Earning Stripes Issue #38

Young MC Tyga claws his way to the top

By Lukas Brekke-Miesner
Published: December 1st, 2008 | 12:00am

On the west coast there lies a bit of a secret, a reality that many east of the Sierras won’t acknowledge — Cali emcees can still rap. But in an industry and blogosphere largely blind to the left side’s lyrical prowess, there is a new face that is challenging that fallacy. His name is Michael Stevenson, known best as Tyga, and thanks to an audacious delivery and an avid hustle, this swashbuckling 19-year-old will soon need no introduction.

Tyga was a promising Compton, California-bred high school lyricist with a modest local buzz when his older cousin, Travis McCoy, and his band, Gym Class Heroes, blew up in 2006. Tyga began contacting him relentlessly. “I was happy for him,” Tyga recalled, “but it was also a great opportunity for me.” Fortunately McCoy recognized Tyga’s hunger and lyrical chops, and Tyga soon found himself cutting his teeth by opening for Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy.

Although the young MC got his big break from his cousin, he insists that this isn’t an example of show-biz nepotism. “I work hard, I have my own sound, and I’m growing,” Tyga argues, “I am getting better with every song.” Add a verbal dexterity reminiscent of pre-autotuned Lil Wayne and a unique flavor that hosts of wannabes pine after, and you have a fly ‘80s baby with a bright future.

Though he has been running with an older crowd for a couple of years now, Tyga encapsulates the energy of a swagger-obsessed Sidekick generation. “AIM,” off his No Introduction mixtape (Decaydance), pays homage to the communication medium of the moment with lines like, “She don’t know me by my name, she just know me by my AIM.” And his break out single, “Coconut Juice,” is an infectious party jam dedicated to a fictional non-alcoholic drink of Tyga’s invention. “I leave the smoking and drinking to my homies,” he said, “I got too much to focus on.”

Tyga is young, but he is already on a meteoric rise replete with fans and haters — the pitfalls of fame and fortune. Fortunately, Tyga is not only talented, he is also humble and sensible. With his ambitious work ethic, his prodigious mic skills, and his consistent maturation, Tyga will soon find himself among elite company.

Tyga’s mixtape No Introduction has been re-recorded to album format, but he can also be found on Lil Wayne’s upcoming Dedication 3 mixtape, and his own forthcoming debut album, The Introduction.