TeeFlii checks in with AllHipHop.com to discuss working with Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy and what's up next for his own career.
TeeFlii Tells A Story About A Studio Session With Nipsey Hussle TeeFlii Tells A Story About A Studio Session With Nipsey Hussle By : Shirley Ju/ Categories : Features/ April 30, 2020 TeeFlii has worked with some of the biggest artists, from Nipsey Hussle to 2 Chainz. TeeFLiis hit records will never get old. Songs like 24 Hours featuring 2 Chainz and This D saw much success, which included radio airplay and DJs dropping the West Coast bangers each night at the clubs. Real name Christian Jones grew up in South Central Los Angeles similar to his peers, working very closely with the likes of Nipsey Hussle and Dom Kennedy. With the former, he had the pleasure of being featured on Nipseys biggest projects to date: Keyz To The City 2 on Victory Lap and Hate It of Love It on Crenshaw. The latter, he most recently released an entire self-titled EP with TeeFLii featuring Dom Kennedy. Jones calls himself a FLii&B singer, which to a lot of people thats R&B. Born and raised in the church, his entire family was musically-inclined including his mom and grandmas. His biggest musical influences are in fact not ratchet at all, but more so gospel singers and real singers. Fast forward to 2020, hes got his eyes focused on that end prize: a Grammy. AllHipHop caught up with TeeFlii in downtown Los Angeles to discuss studio sessions with Nipsey, fatherhood, his Top 5, and more! AllHipHop: What was your experience growing up in South Central LA? TeeFLii: The normal things you hear about. Im sure theres previous stuff you cant really talk about or show. A lot of violence. I cant say the city is somewhere where you can get rich. It has its perks. Hell, I love my city though. AllHipHop: What are the perks? TeeFLii: The perks is you have to stay out of the way. Stay out of the s##t because you could either get caught up and go to jail, or end up dead. Its normal. AllHipHop: Bring us back to the days of 24 Hours and This D. What was TeeFlii like then? TeeFLii: TeeFLii was more raunchy, TeeFlii was wild. That was young TeeFlii, Im older now. My mindframe way different. Ive grown so much, this is a new version. The new version is more so having a chip on the shoulder, got something to prove. This is the prime stage in my life where everything counts. This is going to set the milestone for what I do from here on out. Its going to make a way for my kids, my family. I have 3 girls and 1 boy. I love my babies. Being a father and experiencing that elevation, its dope. They get big before your eyes so fast, its amazing. My oldest daughter is 10, shes the leader of the pack. My son thinks hes the oldest, thats Jayden. Daryl is the second oldest. Distinctive Bear, thats Jordan. All of their last names are Jones. AllHipHop: Biggest lesson youve learned in fatherhood? TeeFLii: Patience. Seeing how they develop through time growing and everything, you see so much of you in them. Sometimes its dope, sometimes youre like man what the hell? It definitely isnt easy. It starts making you think damn, I used to be like this with my pops or my moms. You just try to go from there. Any questions I have, I have a dope family man. Always there to give me answers. That love, that push is always dope. AllHipHop: Were you ready for those songs to blow up? TeeFLii: Not even going to lie, I knew 24 Hours was gon go. Because right there, I had the wave. Once I had the wave, This D was poppin. I knew This D was going to pop like underground, but it was so ratchet. Thats the dope part about it, thats still the mindframe. Thats one of the challenges, getting back to that but on the newer side. Doing something new with it. AllHipHop: Define new. TeeFLii: We just started on the new album, coming up with crazy dope ideas. Ive been working with Mars of 1500 Or Nothin, shout out to those guys over there. Been working with The Dreams producer Los, shout out those guys. My boy young Josh sending me beats, so I get beats from a lot of people. Right now, the main focus is getting the best out of this album. AllHipHop: Talk about your last project with Dom Kennedy and why you made it self-titled? TeeFLii: Its dope! When you have a chip on your shoulder, its so many things that come across your head. To be respected by your peers, so many people who came up like how youre coming up. For those guys to respect you, you have to put in the work. Thats the main thing: staying focused and getting the best out of it. We want the best, nothing less. I want to do way better than my last album, for damn sure. I know what thats going to take. People say hard work and dedication, thats for damn sure. It really takes being in there and staying on it, day in and day out. Coming in and doing your job, doing what you have to do. Not worrying about who isnt doing what. If nobodys sending me no beats, I can make my own. Ill make a beat. If nobodys helping me put together the words to a song, Im used to doing it by myself anyway. Those are things you always value the most, that makes i Read more