Artists in Conversation: T.Ali
It’s a hot June day in Pasadena, California and I’m walking through a quiet neighborhood on the way to meet T.Ali. Born Tariq Ali, the 32 year-old music artist was raised in Baltimore after being born in The Bronx, New York. The last time we’d talked in length was a couple years back just before his performance at SOB’s in New York City. This was the second performance I’d seen of his in the city - the first being at DROM via MajorStage a few months prior. Two years later, we chat again - this time at his residence in California - as I’m in Los Angeles visiting my father for Father’s Day (who was ironically in Chicago visiting his own father).
When I approach the door of this beautiful home, it’s just him, his nephew, and his friendly dog named Moody. I wait in the living room for just a few minutes as Ali is getting freshened up after having just gotten back from the gym. I first notice the Afrocentric art on the walls, but the bookworm in me is delighted the assortment of books - from Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, and more. Ali offers a glass of water and we retreat into a back room being used as a creative space with the Mac and instruments on one side, and an assortment of fashion accessories in the other. These belong to his girlfriend who also uses the creative space.
One of the more immediate things that catch my eye are a pair speaker monitors - each with stickies containing affirmations. On the left there are two stickies - “I am aligned with success” and “Anything but death is a minor setback. Keep going!” On the right speaker sits a single post-it reading “You lack nothing, use what God gave you.” With this setup, its no wonder Ali seems to be so grounded.
LEAVING BALTIMORE
Tito: How are you? You said you’re in the most perfect space you could be in.
Ali: Yeah, honestly, I’ve never been in a better mental space. Like, I think being here, being away from the usually surroundings that I grew up in and being around the same people - I feel like being detached somewhat really helped me find myself again in a way.
T: How long have you been in LA now?
A: It’s been almost two years.
T: You’ve been in this same spot? You’ve been in this same house?
A: So yeah, we moved out here…At first I was back and forth with my mom because she lived out for a year and some change.
T: That’s dope. So you had a connection out here?
A: Right, so I was just coming back and forth from Baltimore. So really you could say I been out here for just about two and a half years actually. Just back and forth. But when we moved out here, and I was out here actually for good that was almost two years.
A: I don’t know - you moved out of the city you were born in. It’s hard to explain but you feel the could feel the change in yourself when you’re away from home, when you finally jump off the porch. I just felt –– I feel like a new person.
T: There’s so much more perspective you get when you’re in a different place and you get to see how different people do things. You get to be vulnerable.
A: Right.
T: You don’t know these people. You don’t know the area. There’s a bit of learning about yourself that you’re doing and there’s a bit of learning about the world too.
A: I came out here and I told myself, ‘cause back home, I don’t wanna say there was a mask I had on. But there’s definitely like a - you can’t really call it a mask if you’re not even aware of it in the first place - but like, back home being in the surroundings that I was in, I think I kinda assimilated to it and was a person that now I don’t really recognize or agree with. If that makes sense. Being around certain friend groups and certain influences, you start to adopt those same ideologies and I just feel like being removed from it and having time with myself, and having time with more genuine people honestly. It’s just been very cathartic and educational for me.
T: Is this your first time leaving Baltimore?
A: Yeah.
T: That’s cool. So, why LA versus anywhere else you could’ve gone? I know you said you had your mom. Is that a big reason why you moved? That made it more convenient so you did it? What was that about?
A: Honestly, I’ve been trying to get to LA my whole life. I’ve always wanted to be in this city. I’ve always loved movies, which is a part of wanting to be here. And you know, music. The opportunities in music, the people you can meet, and some of the relationships I made while I was already out here coming back and forth. Just solidified my reasoning, like why not. Just felt like a good home away from home.
TRANSITION
T: You mind if I plug my phone in?
T: This a long ass cord.
A: 10 feet. That shit was only 10 dollars on Amazon.
T: We love Amazon, but we also hate Amazon.
A: I get everything from there.
T: I’d rather Amazon than Temu.
A: Temu?
T: Are you a Temu person?
A: My girlfriend be on Temu.
T: You gotta be careful with them. They be scamming people.
