Tydal Kamau ADD

Tydal Kamau... I Become A Man - The Interview

09/30/2023 by Shrik Kotecha

Navardo Graham is artistically known as Tydal Kamau. A St Mary born native; he took the journey from the north coast of Jamaica into the bustling streets of Reggae music’s capital city Kingston two decades ago. Even though his previous musical projects were released almost ten years ago - the EP Journey Of A Young Warrior and album Mission Incomplete. Musically, he has been far from quiet - unlike the name of the Kenyan Warrior Kamau (Quiet Warrior) which he has adopted. Previously, he has released singles with the likes of Ghetto Youths International, Grammy-winning producer Frankie Music and Austria’s House of Riddim.

During this time, he started collaborating with Munich-based Oneness Records on riddim projects including Nice & Easy and Bambu. The musical relationship expanded into the creation of the ten-track album I Become A Man. As the title track suggests, Tydal Kamau expresses growth and maturity in this latest release both as a person and in a musical sense. 

Shrik Kotecha spoke to Tydal Kamau about the new album.

How did the musical journey evolve in recording this new album? Why did you choose to work with Oneness Records?

Well, I’ve always been in contact with them and working with Oneness throughout the years. The first song we did was My Paradise, a couple of years ago. We keep that link going, and we been back and forth with beats. They’re always sending beats. I actually brought the idea to them to say yes, we could do some works, and Moritz agreed on it and we started working. The ideal thing would have been to be in a studio with them. But being so far away, they send me some beats and I chose, and I did what I did. It turned out to be something nice. There’s a lot of people involved, different artists featured on it, and I’m very grateful for the outcome of it. It’s been a while coming though.

At the same time what I hear is consistency and quality throughout the album. You mentioned the song My Paradise, that was on a riddim juggling that Oneness put out in 2018 called Nice and Easy  - some of the other artists on that juggling included Luciano, Iba Mahr, Sara Lugo & Randy Valentine, Macka B, and more, it was a heavyweight production. I kind of see where you have evolved because then there was another single with Oneness called Don on the Bambu riddim too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and we did a video for it. It did well and people are still respecting it everywhere I go and perform that song. People were actually giving me a good vibe to that song.

So, really your collab with Oneness started out working on some of their riddim juggling projects and then that progressed into a full-length project? 

Yes, me and Moritz have always been talking back and forth, I don‘t quite remember if I was the one who suggested it or he suggested it but somewhere along the lines, we started working - there is a chemistry. We had so much songs, it’s good to have a body of works that represents. I think they see value in my work, and I see value in their works, so its mutual respect on that ground and we think that it would be good.

Let’s explore the new album in more detail, I was struck by the opening song One World and the relevancy in the message of the song, “I and I just think there’s too much things in this world really separate us, created by a system, you know sometimes I pray and I just don’t do the normal prayer that people pray every day, no, maybe I just see things are different”- that’s such a powerful opening.

Yep, and it’s natural for me because that’s who I am and that’s how I think. I’m always thinking out of the box. I see things from a perspective of realness. It doesn‘t matter who’s doing it, it could be my brother, it could be a close friend, I’m going to try to be as real as possible. There’s a lot of things happening in the world, and it’s not being highlighted, or people are scared to talk about it. I’m not one of those persons who are scared to go into that topic and talk about things that are happening. I guess that’s why that song came out because there‘s a lot of things on your mind when you see things happen when you have been travelling all over the world to different places. I’ve seen countries faced with different issues, there are so much things that are created by a system that I would love to just… erase and free up our people.

True, true. One thing that I really love about that song is the contrast of the serious topic you sing passionately about and the soothing melody of the kids choir throughout the song.

Yeah, they are quite effective and it‘s a great idea put together by Moritz again and his Oneness team. I really love it.

It works really well. Last year we had over 30 million refugees around the world. That‘s probably an escalation of what was already the highest number of refugees on record. Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine come to the forefront of my mind. What do you see as the first steps in finding a solution?

