The measure of a legend isn’t just longevity—it’s impact. For over two decades, Ty Bru has been an unstoppable architect of the independent music scene, using his brain as much as his bars. The Asheboro native leveraged a staggering five academic degrees, including Marketing and Journalism, to become a sophisticated force in the entertainment industry. His career trajectory is pure high-adventure: from touring Europe to establishing a five-year dominion as a “living legend” in the electric pulse of Shanghai. The industry quickly took note. His 2007 debut, “On The Brink,” earned the respect of OkayPlayer and was recognized as the IMA runner-up for Hip-Hop Album of the Year. His collaborative triumph in 2016, which captured the IMA’s top Hip-Hop Album honors, saw him beat an icon in Masta Ace. A talent that stretches beyond the studio, Bru recently saw his original hip-hop hybrid stageplay, “A Night In Charlotte With Sweeney Ty,” awarded at the prestigious Golden State Film Festival in Hollywood. As he commemorates 20 years of his label, Mightier Than The Sword Records, and prepares his ninth album, Ty Bru continues to define why he is undeniably “The Way Hip Hop Should Be.”

  1. “I Said It’s Great” is an enthusiastic anthem dedicated to Appalachian State University football. Beyond team spirit, what was the deeper, personal motivation—perhaps a feeling from your student days or a memory—that finally convinced you, “It’s time to make this song?”

Ty Bru: In February of this year I found myself back on campus to film Laura Ashley Live Art speed paint App’s mascot, Yosef at a basketball game. Being back in that convocation center, standing on the court, feeling the energy of the sporting community there again really brought back a myriad of feelings and emotions. I had written for the student newspaper during my time there, so being on the court and courtside was a very familiar feeling for me, and that began me falling back in love with Appalachian State all over again. Within a few months I had a few more opportunities up there, half of them were from alumni associated, and the other half was as part of the Laura Ashley Live Art team, so when we did the baseball game, and they mentioned that Laura could pick a song for the football game, it was time for me to get in the studio and make one.

  1. You and Westtopher co-founded Mightier Than The Sword Records (MTTS) and have been long-time collaborators. How has your creative process matured over the 20 years since meeting at App State, specifically in creating the energetic sound for this track?

Ty Bru: The most impressive sign of maturity came when I reached out to Westtopher about making the music/beat for the song. I initially laid out my preferences about wanting it to be a “authentic” boom bap style hip hop feel. West had other plans and when he sent me what he made, and I’m talking about that was the very next day, I was blown away. As a leader, 20 years ago I might have felt some kind of way emotionally about it not being what I was asking for, but as soon as I heard what he made, I knew instantly it was better than the direction I wanted to go at first, and that’s why sometimes I just follow his lead with the music, because he knows what he’s doing 100% in those regards, and I know 100% what I am doing with my pen and my promotion, that’s why this relationship and friendship has lasted so long, cause time will show you so much.

  1. The single was first unveiled at the “Battle At The Rock” Spring game. Can you describe the rush of hearing your music played live in Kidd Brewer Stadium for the first time, knowing it was made for that exact audience and moment?

Ty Bru: The only nervousness I had was hoping they would pronounce Westtopher’s name right on the speakers, and that the sound would be crisp and loud. When the song came on it was a rush for certain, however I am the type of person who wears many hats, so I was trying to spot my wife and kids in the stands, and then the most focused on filming and documenting Laura Ashley Live Art as she painted, so I didn’t miss the real reason we were there, cause if it wasn’t for her, and her publicist, Pam, this wouldn’t have happened. It was all quick, 2 minutes. The rush was quick and beautiful. It was such a surprise to everyone, not many people knew the song even existed until it was played. I just did a podcast interview with former label mate, Seven Da Pantha on his show Side Barz, where he asked what the top three moments of the last 20 years of MTTS was and that was one of those moments.

  1. The goal is for the song to become a “mainstay” for tailgates and the season. As an artist who crafts original work, how does it feel to create something with the explicit purpose of becoming a cultural centerpiece for a community/school, rather than just a personal artistic statement?

