Bryson Tiller

Home to the Cardinals, Wildcats and the annual derby, Kentucky isn’t the quintessential hub for R&B and hip-hop talent. Yet, 22-year-old singer/songwriter/rapper, Bryson Tiller, has emerged from the streets of Louisville with his own brand of street soul that musically blends the urgency of trap music with the smoother sound of alternative R&B. Reared on the slow jams of 112, Dru Hill, Chris Brown and Omarion, Tiller realized his talent as a teen, serenading his female classmates and eventually creating his first recordings at a friend’s makeshift studio.

His messages on wax don’t require rocket science to understand. Whether creating a scarecrow for gold diggers with the Street Fighter-sampled “Sorry Not Sorry” or talking that talk in bars on “Don’t Worry / Molly,” Tiller’s narratives are transparent and highly relevant for young Millennials on a mission in either life or love. Throw in 808s and Tiller will deliver what he calls “trap soul.”

On October 9, 2014, Tiller released his biggest track to date, a self-reflective slow burner entitled “Don’t,” which has garnered over 22 million listens on SoundCloud, an Instagram shout out from super-producer Timbaland and a direct message on Twitter from Drake, one of Tiller’s biggest musical influences. Self-recorded and mixed in his modest Louisville living room studio, the online success of “Don’t” came as a surprise to the young artist and indirectly confirmed Tiller’s life goals: make music that resonates.