From the UK rapper’s A Work of Heart LP comes a song exploring a phenomenon that’s uprooting scores of communities
This video is about the gentrification of Brixton, although Ty could just as easily have been rapping about Brooklyn, New York or East Palo Alto, California. Those areas, like the south London enclave, have witnessed generations of working-class folk being priced out of homes by an influx of wealthier newcomers.
In the case of Brixton, the very energy and multiculturalism that Ty celebrates in this song adds to the area’s allure; it’s why accountants and lawyers are flocking there. But, as the rapper alludes to, once gentrification is complete the vibrancy these well-heeled invaders crave will vanish too. Without heterogeneity, Brixton’s dynamism dies.
Brixton Baby is the debut song from Ty’s LP, A Work of Heart, which came out in March 2018 on the Jazz Re:freshed label. Below is the video for Eyes Open, another track from the album that features the silky vocals of Deborah Jordan.
1. WorKINGTro
2. Eyes Open ft. OG ROOTZ (formerly Durrty Goodz) & Deborah Jordan
3. Somehow Somewhere Someway ft. Umar Bin Hassan (of The Last Poets)
4. Brixton Baby ft. Mpho
5. Work Of Heart
6. Marathon ft. Ladonna Harley-Peters
7. No Place To Run ft. Julie Dexter & Jason Yarde
8. You Gave Me ft. Lasharvu
9. Harpers Revenge! ft. Phillip Harper & Wayne Francis
10. Folks Say People Say
11. World Of Flaws ft. John Robinson
12. Raindrops
13. The Raspberry ft. N’fa Jones & Remi
14. As The Smoke Clears ft. Randolph Matthews & Malik MD7 (Produced by Tall Black Guy)