Timothy Bright
At 18, you’re typically looking toward graduation, adulthood, what you want to do next, jobs, and deciding what college will look like. But maybe you’re making music that catches the attention of the lead member of a RIAA Platinum certified rap group known as BROCKHAMPTON. After just turning 18 this past August, that’s exactly what Timothy Bright is doing.
I discovered Timothy Bright through that member of BROCKHAMPTON, Ian Simpson, also known as Kevin Abstract, after a shoutout on his Instagram story of Timothy’s song, “Knock Knock.” The song is dark and almost has no bass sounds in it, a lot different than the sound of most rap you hear today. The drums are harsh, gritty and industrial sounding, as he raps about spray painting a wall and ignoring your parents. It’s rebellious and dangerous. I was instantly hooked. Wordplay, flows, production, cover art, everything, I gravitated toward his sound after that song and I’ve been hooked since. I just had to talk to someone who’s starting to gain the recognition he so deserves.
It’s dark out when I set the Zoom call up at 5 o’clock, which still feels weird to me. He greets me. “One sec, I gotta find my headphones,” he says as he leaves the room for a moment. Our conversation starts after he returns and says he’s ready.
Timothy Bright for the cover of his song “Knock Knock”.
What music did you start finding as a kid that you began to enjoy?
I think in elementary school I got into EDM. Skrillex and shit like that, I was really into it. I would watch shows that Skrillex was doing thinking, “I wanna do stuff like that someday, that looks dope.” Around freshman year I was listening to $uicideBoy$, Three 6 [Mafia], and just the underground scene at the time. XXXTENTACION and Ski Mask the Slump God were just starting to blow up but also stay underground. I thought that was so cool. I was always hearing gospel as a kid, too. I grew up in a religious household and the church I went to with my Grandma in Alabama when I was younger was a good church. They got hype with the songs and it was tight to be around.
What made you want to make your own music?
I started rapping in 2016 after I found Denzel Curry and I was like “this dude’s dope, I can do this super easily,” so I got this app. I don’t even know if it’s still around; I think it is, but it’s called RapChat. You can record stuff on it and everything so I started recording. I’m pretty sure I have stuff up there still but under a different name. I started rapping then. Once I found out what type beats were, I started looking into those and realized, “Wow, a good majority of these are trash. I should learn how to make my own beats.” I started producing in December of 2017. Late 2016, I started rapping and then didn’t really take it seriously until earlier this year or the end of 2019.
Then Kevin Abstract found you. How did that happen and how did it feel getting that recognition from someone like that?
I’ve always known who he was and I always thought he was a dope dude. Then one day somebody who listens to my music sent me his [Instagram] story of him asking for rappers. They said “send him your music” and I thought, “Okay, I’ll do it, who cares?” That was the day I was shooting the music video for my song “Quicksand.” While me and my friends were sitting around thinking of where to shoot next, I said to them, “I’m gonna send Kevin a DM.” They didn’t know who I was talking about so they were like “okay” and he answered less than 10 minutes after I sent it. Maybe it was five, but he answered really fast. He started telling me I was cool and I just was like “oh shit this is crazy” and we became friends after that.
That’s how I found you was through Kevin’s shoutout. How did Kevin’s shoutout impact your following and did you gain more of a following after that?
Yeah, I did. Not that much. Well actually, it was a lot. When he found me, I had 120 monthly listeners and right now I’m sitting at 37,000 so it was a very good thing. It was him shouting me out and then the Spotify algorithm pulling through and helping me out too, because it really does help a lot. I had a huge growth compared to where I was a few months ago. So, yeah, I’m really grateful.
Then you started putting out music with BROCKHAMPTON’s producer, Romil [Hemnani], how did that come to be?
One day I was chilling and Ian DM’d me and said, “I’m gonna send you some beats Romil made,” and I said “Okay, cool, for sure.” Then I got like four beats from him. My songs “Turmoil” and “Entanglement” were produced by him, then a song off my EP was born.
So on the EP topic, your EP “psych out” is set to release January 12th. What was the process like in making it?