What’s the solution for me…? The first step is giving the people what they deserve. There‘s so much things taken from the people and if you take what the people own, they will come back to you for it. Because they don‘t have. It‘s natural. Like if you should take something from me and I don‘t have it anymore and I need it, then I will come back to you for it. So, over the years things have been taken, especially from Africa, the resources there and brought to these first world countries and they have been taken away in some other way by a trick, by people selling out. But I just think that a lot of it has been taken away unfairly and the people need something to hold on to. They have to find it and it‘s natural they will come back to you for it. So, I think that they should give back to the people some of what they deserve and help them along the way and let this world be a more level playing field. Because it‘s not level, it‘s a system that said that if you have a piece of paper that has some numbers on it you are rich, and if I don‘t have it, I am poor. It‘s a system created by mankind. If it‘s just money to free up this world, then a piece of paper is just easy to make. Give them. Have a level playing field, have one currency, why not? Do you get me? So, there‘s a lot of things that can happen. As I said, give people back their resources and help them along the way. 

I hear you. Now, the title track I Become A Man is delivered over a solid drum and bass riddim section and is the first of three collabs on the album, Randy Valentine absolutely smashes his verse while you ask for acceptance.

(laughs) Yeah, it‘s a song that I deeply meditate because over the years there‘s a lot of changes, especially my growth in everything and people would say, you have changed. You have become like a Rastafarian, and you have been doing things different. Your family may look at you different and people won‘t accept you because of who you are or how you look and stuff like that. By the way, when I heard the riddim, I just started singing and it was a complete song, but I had in mind to have a nice feature - having somebody who’s down to earth and grounded. I link up with Randy Valentine and he say yeah, send it forward, and I sent it to him and as quick as possible he recorded a solid verse. I’m saying that’s it and Oneness loved it!

That song I Become A Man gives us the title for the album, what is the thought process around that?

I just think it’s growth and making people understand that I‘ve grown. I represent consciousness, me, my family, it‘s a growth process and I‘ve grown. You know, that’s how I see it. People should look at me as a human being and not as a person who has changed. I won‘t change to please anyone. Accept me for who I am. That‘s just the thought process in the whole song creation and I want this to stand out as well as the album. We had different songs that could have been a title like, One World is a strong song and I had Modern Generation.

…That‘s the one I was thinking of.

Modern Generation was always a name that I want to put on a project. So, we had to choose and between me and Oneness we think the strongest one was I Become A Man. It represent a whole lot, it represents me, my growth.

Let‘s talk a little bit about songwriting, I know that you have worked with some real heavyweights like the Marley family previously on songs such as Carry On and Babylon Can‘t Get Away. Did you write all the songs yourself on I‘ve Become A Man?

I wrote all the songs and I tried to do my best. I don‘t just sit and write; I mostly just have a good measure and concept of what I want to say, and I just start sing. I try to construct it in a way that is presentable. I always hope my songs are always going to turn out to be something that represents me, something uplifting, something conscious, something that‘s going to be like healing to other people. I‘m always happy to present things like this to the people. I‘m never one to follow others writing. I like my style and I write about different things. I have a variety of things; I don‘t just do one topic. I‘m not like a one-track artist like who just sing about one concept. I sing about different stuff that people want to hear.

It‘s interesting that you say that because I think that one of the things that works so well on the album is the range of themes that you cover. Social commentary, songs of upliftment, relationships and of course the patriotism that you express for Jamaica in the single My Paradise.

Yeah, and even about the music and we touch on the youths too. It‘s a variety and I think it‘s a good feel to be able to absorb that kind of vibration, to not sit and listen to one song, one concept, you know it‘s a good feeling. I can’t wait for people to give me their feedback on it.

The song My Paradise was the first project that you worked on with Oneness Records. I know it was a few years ago, but thinking back, was there a particular event or something that happened in Jamaica or in the press that made you write that song?

Like everywhere I go, if I ever travel overseas people will say Jamaica is bad. Sometimes it hurts because I‘m from St. Mary, close by to Portland and there are places in Jamaica that are very peaceful, where you could leave your door open. It‘s kind of an unfair statement to class the whole of Jamaica as bad and like there is no future. So, I was thinking that I need to do something, and when I heard that riddim, I thought that was the perfect moment for expression.