Ty Bru: That’s kind of how my rise in the music industry began, I would tailor make songs for commercials, books, films and even comics. I would win contests by creating for these types of companies or my artistic friends would be like, we need a song that matches the feel, but instead of giving them one that I already made, I would make a brand new one, which nobody else was really doing at the time. When I approach songs like those, I take it very serious, I want to encompass as much as I can about what I love about the subject matter, and also what others do as well.

Laura Ashley, Westtopher, Ty Bru – photo by Jansyn Davis

  1. You mentioned the next goal is to shoot a video for “I Said It’s Great.” What is the visual concept for the video, and how will it involve the spirit of App State, the Boone environment, and your collaborator, Laura Ashley Live Art?

Ty Bru: I really want it to be on the field and in the locker room, and I really wish we could have done that by now, but there is so much that goes on behind the scenes to get that even on the list of possibilities. A ton of working components and people to talk to and to convince this needs to happen. The industry, actually all industries for that matter have really changed in the past 20 years, and AppState has grown at such a fast rate, there are many variables I didn’t anticipate, so the approach can sometimes take a long time, and others it can be immediate.

I definitely will include Laura Ashley Live Art in the process, we talk constantly about our goals and how they match and align, so once this song gets those legs that we hope it will, we will see how to make her a focal point in the process, because like I said, if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be at this point with the song.

  1. MTTS (Mightier Than The Sword Records) was founded on the night of your App State graduation in a booth at Macado’s, born from the necessity of a European tour. Looking back, how pivotal was that initial ‘necessity’ and ‘college dream’ in forging the label’s ethos and its incredibly broad mission across music, film, fashion, and events?

Ty Bru: It showed me fairly quickly how with some encouragement and trust, how someone can make something out of literally nothing. It wasn’t like we were trying to fake the funk or lie about anything, we just needed a label to be behind me for that tour, I mean the releases we put out up until that point were all under the group SCAN FAM, and not really a label, and it was the epitome of independent. Honestly, I thought it would be merely nothing more than a name, a makeshift logo and after the tour, it disappear while I chased a “real job” as an expatriate and businessman in China.

  1. The celebratory 20th Anniversary Grand Finale will premiere your short film, “7eventh 7irkle.” Given your concurrent rise in filmmaking, how do your hip-hop sensibilities inform your approach to visual storytelling in projects like this and “A Night In Charlotte With Sweeney Ty”?

Ty Bru: That goes hand in hand, is a musical marriage of sorts. I’m so fortunate that I had the opportunity to watch first hand the early days of Westtopher’s production journey and how he made beats and also recording. I learned so much from those days and also from my college room mate, Derrick Holder and one of West’s roommates, Dric, who was also a part of Scan Fam. If I wouldn’t have really observed how to compose music from those three artists, I couldn’t have sat down and have the control of those films like I do, that house the type of impact I need from those. Even though not hip-hop, Rob Zombie and John Carpenter really showed me that you can do both of these to create the vision you want on the screen. And with ‘A Night In Charlotte With Sweeney Ty’ that was a straight up experimental journey blending that “authentic” hip hop I mentioned before with the elements of the Tim Burton film and the Stageplay, so hip hop played a much bigger role with making that, then it did in ‘7eventh 7irkle’

  1. The collaborative album The Dopest MC’s with Tenacious beat Masta Ace for Hip Hop Album Of The Year at the 15th IMAs. What did that moment, winning over a hip-hop pioneer, validate about the independent, global vision of the MTTS platform?

