Stop Sleepin: Tiron

By producing music about his personal life experiences, Tiron Jeffries is making a name for himself in the L.A. hip hop scene.

The unsigned artist, hailing from Kankakee, Illinois, is more concerned with concepts and “real people music” than he is with creating a hit record or spitting a hot 16.

This appreciation for music as an art form was installed early in Tiron, who grew up watching his uncle play the blues as well as trying his own hand at the viola, trumpet, drums, and piano.  The artist even stopped playing high school football to take up musical theater!

To get a feel for Tiron’s creativity and personality, check out his video for “Throwing My Money,” which touches on not being able to afford all the fly gear most rappers flaunt.

That video is creating a lot of buzz around Tiron, who may be the only rapper to make a single about not being able to afford the fly clothes he is buying, ha!

“Throwing My Money” is the first single off of Tiron’s latest mixtape, Ketchup.  The mixtape was released to help fans of hip hop “catch up” on his music, and therefore features new material, as well as songs from his original Handshakes & Pounds mixtape.

Tiron set out to make a concept record with Ketchup, where each track is a complete idea in itself, covering a lot of topics a person in their mid-twenties experiences.  We hear Tiron rap about on everything from trying to stay fly while having little money, having problems with the opposite sex, and drinking.

The intro to Ketchup, “Still Never Happy,” comments on how no matter what happens in our lives, we always want more and think things could be better.

After hearing the following verse, a lot of people compare Tiron to a young Kanye West:

“Man I want a Bentley,
Plus a crib with a high ceiling,
To get all of these women feelin,
Bad they ain’t with a brother,
I wanna get another whip, but nah,
I gotta spend money clearing up credit,
And Sally Mae ain’t making that an option,
I know that I should watch it,
Cause I’ve been blessed to go to college,
When other folks the same color as me couldn’t get a job,
Cause they never graduated so they stay up on the block.”

The Kanye comparison comes from Tiron speaking about going to college, wanting to have great success in life, as well as his flow and personal lyrics.

Another standout track on Ketchup is the hilarious, “My Wingman & Me,” which puts a fresh twist on the phrase “my girl got a girlfriend.”  If you want to hear Tiron’s lyrical side check out “Def 82′” and “Shine On.”

It will be interesting to see what personal experiences make their way onto Tiron’s upcoming Mustard mixtape!