Growing up, home was St. Mary in Jamaica. Is there a childhood memory of a spot in St. Mary‘s that you will always cherish?

My birthplace! I was born in a one-room, like a ten-by-ten room. I wasn’t born in a hospital. I think that’s the spot in a community called Forty One and that‘s where I‘m from. It‘s around Enfield, St. Mary but there‘s a district called Forty One and it‘s very peaceful, very loving people, very vibrant. Everyone is just loving, everybody would say hi to you, so that’s the place.

And growing up, who within your family was the source for your musical inspiration? To me it seems like music runs through your DNA.

My inspiration? My father firstly. He played bass in the church. He had a guitar and he played vinyl every Sunday on a little turntable. We used to put his speakers out and play a lot of Bob Marley, Buju Banton, Mega Banton, Leroy Smart and a lot of Dennis Brown in those times. And then my uncle was an artist called Dennis Lovelock from back then. He was getting some attention and then he went behind bars for some time. So, if you search on YouTube, you could find some nice songs from Dennis Lovelock. Also, I don‘t know if you know Navino, he‘s my cousin, my big bro. He was the one doing music before me and then I joined him. That would be basically it as a family and close people around me. But other than that, it‘s just that I was drawn to music by listening and connecting to Bob Marley songs and when I was going to school, there was Sizzla Kalonji that break out. And then there was Buju Banton and there was a Beenie/Bounty war, so we used to clash back in school with their songs. But the songs that really get me going and getting me really focused on a conscious level was music from Sizzla Kalonji and people like Capleton and those people.

…The 1990’s?

Yeah, and Spragga Benz, I really love the way his songs are constructed and people like Louie Culture. That really got me going after doing those clash songs in school, I started to pen my own songs and I said yeah I could do this. So, when I started penning my own songs, people like my friends were saying to me that‘s not your song, I’ve heard that song before. I was thinking then, I‘m on a good level if people are saying they are hearing those songs on the radio because I know it‘s my song. I just continued doing my thing and here I am.

The musicians throughout the project have really delivered solid productions, one that I particularly love is the simplicity of the riddim behind Modern Generation, and I love the melodica in the opening bars as well. What do you see as the future of this modern generation that you sing about?

They have so much to fight for. It‘s going to be rough on their side, but it needs people like us trying to kind of bridge that gap, like my generation, to help them along the way and keep them grounded. The future is bright for them technology-wise. We didn‘t have certain things back then like in schools, we didn‘t have access to information that easy as them and even music now. People can just record from their home, and they don‘t even have to go to the studio. I mean it may work for them, it may not work, but there‘s a lot of possibilities and that has been created by technology.

Some of it, I don‘t know what to say, it‘s kind of hard to think about what‘s going to happen. But I know that things can happen if we help them along the way and good things can happen if we guide them. As I said in the song, most youths are like overgrown. So, it’s like a 12-year-old will be acting like a 20-year-old right now. Back then, we couldn‘t say certain things we couldn‘t do certain things in front of the elders. And so, it‘s a different world. Youths are being coached by social media; they‘ve been governed by social media. It‘s a different world but there is endless possibilities for them. But sometimes it‘s scary when I think about it because every single day, we‘re seeing more chemicals that are hurtful and we are seeing more weapons. it‘s scary, but I know they will find a way.

Let‘s talk about some more of the tracks on the album. No Bad Vibes, features Anthony B and has a really traditional Reggae feel to it. How did Anthony B become involved in this project?

It‘s been coming for a while, me and Anthony B are good. I have so much respect for Anthony B from the get-go. If we are on a show, I will show him great respect and he show me great respect. So, he was one of them I was thinking about having a collab with. And the perfect the moment presented itself when I got that beat and I sang on it. I was thinking this is Anthony B and when I sent it to him, he was like I‘m ready and he recorded it. He sent the file back to me and I‘m saying to him this is wicked, everyone loved it. I think after Covid struck back then, you kind of want to give the people a little vibe to free up and get back to music. Music really freed me up and do everything for me, so I kind of want to give the people something to free up their mind and get moving and forget about a lot of the things going on with Covid all over the world. So that was the song for me to free up the minds of the people. Reggae music you know (laughs), from I hear the beat that song just came to mind. No Bad Vibe, we just got to do it.

