy's music, head over to https://soundcloud.com/timothyjbright
To listen to Timothy's new single, "Turmoil," go to https://open.spotify.com/album/433ctZJiPFkbcdyNeRk4wQ?si=fihuJKDURRCKJHK3FVXsKw
