Benedict Okwuchukwu Godwin Chijioke (17 August 1972 – 7 May 2020), better known by his stage name Ty , was a Nigerian-British rapper. He released the albums '' Awkward'' (2001), '' Upwards'' (2003), '' Closer'' (2006), '' Special Kind of Fool'' (2010) and ''A Work of Heart'' (2018). ''Upwards'' was nominated for a

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

. Ty collaborated with musicians such as Shortee Blitz, Drew Horley, Tony Allen,

Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...

and

De La Soul De La Soul ( ) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York (state), New York in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evoluti ...

Early life

Benedict Okwuchukwu Godwin Chijioke was born in London into an Igbo family from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. He spent many years of his youth in the care of private foster parents in Jaywick, Essex—as reported in a 2019

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

feature by Symeon Brown— "so they could focus on work and study." In the piece he said: "As kids we had no clue why we were here, and then my parents said 'we're going now, but you're staying'," he said. "So we didn't know why we were being left here. And just feeling a little bit abandoned really."

Career

In the early 1990s, he was discovered after competing at the open mic competition at Muthaland at the Borderline in London's West End. He continued to hone his skills and make connections there for a few years. In 1995, he co-founded Ghetto Grammar, a pioneer in hip hop education in the UK. Ty's first album, '' Awkward'', was released on Big Dada in 2001. His second album, '' Upwards'', was released in 2003 and reached No.35 in the UK Independent album charts. The single from it, "Oh U Want More?", reached No.65 in the UK Top 100. ''Upwards'' was nominated for a

in 2004. His third album, '' Closer'', was released in 2006, and featured guest appearances from

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American Hip hop music, hip hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, ''Kollage (album), Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released ...

Zion I Zion I was an American Hip hop music, hip hop project founded by Rapping, MC and Record producer, producer Baba Zumbi (real name Stephen Gaines) in Oakland, California. K-Genius and Amp Live were also project members. Career Originally formed ...

, and others. He left the Big Dada label in 2007, saying "there's a time when you ... acknowledge that the people either have lost faith in what you're doing or are no longer interested in what you're doing" and experimented with

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

for a period. He returned in 2010 with the album '' Special Kind of Fool'', released by Barely Breaking Even. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

described it as "a mixture of uncompromising rap and populist soulfulness, often playing side-by-side". His final album, ''A Work of Heart'', was released in 2018 on the contemporary jazz label Jazz re:freshed. In 2019, he was joined by

Blak Twang Blak Twang (born Tony Olabode in England), who also uses the pseudonyms Taipanic and Tony Rotton, is a British rapper who grew up in Deptford, Lewisham, South-East London. Blak Twang is admired for his live performances, and is also respected fo ...

and

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop gro ...

to form Kingdem, which ''The New York Times'' called a "supergroup of British rap elders".

Death

On 7 May 2020, Chijioke died in hospital, aged 47, due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

after intensive treatment for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...

. He had previously been admitted into a hospital in early April but had been moved out of the

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

on 19 April. Several memorials were painted for him in and around

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

to honour his legacy.

Discography

Albums

* '' Awkward'' ( Big Dada, 2001) * '' Upwards'' (Big Dada, 2003) * '' Closer'' (Big Dada, 2006) * '' Special Kind of Fool'' ( BBE, 2010) * ''A Work of Heart'' ( Jazz re:freshed, 2018)

EPs

* ''Kick, Snare and an Idea'' (2013) ;Collaborative EPs * ''I.A.A.D. (I Am a Don)'' by Ty & Shortee Blitz (Wayward, 1998) * ''The Kingdem EP'' by Kingdem (

, Ty and

) (2019)

Singles

* "Oh U Want More?" (2004) – UK No. 65

References

External links

* – official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ty 1972 births 2020 deaths Black British male rappers English male rappers English record producers Hip-hop record producers Rappers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Brixton English people of Nigerian descent English people of Igbo descent Igbo musicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England