And I think Anthony B was the perfect choice.

He killed it. Yeah man, (sings) “long time wi nuh bun dung the place” it‘s a nice vibe, it‘s powerful. Anthony B is powerful. We have to salute people like that, I give thanks to people like him, always encouraging me. It‘s not every elder artist that would be real with you and down to earth and say certain things and give you your props, do you know what I mean? It‘s very few. A lot of people have so much ego that they‘re so into themselves that they can‘t find time to acknowledge another person‘s work. And Anthony B is not one of them, he’s very straightforward and very encouraging to many young talents. I‘ve seen it. I‘ve seen him have other persons under his wing and I‘m very happy that a person like that could give me the strength every time we link, he always will.

One of the other collabs you have is Rich Problem featuring Turbulence. That‘s probably the only song that’s strays away from the traditional Reggae riddims found on the album.

When I think about that song, nobody wants to be poor and when they talk about real riches, it‘s not just about money. My riches is not necessarily just about money. In this world, they’ve made it so that you want to accumulate as much of that paper to feel comfortable, to be able to pay your bills and feel like you live a good life. People probably may think that hearing a song like that, especially from two Rastafarians like, people would think it‘s a money thing now. No, it‘s not a money thing now. It‘s about survival also, and I could feel his energy because he has been through a lot too and I‘m fed up of the poor life and I could hear. So, when I heard the track, I‘m saying, “Yo Turbulence you have to find something for this” and everything just flowed and it was a good vibe.

I think one of the other things I really love about the album and credit to Oneness here is that all of the riddims are originals. There‘s no do-over riddims.

Yeah, all of them are original. That‘s what I like about them. They have a variety of sounds which I really like. If you are really creative, you could get some good recordings, some good projects from their works. Give thanks to people like Oneness and a couple more people who are doing real live original Reggae music and all in the banner of Reggae music and not straying from the live sounds. I love live music. I really love live music, so they have a sound that I love and it‘s authentic, its real and I give thanks.

I feel that you‘ve hit the nail on the head there, as the live instrumentation is something that has come back again in the last ten or so years and I feel that‘s what makes the album, and the productions stand out.

And I think the more we do it as artists and producers, more people are going to accept it again and push it again. We need to do a lot more of it. A lot more live Reggae albums so that people can get back that live feel. We had a lot more live shows, especially in Jamaica. There were a lot of live shows that have gone, we just lost them. I don‘t know why. The music has changed a lot, the vibe has changed a lot, so we need to get back that.

In terms of recording your vocals did you use any particular studios in Jamaica?

I recorded at a variety of studios, like at a friend’s studios and I think I did a couple songs at Big Yard and some at my home studio, I have a nice setup, like a mini studio and it takes vocals well.

And I‘m pretty sure that I recognise Sherieta Lewis doing some of the backing vocals?

Yeah. Sherieta and there is also NVT3L on Modern Generation and the kids choir on One World. I have to give thanks to everyone who take part in this project. Big respect to everybody and I‘m loving the effort from everyone and appreciating everyone.

To close, when I reflect back on your previous EP Journey Of A Young Warrior and the album Mission Incomplete, I really see that you‘ve matured. I guess that you‘d expect that, as both of these projects were nearly ten years ago and it’s a natural progression, but from your perspective, how do you feel about the new album itself?

I‘m kind of waiting and anticipating the feedback from the people and leaving it up to the people. But I feel confident that it‘s a strong project that will touch a whole lot of people in different ways. It‘s a vibration of many different concepts, topics, different feel and so I feel good about this project. Give thanks to Reggaeville, the whole Oneness team. We‘ve been doing some work on the road, like on this side and in Africa and making people aware of who I am and my musical journey. Sharing my space with them so give thanks to everyone who is a part of my journey.

THE INTERVIEW WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN JUNE IN FESTIVILLE 2023! DOWNLOAD THE FREE PDF MAGAZINE HERE