Ty Bru:  That was so important because it came during a low point in both the label’s life and my personal life. A lot of trauma was inflicted around 2015, it severely impacted the label in such an uncontrollable way, that one of those ways to combat it was to finally put out that album with Tenacious that we had been working on for so long and was already finished for a few years. My wife and I were getting stronger as a married couple, but we were grasping at straws trying to pick up the pieces of the label which has decayed in various ways during my time as an expatriate. Linking up with another labelmate, Hawkface on a makeshift studio session, we recorded ‘Them Boys’ with him and that was enough fuel to be the cherry on top of the album and get it out there. The biggest thing we learned from that was once again, we have the product, the talent and the drive to excel and that sometimes, when most things fall apart, you have the opportunity to pick up which pieces you want back and you can put a whole different puzzle together.

  1. MTTS has released over 100 albums, supported 50+ artists, and produced 2,000+ live shows. What is the single most surprising or unexpected artistic collaboration that came out of the MTTS umbrella over the past two decades?

Ty Bru: Linking up with Richard Elfman and becoming a good friend of his and his wife Anastasia. That also goes hand in hand with being a program director,  founding and establishing my hometown’s very first International Film Festival in 2024, because that’s essentially how I began talking with them from their work on ‘Bloody Bridget’. I’m still taken back by how much I’ve learned from them in the last year or two. Along with the obvious world wide perception of him being the “King Of Cult” with ‘Forbidden Zone’ I’ve always thought of Richard as a musical, directing and writing genius and when he and Anastasia both work together it’s dynamite.

Westtopher, Ty Bru – photo by Megan Brueilly

  1. The label is running a “MIGHTY MONDAY” campaign for the final quarter of the anniversary year. How do you maintain the quality and consistency of monthly single releases while also juggling all the other anniversary events and working on your ninth solo album?

Ty Bru: It’s hard, sometimes nearly impossible, but teamwork is key and as much balance and presence at home as possible, with two sons and a wonderful wife, I gotta take being with them seriously. It’s cliché, but it does make the dreamwork. As a label we have been meeting on some capacity every Monday as well, so that’s when we write, we pick out concepts, beats, etc. or record. I’ve also been getting my hands on some pretty powerful features when I’m taking trips to L.A./Hollywood for my filmmaking endeavors. I am always comparing myself to a squirrel because I save almost everything when it comes to music, I found out early on that technology isn’t always the most reliable and stable, so when Westtopher, Dric and Derrick were making beats, even back in 2002, I would rip the CDs and save the files in various forms of back ups, that way we have more than enough to choose from when it comes to creating. I’m actually working on my 9-12th albums, all at the same time, as well as a follow up album with Tenacious and a follow up Brown Bag album with Ed E. Ruger, so it’s always a balancing act.

  1. You hold five degrees (International Business, Communication, Marketing, Journalism, Management) from Appalachian State. How did you consciously translate the knowledge from those specific fields into practical, successful maneuvers in the independent music and entertainment world?

Ty Bru: It took a while, but I eventually cracked the code to that. Graduating in 2005, I started working immediately in China, right outside of Shanghai, I realized most of what I learned and those degrees I had didn’t really translate at all to the day to day work life. Of course at that point, I began to feel like it was all a waste of time, and I really felt like that for years, until I realized I was using all that education to conduct business as MTTS. Nonetheless though many things have changed since my time as a student, some of my learnings are completely obsolete.

  1. Your debut solo album, “On The Brink” (2007), was an Independent Music Awards runner-up. What did that early recognition—catching the ear of outlets like OkayPlayer—teach you about the global potential of your sound and the importance of independent awards?

Ty Bru: At that point I was way too arrogant, with the IMA’s and at that time in my life, I felt like I deserved that and that I should have won. There was an unsafe level of competition that I held, but I was also 26 years old too. When I heard OkayPlayer representatives wanted to meet and talk, I was like “of course they do” and that just was the wrong outlook. Hindsight shows me I didn’t deserve that chance, but also it could have turned into a sour deal or even turn me into a different person and artist all together. I do think about that a lot like what could have been, but I refuse to ever let that consume me. They did end up reviewing the album and comparing me to LL Cool J and Brother Ali, which his high praise in my book. Also when mentioning the IMA’s it absolutely taught me the importance of awards in any capacity. As human’s we thrive off acknowledgement, acceptance, recognition and understanding. It’s complex and for me at least it’s not a self centered type of thing, it just gives me motivation to go create more, and also it brings the art to a whole new demographic that wouldn’t have been familiar with it prior to that. When it came to performances, tours and shows, I most certainly got the best paid opportunities from being in the IMA’s on that level.