A: I heard! It seems like a scamming ass website. Like, what was that other website that was selling a bunch of random shit from China? But yeah, what was the question?
T: I wanna pivot. I wanna ask, was the transition hard for you?
A: Hell yeah! We came through some shit coming out here. Financially, as far as for my roommates, finding work. It was just a learning curve.
T: So its more than just you and your girl here?
A: Yeah, it’s me, my girl, and Al [Rogers. Jr]. But yeah, it was definitely difficult on a bunch of different fronts living with multiple people at once. It was my first time not really living with one other person.
T: How has finding community been in LA? I find that one of the things that keeps me from feeling the need to be here is how sprawly it is and how things can feel so inaccessible. I love New York because you can throw a stone in the sky and it’ll fall on something that’s happening in the city. In LA it feels like there’s pockets.
A: I get that. It’s kinda like New York where like there are things going on, but you gotta be tapped in. That’s the thing about it. You gotta be tapped in with certain people to know what’s happening. I will say, going out, networking and meeting people has been a lot easier. It’s not like New York in the sense that its not a big melting pot, but it is sort of a melting pot and the people here are open-minded as most people here are creatives. Everybody’s just trying to move forward in their craft. And everybody’s trying to learn some new shit. At least that’s how I approach everything. Maybe I’ve just been blessed to meet like minded people more often than not.
T: Have you performed out here since you moved?
A: I haven’t performed yet.
T: By choice?
A: Yeah, by choice. When we first got out here I was mad depressed. Just dealing with a lot of shit emotionally and mentally that I didn’t feel confident enough to be on a stage. Writing music wasn’t necessarily helping either. I’d never been in that space before where even making music wasn’t a healing tool for me. So I took a lot of time away from music. I didn’t write. I couldn’t write.
MANIFESTATION
Sept 13 2022, Outside of SOBs before show
T: One of these days I’ma get paid to write.
A: Manifest it! It’s coming.
T: It is coming. That’s for sure.
A: Deadass. When I came out here, I had hopes of acting.
T: Acting?
A: Yeah, acting.
T: Oh okay.
A: I’m a whole paid actor now.
T: You’re an actor now?
A: Yes!
T: That’s low-key. You ain’t mention that part.
A: Yeah, I’ve been low-key about it. Cause like, that’s another thing, I’ve been holding a lot of things I do creatively close to the chest. Really just because I want to perfect everything that I’m doing before I really start to share it with the world. And I just wanna enjoy it more. Enjoy the act of just creating and being in the creative space without the visibility if that makes sense. I feel more comfortable doing that and not necessarily sharing it.
T: I get that so much. I feel like, as a photographer as an artist myself, performing this whole thing where we have to be someone else as an extra person when promoting your work. Like, damn, I just wanna create for real. I don’t wanna do all this!
A: Exactly! Like, bruh!
T: And thats why shoutout to the people who are content creators on top of their regular type work that they want to do. Promoting is a whole separate beast and having to put yourself out there.
A: I really appreciate the people who do it and maintain themselves…I think I’m enjoying learning who I really am under the moniker and it’s just - you ever spend so much time alone you don’t want anyone around anymore?
ISOLATION
T: My latest works have been about isolation.
A: I fell in love with isolation.
T: I love that you asked this question. I’m working on a volume of poetry right now, because I got back into my poetry bag and the last poem in this collection, “God help the child” - the first two lines are literally “Niggas been pissing me off. I feel like being alone.” Cause its true! Niggas been pissing me off. I’m appreciating this break now. My brother who lives in Lancaster is in Chicago so I’m not even around him. My dad’s in Rancho.
A: You got the house to yourself.
T: So, I’ve been working from home. Barely doing that. Ain’t nothing to do. Just look at the mountains.
A: Exactly and that’s feeding the spirit yo.
T: Very much so.
A: I’m telling you that isolation is feeding the spirit.
T: Isolation’s a very recalibrating.
A: And now I’m like, I don’t wanna leave. You feel me? It’s made me more accepting of myself in the sense that I’m not worried about who’s thinking what. I’m not worried about who’s staring at me. I’m just enjoying where I’m at.
