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 Awkward may refer to: * Awkwardness or embarrassment, an emotional state of intense discomfort with people * ''Awkward'' (TV series), an American teen comedy series * ''Awkward'' (album), a 2001 album by Ty * ''Awkward'', a 1999 graphic novel by ...

'' (2001), '' Upwards'' (2004), '' 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 prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. 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 succes ...

and

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

Early life

Benedict Okwuchukwu Godwin Chijioke was born in London into an

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

family from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. 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 nineties, 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, ''

'', was released on the

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and play ...

imprint 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 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. ''Upwards'' was nominated for a

in 2004, only to lose to

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

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

Speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American hip-hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, '' Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released EP ''BB Queen'' in 2000. She ...

Zion I Zion I was an American hip hop project founded by MC and producer Baba Zumbi (real name Stephen Gaines) in Oakland, California. K-Genius and Amp Live were also project members. Career Originally formed as a group, Zion I released the debut s ...

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

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

Barely Breaking Even Barely Breaking Even (BBE) is a British record label started by two DJs, Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. The name BBE comes from The Universal Robot Band's 1982 track "Barely Breaking Even". It has two sublabels: Deep Funk, and Urban Theory. B ...

. The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Career

Death

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

References

External links