It’s definitely been a process, I’ll tell you that. This EP has been a concept since March 31st, the day I made the beat for “Quicksand.” I made four other beats and I decided “okay, this is gonna be ‘psych out’, it’s gonna come out in June, done.” I had to sit back because I had to move to California because of my mom. I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to drop when I wanted, then the Ian stuff happened and I had to change my direction. You can see the drastic change because right after “Quicksand” dropped, I dropped “Knock Knock” and those are two different songs completely. After that, I reframed and had to think of what I really wanted to do with this EP. I think I went back and forth between two different intros because I already knew what I wanted the end of the EP to sound like, but the beginning is where I struggled. I had this beat I really liked that I wanted to use, but then it would take out these two songs that I had that I wanted to use more, so I didn’t use that beat. It’s definitely been a process. I learned a lot about myself in process and I realized how much character development has come. You can see it in my discography, there’s been so much character development to me as a person and as a musician too, because you’ve seen the production quality get better and me get better in general. It’s definitely been a process. There was some times I was down bad, but I still got up and did what I had to do.
I found you through “Knock Knock” because of Kevin and I realized you were gonna be big. I know it for a fact.
He laughs
Thank you, man.
What are your favorite songs off of the EP?
Honestly, I cannot pick, and that’s good because that’s another thing that a good majority of my friends said. That is what I want. That is what I want. It’s really solid. I honestly cannot choose at all.
What else can we expect from you in 2021 being the new year is upon us?
Working with the collective me and my friends made, OUTTAREACH, and trying to build my fanbase. I don’t know, get more people to listen. After the EP, I’m not gonna stop. This month is my break month because I have my EP turned in. I’m not working on anything else really right now, except for a few features, and I’m working on myself to focus on my mental health. As soon as the EP drops, I’m working on the next single I’m gonna drop and then the next EP because I already have an idea of what I’m gonna do for the next one.
Maybe there’s a new Timothy Bright feature on the new BROCKHAMPTON album. That’d be sweet
He chuckles.
Oh man, that’d be crazy.
On that note, what are some dream collaborators you’d like to work with?
$crim from $uicideBoy$ because his beats; he’s insane when it comes to production. Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist. That’s kind of it. I don’t have any dream collabs like that, but there are some people I wanna work with. Oh, and Redveil. Redveil goes crazy. He’s really good. Just a few people, not that many.
What advice would you give to yourself in the future 5-10 years from now? What do you want to carry with you onward from here?
Damn, that is a good ass question, oh, my god.
He laughs for a second.
Let me think. Do not be afraid to let people know where you come from. When I first started rapping, I thought it was a bad thing I came from a military household. Around the time I started rapping is when we stopped struggling financially, we were able to do more. So I started thinking “oh, I don’t have to struggle don’t have to rap.” No. I’ve been through my trials and tribulations; it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows before, and it’s still not. There’s no shame in letting people know where you came from. I have a good story to tell people. Everyone comes from something different. You gotta take pride in that, love where you come from. Don’t ever cap [lie] in your raps. Just be yourself. Don’t change from anyone else. Don’t suck up to people and over idolize. Don’t be on someone’s nuts about it.
What advice would you have for someone who’s wanting to start a venture into music?
You have to be a patient person. You have to. Things will take time. Always have a side thing. When you first start out in music, you’re not gonna be making a lot of money. Make sure you have something on the side that you can do. Have a good group of people around you that care. Because otherwise when you send them your music and they tell you it’s good and it’s not? You gotta find people that’ll be honest. It might hurt, but they’re just trying to make you better. Remember they want what’s best for you.
For someone who’s going to start listening to you from “psych out,” what do you have to say to them?
Thank you for being here. That’s it really. I hope you continue to stay and see what I have. I have more than what I’ve shown, I definitely do. I’m a cool person. I don’t bite, I’m cool.
The interview ends there and we end the Zoom call. A few minutes after it ends, he DMs me on Instagram, telling me the Bad Brains shirt I wore during the interview was sick, so I told him thank you. He’s posted a few songs by The Dead Kennedys on his Instagram stories before, so he knows what’s up in the punk world.
Thank you Timothy for talking to me about things and I can’t wait to watch you grow as an artist in the coming years. You can find Timothy Bright anywhere you stream music and on Instagram as @timothybrght. Look for his EP, “psych out,” out everywhere January 12, 2021. Be on the lookout for more Timothy Bright in the coming year, from him or in the collective OUTTAREACH (@owttareech on Instagram).
“Thank you for being here. That’s it really. I hope you continue to stay and see what I have. I have more than what I’ve shown, I definitely do. I’m a cool person. I don’t bite, I’m cool.”
-MH