  1. You performed all over the world, including a five-year stint as a mainstay in Shanghai, China. How did that unique international experience—sharing the stage with artists from Linkin Park to Avril Lavigne—inform your evolution as a performer and your understanding of hip-hop’s global appeal?

Ty Bru: those were some really hectic, non stop days and nights. Some days I was performing four times in four different cities. There came a certain point were most of it all blended together and it seems like one long night. It was easy to get numb in those situations or to be so caught up into things that you don’t really understand the magnitude of what was going on at the time. It honestly didn’t help me evolve as much as I wish it would have, I mean I did have some incredible conversations with so many artists and performers that inspired me during my journey, it just didn’t help me evolve as a performer as much as it helped me evolve into a person and not realizing that until much later in life. Being around people that millions of fans love and being able to be a part of their journey for a quick second hits differently now than it actually did in the moment. One in particular has been kind of haunting me for a few months. It’s when I had the opportunity to perform at a random place in Shanghai the same night as Bob Dylan. I was able to speak to him, briefly and I couldn’t really make out much of what he said, except when he said “brown eyed one” I couldn’t really tell if he was trying to give me advice or not, or if he was trying to tell me to get my ass on stage, but in 2011 I was a jack ass, but I also wasn’t drinking at that point in time and I thought he was just washed up and irrelevant. I mean to my defense, that was a weird time with music of any genre. Rappers over 30 were already stigmatized and that’s the mentality I had on that night. It’s ironic because four short years earlier I had an artistic enlightenment period and Bob Dylan was in the middle of that. I regret that night, which is a rarity, I usually come to peace with things like that more, but this one, especially with the release of the biopic earlier this year, it’s been with me pretty heavy.

  1. Your performances are described as “unforgettable, energetic and original up close and personal.” What is the philosophy or technique behind creating that unique energy, especially when sharing a bill with legends like Chuck D, Method Man & Redman, or Andre 3000?

Ty Bru: Now at 45 years old, I feel like some of that no longer applies lmao! It’s hard to get that same energy now, but when I do perform I make sure I dive deep into my younger self and pull that out, I don’t perform at all as much as I used to, maybe a few times a year since the pandemic. However at the peak of my energetic performances I would walk around the crowd, throw water from the stage, make eye contact, interact and even put together a tailor made set for each venue. It was fun, because at the core of it, the art of being an emcee/ M.C. is to control the mic and control the crowd, and I knew that if I was going to be allowed into this culture, I had to bring it “authentic” I know there’s that word again, but that’s what I strive for.

Ty Bru

  1. Your hip-hop hybrid stage play, “A Night In Charlotte With Sweeney Ty,” was an award winner at the Golden State Film Festival in Hollywood. What was the core inspiration for blending the musical and theatrical formats in this specific way?

Ty Bru: That was a long time coming! The night we filmed that was also around that same time period as winning the album of the year with Tenacious. It was a project I had already released as an EP, but only on myspace, in 2008, so the core inspiration was to actually match visuals after all that time with my ‘Sweeney Ty’ project. I approached that as an actual play and did some casting and rehearsed and got this finished product that really helped propel my filmmaking career to a level I could have never imagined. In 2023 I was in L.A./Hollywood eight times following that premiere. The core inspiration for recording the songs for this back in 2007 was what I mentioned above about my “artistic enlightenment” falling in love with the Tim Burton film was critical for my evolution as an artist. I never liked musicals and was often turned off by them, no interest, until I went to Regal Grande at Friendly in Greensboro North Carolina on a snowy night in December. I was hooked and wanted to blend it all together with my own flair.

