Big Tobz is often a name that will appear on everyone’s social media feeds. Whether this be for his freestyle challenges or the life-threatening incident that he experienced last year. Big Tobz is becoming somewhat of a household name in the UK rap scene.
Whilst having a very successful and busy year in 2017, it’s obvious that Big Tobz had his intentions set straight as he managed to record and finalise his new eight-track EP, Still Winning which is due for release of 2nd February. This project is the follow up to his 2014 project, #Winning. The Still Winning title denoting his continuing success even though he has been through many tough situations.
We spoke to Big Tobz about his new project, the music industry and his future plans.
The Still Winning EP is dropping a week today, what can we expect from it?
“Amazing music, a lot of versatility. I feel like there’s a tune for every kind of listener in there. Melodic vibes, all that stuff. Just vibes man, I think it’s like my best music that I’ve created and I’ve done so much bangers. It’s been a year since I’ve done a project, so I thought now was the time for a project full of bangers. My fans are gonna be good for a whole year.”
So as you said, in your music you have a lot of versatility; from the greazy bars to the melodic flows. What kind of sound can we expect throughout the Still Winning EP?
“You’ll hear a bit of both. But, better melodic songs and better bars, you know what I’m tryna say? It’s more deep as well. When I’m rapping, I’m rapping a lot deeper and there’s a lot more thought been put into it.”
The only two collaborations on there are Sneakbo and Don-E, why is this?
“You know what, originally it was just going to be no collabs at all, but these tunes were bangers and I just thought, you know what, I really want these tunes on the EP so let’s just put them in there.”
Your Fire in the Booth is the first track on the EP, why did you choose to put it on the project?
“I feel like that’s one of my best freestyles and I just feel like it has a lot of meaning to it. Especially since the EP is called Still Winning, that kind of covers a lot of what I’ve been through and the reasons behind why I’m feeling stuff. It was just a good way to introduce the Still Winning EP.”
We spoke about the collaborations; a lot of people were probably expecting a collaboration with Cadet to feature on the EP. Is there anything in the works for you two?
“That’s a surprise, I know the people want something from me and Cadet but it’s like when we first done it, it was so spontaneous and it wasn’t really planned. It was just like out of nowhere kind of thing, that could happen again. Cadet is my boy, so anything could happen.”
Can we expect a Still Winning Tour?
“Yeah one of my goals this year is to tour. So, I just really want to drop this EP and obviously do well, God willing, I definitely want a tour to come from it, yeah.”
The Still Winning EP launch party is taking place on 1st February at the Ace Hotel. What can we expect?
“It’s gonna be lit man. We’re just going to be celebrating and we’re going to have fun. I’ve got some special guest performances and I’m going to be performing a few songs. It’s gonna be lit, that’s all I can say.”
How long did the EP take to make from start to finish?
“It’s crazy, because we’ve been working on this for like a year, but because a lot of last year I was touring and doing shows I wasn’t able to be in the studio as much to get everything finished. But, over the last three or four months I’ve been putting everything together. So, it’s been kinda on and off but overall about a year.”
Did you have to overcome any challenges during the process of making the Still Winning EP?
“You know what, the hardest thing was choosing the best songs, because we had twenty bangers, and we had to choose like eight bangers or eight of the best songs that I want people to hear now. That was the only challenge because making the music just came naturally.”
You recently released the Still Winning documentary, it gave a three-month insight into your life. Why did you feel the need to do this?
“I think that with my music people don’t really know me personally, I wanted to open up a lot and I thought it would be a good way to let people know, especially with the incident I’ve had, it was good to just talk about how I felt. Where I was then, where I am now and how it has affected me. I just thought it was good for the fans to see that and know what’s going on.”
In the documentary, you said that while your parents are still around you want to ‘make it’, at what point in your career would you be able to say that you’ve made it?
“You know what yeah, coming from where I’m from, it’s like obviously you want to buy your parents a big house and you want them to retire and not have to raise a finger. I just wanna be successful to the point that they feel successful too. I don’t know how big I’m aiming to get in music, I’m aiming to be the biggest, you know what I’m trying to say.”
Let’s imagine you have made it and you’re able to choose anyone to collaborate with, who would it be?
“Chris Brown and 50 Cent. With Chris Brown it would obviously be more melodic and fun, he’s just a fun artist and very wild on his tracks; his melodies and his harmonies are sick. He kind of inspires me with that. 50 is just my guy man.”
You also said in your documentary that you’re gonna stay independent until you get offered the right deal at the right time. Why do you think the industry has changed so much that labels don’t seem to be as favoured with artists now than they have done in the past?
“I just feel like we have a lot of sources meaning that we don’t need a label as much, there’s a lot of things that we can do ourselves and there’s a lot of people who’ve done that before. I think that people are listening in to our music now and buying our music now more, so we don’t really need a label that much. But, there’s certain things that they can do for us that we can’t do independently. Right now, me and my manager Junior are killing it so we’re good.”
Throughout your time in the music industry you’ve always appeared to be a very positive person when it comes to your outlook in life. How do you think that mind-set has come about?
“I’ve just been through a lot of ups and downs in my journey and I just feel like me being positive and spiritual, and always looking at the good in things rather than doing negative stuff or being bitter that’s not gonna be any good for me. Like I said, as I’m doing good in what I’m doing, I’m gonna keep doing it and I’m not gonna think about the negative stuff which wouldn’t do any good for me. I also know that I’m inspiring a lot of people and a lot of people are watching me, so I’m just here to do what I need to do.”
If you could give a word of advice to anyone, what would it be?
“Success is a journey not a destination. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
You’re notorious for doing a freestyle of challenge, how important do you think that social media is as a platform for artists?
“It’s very important, that’s why a lot of the older artists say that when it was their time they weren’t as big as now because they didn’t have the Twitter’s and the Instagram’s where everyone can see what we’re doing. It’s very important, they’re like the main platforms now.”
What can we expect from you in 2018?
“More bangers man, better bangers. Progress and development. Hopefully I’m gonna be doing a tour as well. Better music and better vibes, just everything I have been doing but on another level.”