Ty Dolla $ign Breaks Down The Meaning Behind Each Song On 'Free TC'

For Ty Dolla $ign, his new debut solo album Free TC is more than just great music. Recorded in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and showcasing a star-studded list of features, the new album is also about his brother, Big TC, who he is hoping will be freed from jail through the success of this album.

The rapper recently told iHeartRadio of Free TC and what the LP means to him, "I named it that because my little brother's name is TC. He's locked up right now for something that he didn't do. So what I'm doing with the album is not only giving the people great music, but raising awareness for racial and social injustice in our country, mass incarceration in our country. And also taking the money from the project and putting it back in my brother's case to give him another chance of a life." 

Ty Dolla $ign also broke down the meaning behind each song on Free TC. Read on below.

Track 1: "LA" Featuring Kendrick Lamar, Brandy and James Fauntleroy

"I actually did the 'LA' song here in New York. I was at this studio called Platinum Sound, and Kendrick was around the corner. I went over there and played it for him. After I did my verse, we went back to LA, and James hopped on it, Battle-Cat hopped on the turn tables and scratched on it. It's produced by myself, D-Mile and Chords. Benjamin Wright did the strings on there, alongside Peter Lee Johnson. I'm excited for you all to hear it."

Track 2: "Saved" Featuring E-40"

I did that in the living room of my old crib in Hollywood. Me and Bobby Bracken was just vibing, Mustard did the beat on there. We just went in there and 25 minutes came up with a crazy little song. It was definitely inspired from an E-40 "Captain Save A Ho" song from back in the day."

Track 3: "Straight Up" Featuring Jagged Edge

"'Straight Up' is one of my favorite songs. It used to be the last song on the album, and it was about to get taken off of the album because there's a sample in it of Patrice Rushen's 'Settle For My Love,' and Pop Wansel did the beat with his homie Flip. We did it in Philly. When it was time to get the sample cleared, Patrice Rushen heard the song, and she didn't [like that] I was cussing to much. I had all respect for Patrice, so I cleaned it up, and now there's no curse words in the song, and they cleared it. I played the whole album for Kanye, and he was like, 'Yo, this is not the last song, this needs to come up.' So now it's the third song."

Track 4: "Solid" Featuring BabyFace

"'Solid' is kind of different for design. It's all acoustic. BabyFace played the guitar and did some backgrounds. I sung everything. It was straight off the top of my head, and we'll put out some footage on that soon."

Track 5: "Horses in the Stable"

"'Horses in the Stable' is another one of my favorite songs. You know how they say like a woman is like a stallion, that just means she's beautiful and fit, perfect, a 'Prize.' So that's what it's about. It's really about my home girl Tish Hymen. It's another one of those guitar songs where I'm just going off with the vocals, so can't wait for you all to hear that."

Track 6: "Know Ya" Featuring Trey Songz

"We did that on the back of my tour bus. We were just vibing in the back, Metro booming on the beat alongside Spinz. When I took it back to LA, I had to get the hombre Trey Songz involved, and he killed."

Track 7: "Credit" Featuring Sevyn Streeter

"It's just talking about how you could be in a relationship with somebody, and they forget about all the good things you do. Because of one or two bad things, or maybe even three, just give some credit, you feel me. Don't forget."

Track 8: "Miracle/Wherever" Featuring Big TC and D-Loc

"'Miracle' is actually my favorite song of the whole album. It features my brother TC and D-Loc, his cellmate. They came up with this song originally just in his cell. The drums come from D-Loc beating on the bed, and my brother's just singing. And D-Loc does a second verse, while beating on the bed, there's no metronome, it's all live. We just played around it, and it's the best song, it's the most emotional, it's the [most real] song."

Track 9: "Guard Down" Featuring Kanye West and Diddy

"'Guard Down' was also here in New York. Shout out to Kanye, and Diddy came through in LA and did his part. It's more of an inspirational song for my young sisters and young brothers out there. Just keep on doing your thing and don't let your guard down."

Track 10: "Sitting Pretty" Featuring Wiz Khalifa

"'Sitting Pretty' man, everything around me is sitting pretty. From the car, to the females, everything we do. Wiz came through and killed it. Benny Blanco on the production, we did that in his living room, and he didn't wear shoes the whole time, shout out to Benny Blanco, hello!"

Track 11: "When I see Ya" featuring Fetty Wap

"'We dropped that, the video's clean, everybody loves it. Shout out to Fetty. We did that in LA. It was originally from Fetty's album, but I was like, 'Bro, I need this for my album.' His album did well, and may he heal up soon."

Track 12: "Blasé" Featuring Future and Rae Sremmurd

"Blasé, blasé, blasé. Yo, biggest hit in the street. Shout out to IRN and everybody who made that happen."

Track 13: "Only Right" Featuring YG, Joe Moses and TeeCee4800

"Another one of my favorite songs, and another song we did on the back of the tour bus. When we started, it was just us in the back of my crib, just making songs. But YG took off, Mustard took off, I took off, so of course to be in one place is the hardest thing to do, so we had to get together. And I think it was in North Carolina, we all ended up on the same show. I called everybody on the back of the bus, we did the song in 25 minutes."

Track 14: "Bring It Out Of Me"

"'Bring It Out Of Me' is another different song for me. I was in the studio with Stargate, and they were just going through a whole bunch of beats, and 'Bring It Out Of Me' was not something they were trying to play for me. I think they wanted it to be for Rhianna, or somebody huge. I'm like, 'Yo, go back to that beat.' They're like, 'No we're giving [that to someone else].' I'm like, 'No, let me hear that beat!' And I came up with this song in 25 minutes. It's probably the most up-beat song on the album, and it's definitely going to be a party."

Track 15: "Actress" Featuring R. Kelly

"'Actress' is legend. I got the legend R. Kelly on there. My mom always wanted me to work with R. Kelly, and we made it happen, mom! Let's get it. I'm also on Kels's album, so I'm excited for that."

Track 16: "Finale" Featuring Sa-Ra and PJ 

"This is another one of my favorite songs. It's super musical. People probably wouldn't expect that I could get down on something like this, but I had to call the homies in. Back in like 2006/2007 when I first met Kanye, it was through Sa-Ra Creative Partners. This stuff that you guys sing that's come out, but you just didn't know. It's like some behind the scenes dude, so they came through for me and killed it."

Photos: Katherine Tyler