Lil T.O: The Hip Hop Artist Literally Set to Take Over

He went to school with XXXTentacion, grew up in the same neighbourhood as Kodak Black and was working with DrumDummie and Yung Tago way before their mainstream clients, but who is Lil T.O and what has he got to say?

A Floridian hip-hop legend, Lil T.O is a truly intuitive artist, assembling his songs from the sounds around him, his sound crosses from West Coast to East and back to the South and his base in Pompano Beach.

Drawing on his life experiences and the diverse cultures he has been surrounded by his whole life, living with his Haitian mother and moving around countless US cities, Lil T.O crafts music from backgrounds of every colour, culture and class.

As likely to tap into the sounds of The Beatles, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry as he is his old schoolmate, XXXTentacion, Lil T.O borrows remnants of other songs he has heard, writing and re-writing until he strikes gold.

A true lyricist at heart, Lil T.O’s storytelling rivals many greats; at the risk of sounding nonsensical to some at first listen, they are saturated with emotion and a deeper meaning. “There’s a story behind each bar and punchline”, he states, “I don’t like making music that isn’t about anything.”

Lil T.O’s latest single is Beautiful – literally – and shows a more upbeat side to T.O’s personality, the complications of the American dream…cars and girls, giving birth to a track which has real personality and a pure summer vibe.

Tapping into how he grew up and where he came from, Lil T.O explores a variety of topics through his music, from the more upbeat subject matter of Beautiful, to addressing his own battles with mental health, “Growing up I know I’ve always been sad, and being a guy, you can’t really wear that on your sleeve”, he explains, discussing the inspiration behind an upcoming track, “Dealing with suicidal thoughts and depression, I’d just keep everything to myself and I never knew how to express it better than writing it in music form.”

An introvert when it comes to the writing process, Lil T.O tells us he works much better when he is alone, “I have to be isolated or else the material won’t be good” – we’re looking forward to seeing what he drops post-lockdown!

Listen to Beautiful here: