NEW YORK– There’s the story everyone knows about Lil Tecca, and then there’s Tyler Sharpe, the rapper-producer with big ambitions and the dedication to see it through. His fourth studio album, aptly titled ‘Plan A’, out Friday, isn’t a highlight of his career to date, but it does reflect the journey.
‘Plan A’ sums up my plan for life,” he told the Associated Press. “It’s never a plan B.”
The popular story goes something like this: Five years ago, a then-teenage MC from New York released “Ransom,” introducing the world to its sing-along, AutoTune-inspired flow and hook-heavy melodies. People loved it, and fast. As of last month, the Recording Industry Association of America accredited it eight times platinum.
A hit early in a career is usually a good way to quell it, to burn bright and fast, but Lil Tecca managed to avoid the cliché. He has a loyal and fervent fan base, and he never let the hype overwhelm him. The music always came first. That’s why his last album, ‘Tec’, released almost exactly a year before ‘Plan A’, was celebrated in hip-hop circles, with songs like ‘500 lbs’ and an inspired collaboration with Kodak Black, ‘Hvn on Earth. ”
For this album, Tecca enlisted the producers he’s worked with since day one – like Rio Leyva, Taz Taylor and the like – to develop the sound he’s been developing over the years. “My favorite people to work with are producers,” he says. “We mainly create without expectations.”
Their process hasn’t changed much from the early days: Tecca picks a beat and freestyles or writes to it. “Sometimes I just rap on the run. No beat, no drums, nothing,” he says. “The only difference is honing the craft.”
There’s only one entry on the album: Don Toliver on the futuristic trap-rock, “I Can’t Let Go.”
“Don Toliver is fire,” he says simply. “When it came to having the Don song on it, honestly, it just felt like the perfect time for what I was trying to achieve in that first half of the project.”
Part of that goal is transparency.
“This one is definitely much more personal. I’m talking about things I’ve never talked about before, like my mom and stuff like that,” he says, referring to the smooth return to “MAMA.”
“So I just wanted people to get one step closer to me, on a personal level.”
It also appears in songs about relationships and miscommunication, such as the single ‘Taste’.
Tecca says the many elements that make up “Plan A” manifest in a few different ways, including fashion. He’s been wearing a lot of leopard print lately; it appears on the album cover, the single artwork for ‘Bad Time’ and elsewhere. “Specifically, fashion is just another way I express myself,” he says. “I learned it when I went to a uniform school. It’s like that Friday where you can wear whatever you want. You feel different… It’s definitely a new layer of who I am.”
As for the future plans: he has mapped them out. Video games, film, TV, they’re all ambitions. “I honestly want to do whatever I feel like doing, I want to show my version of it,” he says. “So I like games. I want to show my version of what the best game is. I like movies. I want to show my version of what the best film is.”
“Mentally I am certainly already in the next chapter,” he says.
But for now, it’s all about ‘Plan A’. And he hopes new listeners and his devoted fans will join him.
“My music is not just about me. My music is really just the soundtrack for the people who support me in the world I put my music in,” he concludes. “My number 1 priority is to inspire the people who actually believe in me.”