  1. Returning to North Carolina, you’re referred to as a “living legend.” How does the weight of that title affect your current work, and how do you define your role within the NC music scene today, especially alongside the Iconoclast Crew powerhouses?

Ty Bru: I earned that for sure and wear it proudly, there are a lot of “imposture syndrome” type feelings when it comes to some of my individual art pieces, but when it comes to the leading role, what I have accomplished all together, the impact I have and legendary status, I own that 100%. I bring my city first of it’s kind type art, entertainment and event. I was the first in my city to do hip hop at the level that I did and as consistent, constant or on the international scale that I have. With that said it only made sense to team up with Iconoclast powerhouses, Ed E. Ruger and Jon Jackson early on in my professional career, back in 2007. If it wasn’t for them and the help of Phille Phr3sh and Stitchy C, that legendary status could have easily been halted.

  1. You founded Asheboro’s first-ever International Film Festival. How does this commitment to bridging the “artistic void” in your hometown complement or contrast with your work in music, and what do you hope its long-term legacy will be?

Ty Bru: It does a little bit of both; it contrasts because I knew early on that Asheboro wasn’t quite ready for the type of music I do. There’s really not a music scene here, that’s why I go to other cities and sometimes other countries to tap into that potential, because it’s not here. In realizing this, that helped me figure out different types of events that was more welcoming to our community while bringing that culture to our city that it so desperately needs. Where it compliments is that audiences here in Asheboro are more comfortable sitting down and watching a hip hop music video versus a hip hop show/performance. I wish it was different, but that’s the reality, so that’s how the film festival can play a role into getting that art into the eyes of our community. That long term legacy would be when Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival becomes of the top 10 festivals in the south, which I know we are capable of doing, and within five years I hope to transition all things MTTS to the festival alone.

  1. You’ve released music with a vast array of high-profile artists, from Snoop Dogg and Jadakiss to Stat Quo and Sadat X. Is there a collaboration you’re particularly proud of, and how do you manage to secure features with such diverse, respected names?

Ty Bru: ‘No Suckaz Allowed’ with Ed E. Ruger and Sadat X is that top tier song for me. It’s one of the verses I feel like is perfect and just running off the high that I get every time I hear it is an incredible feeling. We met Sadat X at one of our shows and talked about getting work done together, thankfully Ruger has always been great on the follow up and follow throughs and got it done. When it comes to recently, I’ve been working with producers and music reps in L.A. when I go and get features secured that way, there’s incredible resources out there and I got a sponsor that helps meet those types of financial decisions, so once again teamwork making that dream work.

  1. You are currently working on your ninth solo studio album, continuing to prove you are “The Way Hip Hop Should Be.” What themes, sounds, or concepts are you exploring on this new record to further that statement?

Ty Bru: This one will be an extension of the ‘Triple Bypass’ series, and a direct compliment to my sophomore album, ‘Heart Core Hip Hop’ which has always been my crowning achievement in music, or at least I think so and many agree. I wanted to help recreate that theme and concept again in an older Ty Bru. I was fortunate to be a part of the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop in the Bronx in 2023, a photo of me and that album was shown on the wall of their make shift museum during that celebration, I was also a part of the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem that same weekend, where they showed some of my music videos, so that set the tone of what I wanted to pull from when it comes to “Heart Core Hip Hop 2’

  1. You have consistently topped the Our Stage and Reverbnation Charts both while in China and back in NC. What is the key to maintaining such a high level of chart consistency and listener engagement over two decades in the fiercely competitive independent scene?

Ty Bru: Perseverance, but also knowing when it’s time to give up on some things. Many people live by the code of never giving up or working hard and sleeping less, to me that doesn’t work and it’s not logical and it’s never been safe. Keeping tabs on my progression and revisiting ideas and goals that I’ve written down is critical. Reminding myself the worth of who I am and who I represent and what I create is a mantra, that and also understanding the reality of how competitive the scene is but not being scared or shook by that, just put it out in the world, if it’s done, release it.

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