Tyrone’s Jacket, The TVD First Date

“My love for music developed well after my formative years, and for the most part predicated my creative participation as opposed to being a consumer.”

“I purge melody, dance, and lyric from an internal feeling more than strictly the mind, though the brain is a necessary tool for articulation once the connection is made. The term “channeling” is how I would best describe it. I have created music without having an extensive musical education, I’m not classically trained and there is a lot of music people would be surprised to know I’m ignorant of. I don’t like the idea of certain influences clouding my spirit, however over the years I have increased my knowledge.

Perhaps my father’s success with The Commodores desensitized me to an appreciation of music early on—I was more into sports back then, however eventually, like for most of us, music found its way to my heart. It wasn’t until late in high school that I started to pay real attention to music. Tupac was first, Nas shortly after that, then Bob Marley. I remember it clearly.

I used to live a few blocks away from Tower Records. Back then Tuesdays were the day of new releases. Every Tuesday after school I would swing by that yellow and red building and spend hours. I felt like I was part of a club because we were all there for the same reason. Varied genres attracted a variety of outspoken attitudes from the expressions, struts, spiked mohawks, dreadlocks, tattoos, jumpsuits, velour suits, and tattered rags. There was culture and it was a scene.

I would browse album art, but my favorite were the stations where you could put on headphones and listen to records—I’d listen to entire albums. I recall a number of times I was asked to take a break and let others use it haha. I was already familiar with The Commodores archive for obvious reasons, but because of said reasons I wasn’t able to appreciate them properly until later in life.

Tupac was an instant connection for me as I mentioned—it was pure from the jump and passionately remains so to this day. I felt what he was doing before I understood why, but that connection was created elsewhere. Bob Marley was something I took a personal mission to soak in, and made a point to experience at the record store. Unlike hip hop, I never had exposure to reggae music growing up. I did not have immediate access to it as no one I knew talked about it or listened to it. I was compelled to understand the movement even though I knew nothing about it. Something inside undeniably compelled me towards the message.

Initially I didn’t like the music because the rhythm and sound was so foreign, but I loved the overall attitude. And this was the beginning of me understanding a deeper meaning to life. I went to Tower Records and listened to the greatest hits for a while, Catch a Fire was the album where it all clicked. I thank the record store for this blessing.

Vinyl is sonically brilliant, vastly superior to Mp3 for example. I have such a connection with it that I’ve made sure it is a part of my music career. A pivotal piece to the voltron of Tyrone’s Jacket is our DJ “RyToast.” She’s a bad woman and a beautiful person. I love that we have turntables with us on stage, it feels good in my soul. She’s up there mixing and cutting—the crowd can feel it. It’s an ode to an era of high quality music covering decades, as well as great entertainment to see somebody live handling themselves on the wheels of steel.

I grew up listening to hip hop which we all know is rooted in vinyl and my father’s music is played on vinyl all around the world. Now it is part of my ensemble. Interesting as well that in the bizarre climate of the music industry where CDs are obsolete, vinyl records have had a resurgence. Polyvinyl chloride for the win!

On behalf of Tyrone’s Jacket I would like to say much love, respect, and peace.”
—KnowaKing