NEW YORK (AP) — “It's ‘Tycoon’ season,'” a beaming Ty Dolla $ign, declares.
It is indeed. The inventive R&B singer has just released his fifth studio album, his first full-length solo release in five years. He chose “Tycoon” for its title because the word encompasses his current state of mind. “It’s like (being at) the top of your game," he says. “It’s like, not only have I done all the stuff you could do in artistry, (but) there’s still more to do.”
Call it confidence or swagger or showboating: The Grammy-nominated artist has a trove of multiplatinum records to his name from 2018 to the present, and recently, his controversial project with Kanye West, $, released two albums, “Vultures 1” and “Vultures 2” in 2024. They debuted at No. 1 and 2 on the Billboard 200, respectively.
“Tycoon” Time
“Tycoon” is classic Ty Dolla $ign. The album is what he's made a name for himself doing: a collection of ceaselessly catchy, NSFW R&B anthems about lust and love (both mostly lechery), stacked with A-list collaborations: Quavo,Juicy J, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Travis Scott, Chloë — the list goes on.
Also among them: Rappers Kodak Black and Ty Dolla $ign's longtime kindred spirit YG. (Ty Dolla $ign and YG have worked together for a number of years, certainly going back to 2010's “Toot It & Boot It.") For his latest album, the trio teamed up for “SMILE BODY PRETTY FACE.” It was one of the last songs to make “Tycoon,” says Ty Dolla $ign, “But when we started messing with the beat. I was like, ‘This has got to be YG.’”
There's a romantic element to the song — with some of his explicitly sexual posturing. The same can be said about the lead single to “Tycoon,” “All In,” where Ty Dolla $ign's rich baritone considers devotion to a partner. “They say love don’t cost a thing,” he swoons on the chorus. “And if it did, I’d go all in.”
“I'm always loving something,” he says. “It hasn't all the way worked out for me yet.” Love, then, is still a constant source of inspiration — enriched by the song's sample of Wayne Wonders’ 2002 reggae fusion track “No Letting Go.”
Big business and an R&B comeback
For Ty Dolla $ign, this new era means being a business “Tycoon” as well. He's taken on his fair share of industry endeavors — like launching a label, EZMNY, with Motown Records executive Shawn Barron — and experiencing immediate success with its first signing, the R&B upstart Leon Thomas. His single, “Mutt,” hit No. 11 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on its Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Thomas told AP earlier this year about working with Ty Dolla $ign: “I was around some epic legends in the field, and I feel like the best teacher is experience.”
“My goal there, with EZMNY, is to give the real artists a chance. Myself, I didn’t make it until I was 27 and I was always good. I was always making music,” Ty Dolla $ign says. “And I just wanted to reach back to people that are actually great.”
“There’s definitely going to be a comeback in R&B very soon,” he adds. “We're talking Leon specifically.”
As for what else the future holds, it still remains to be seen if the oft-rumored “Vultures 3” will be released. “There was a lot of music that was done. It could have been out at the time," Ty Dolla $ign deflects. “I feel like we made the best music that was out at the time. I feel like we went No. 1, and it was a successful project, and it was fun ... That was like a cool experience, to see that you could just do everything on your own time.”
Could the duo reunite? “Who knows what may happen in the future?" he says. "I'm open to whatever.”
For now, “It's ‘Tycoon’ time,” he says. Soon, Ty Dolla $ign will tour the album. Later down the line, his new documentary — titled “Still Free TC," 10 years after his debut album “Free TC" — will hopefully get a wider release. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year.
“Still Free TC” is about his brother, Big TC, who is currently incarcerated on a life sentence for murder — wrongfully so, according to the singer. But it also tells Ty Dolla $ign's story in intimate detail. It's about his journey to the top and the mass incarceration system that still affects his family.
“I’ve had a lot of friends and fans tell me that, like, ‘Yeah, you never show anybody for real. You never let anybody in.’ So, this is the time where I let everybody in,” he says of the film. “I just feel like the people need to see it.”
And in the meantime, they'll have “Tycoon” to dive into.
“I just want people to feel inspired after they hear it. I want them to believe in themselves after they hear it," he says. “And believe in me. I'm always going to give you the best of the best.”