MUSIC
T: You’re an actor now, but you’re also working on this new stuff. I really like that black and white video that you posted. The way that was shot and edited, but also, I feel like that was very you.
A: Yeah, honestly, I don’t even know where that song came from. I heard the beat and I wrote it in 30 minutes and just recorded it. I kept seeing people dying. Niggas just kept, I just kept hearing stories of people dying and I just lost my best friend. It made me think about Dee Dave and yeah. I just wrote whatever I was thinking at that time. It just ended up about gun violence. “He Got Wings” is mores about - it was feelers. I was kinda experimenting a lil bit. I wanted to see, one, who was watching and I wanted to put out a temperature check. What’s the feel out here? Just as far as the music I’m in the mood to make. It’s about finding that thing that makes you feel dark inside and transmuting it. It’s about embracing that dark side. And embracing everything that you are to come to a full balance. And I’ve been juggling with that concept for a couple of years.
A:It’s had four different titles. At first it was “The Man Who Learned to Fly” was a long ass title.
T: I like that.
A: I’ve been just juggling with that concept the past couple of years. And I finally feel like I’ve lived enough life to understand the idea that I had fully. If that makes sense.
T: Yeah, I mean I feel like experience can definitely lend to. Especially once you’ve sat on work a long time, and you realize how you’ve changed and how that changed alters perspective. Sometimes you have to grow with what you’ve written. Sometimes its not ready to come out yet. So you’ve been working on this for a while. So what does that make of "Planet Nevermind”?
A: “Planet Nevermind” was another experiment. I never really meant to go the full distance with it. I wanted to make some fun music. I wanted to play with my voice more. I wanted to sing more. Honestly, these past few years creatively has been me doing shit to be more comfortable with my talents. Like I said, I have dealt with a great deal of anxiety. I realized I wasn’t creating to my full potential. There are things that I can do that I just haven’t showcased. I can sing. You know.
T: You can! You did! You did with “Planet Nevermind". You did a good bit of it - especially “Ms. Juicy” the song. I felt it was very Ty Dolla Sign. If I didn’t think it was T. Ali singing this, I definitely would’ve thought it was a Ty Dolla Sign song.
A: I made that song with Ty Dolla Sign in mind. When I’m in producer mode, I’m thinking of who would sing on this. Who would rap on this. And sometimes it follows through into writer mode.
The two videos - “You Can Fly Too” and “HEAT” are essentially throwaways with videos where Ali can flex his directing skills. Outside of acting, he’s a lover of film as well - tapping in with his director Kahri Blackman who’s also from Baltimore.
T: Where do you find the time to spread yourself between acting, your regular job, and you’re still creating music. Or, are you
A: It’s sheer will! Honestly. I try to regiment myself, especially with my fitness and with my music. I prioritize it. I have to touch my instrument every day - so I’m making a beat or I’m writing a song or something.
T: You play guitar too?
A: I’m trying to teach myself. I’m not very good.
T: Oh. Ok.
A: I’m getting there. Ask me next year.
T: Maybe I’ll get paid for that article by the time that comes.
A: Maybe it’ll be on Complex or your own platform. Yeah, I gotta touch my instrument every day. As far as acting, I do auditions.
T: Damn that’s ambitious.
A: I learned a technique for memorizing scripts.
A welcome surprise, Ali shares a few songs from the upcoming project. They sound good, and even now four months later, I still feel the excitement and hope that he chooses to release them. We joke about finding a release date and how soon is too soon to set one. As it’s getting time for me to head out - I’m attending an art show opening at Band of Vice’s new location near DTLA that same day - we talk about obstacles as an artist. He pauses, very intentionally thinking about the answer. Accessibility and community has been a challenge - at least in terms of creating. Socially, it’s not a problem. “Baltimore’s got a soul that you can’t really get anywhere else.” Lastly, I ask him three words to describe where he is in life and the three words he chose couldn’t have been more appropriate - Enlightened. Peaceful. Empowered.