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Tricky

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Tricky <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Tricky1.jpg
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Adrian Thaws</td></tr><tr><td>Also known as</td><td colspan="2">Tricky Kid</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">January 27, 1968</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Knowle West, Bristol, England,</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Trip-hop</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">producer, mixer, musician</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Vocals, Keyboards, Harmonica,</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated
acts</td><td colspan="2">Massive Attack, The Wild Bunch</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">http://www.trickyonline.com/</td></tr>

For other uses, see Tricky (disambiguation).

Adrian Thaws (born January 27, 1968), better known as Tricky, is an English rapper and musician important in the trip hop and British music scene (despite loathing the "trip hop" tag). He is noted for a whispering lyrical style that is half-rapped, half-sung. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound. Culturally, Tricky bridges white and black Britain, particularly in his fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop culture.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Tricky was born in Knowle West, Bristol, England. His father left the family before he was even born and his mother, Maxine Quaye, committed suicide when he was four. He named his first solo album after her - Maxinquaye - and once said that though he hardly knew her he feels like she's speaking through him with his words.

He spent his youth with his grandmother, who often let him watch old horror movies instead of going to school. With 15 he begins to write lyrics ("I like to rock, I like to dance, I like pretty girls taking down their pants" MixMag 96), though not with the ambiguity and tricky-ness that showed up later on his albums. At 17, he spent some time in prison because he bought forged £50 notes off of a friend, who grassed Tricky up. In an interview, he says about his experiences in prison: "Prison was really good. I'm never going back." (NME 95).

Eventually he meets DJ Milo and hangs out with a sound system called The Wild Bunch, which by 1987 evolved into Massive Attack. He gets the nickname 'Tricky Kid' and at 18 he becomes a member of the Fresh 4, a rap group built from The Wild Bunch. He also raps on Massive Attack's highly acclaimed debut album Blue Lines which is released in 1992. But as soon as making music turns into a business he doesn't like it anymore. Though Tricky also appears on Massive Attack's next album, Protection, he never had the feeling of being a part of the band and never really enjoyed it.

Besides, he already had found his own way of making music. In 1991, before the release of Blue Lines, he met Martina Topley-Bird. The story of how they both met may be a myth, but it's a nice one: Martina was sitting on a wall near Tricky's house when he walked by and chatted her up. Some time later she comes to his house, and she mentions to Tricky and Mark Stewart (Bristolian producer and musician) that she sings. She is only fifteen years old, but her 'honey-coated vox' impresses them and they record a song called Aftermath (though The Face 95 mentions that the first song they recorded together was called Shoebox).

Tricky shows the song to Massive Attack, but they aren't interested. So in 1993 he decides to press a few hundreds vinyls with that song. He cut it directly off of the tape, so that the song is basically "just bassline and hiss". (NME 94). Finally, this white label gets him a contract with Island Records and he can start to record his first solo album.

Tricky's family includes a great diversity of ethnic backgrounds, including Jamaican, Spanish, British, and many others. He cites that his family is incredibly varied in appearance, one cousin white, one seemingly Asian, one very dark-skinned and looking mostly of African heritage [citation needed].

[edit] Early career

Tricky was a member of the influential 1980s Bristol sound system The Wild Bunch and contributed to the first two Massive Attack albums. As a member of the Wild Bunch he used the moniker "Tricky Kid," but this was shortened to simply "Tricky" as a member of Massive Attack.

[edit] Breakthrough

He left Massive Attack to release his debut album, Maxinquaye (named after his late mother "Maxine Quaye", allegedly reggae/soul singer Finley Quaye's half-sister). The album was a massive success and Tricky was catapulted to international fame, something he was notably uncomfortable with.

Tricky failed to complete a number of lyrics for the Massive Attack album Protection and gave the band some of the lyrics he had written for Maxinquaye instead. Different versions of the same songs appear on both albums - called "Overcome" and "Hell is 'Round the Corner" on Maxinquaye and "Karmacoma" and "Eurochild" on Protection.

Tricky found it difficult to cope with the huge success of Maxinquaye and he subsequently eschewed the laidback soul sound of the first album to create an increasingly edgy and aggressive punk tinged music.

[edit] Idiosyncrasies and media controversies

By the time Pre-Millennium Tension was released Tricky was increasingly irritated with the press, particularly articles written in The Face magazine. The Face had been an early champion of Maxinquaye, but saw Tricky as more a duo than a solo project. The Face published an article claiming that vocalist Martina Topley-Bird had to single-handedly bring up the child that Tricky had fathered.

He has also been concerned with racial stereotyping of the media. In the documentary Naked & Famous he explains how photographers want him to frown angrily in photos, because that's how black artists are marketed. He points to a recent cover of The Big Issue, where he has a more ambiguous, confused look on his face, as being more how he feels. In the song "Tricky Kid" from Pre-Millennium Tension, he writes "As long as you're humble/Let you be the king of jungle", indicating that all black music is still judged as music from "the African jungle" and that its black fans are "savages". That same lyric was also said to be a subtle dig at rival jungle king Goldie.

The documentary Naked & Famous (itself a lyric from "Tricky Kid" - "Everybody wants to be me/Everybody wants to be naked and famous") shows the history of music and instability in his family, as well as many moments such as when Tricky goes to visit his old school, but leaves a music lesson he is observing because he feels that the teacher is treating the kids like members of a backing band, rather than letting them learn by writing their own music.

In 1995 during the making of Icelandic singer Björk's album Post, the two were romantically involved. The two kept this a secret from the press, feeling the tabloids would never leave them in peace. After their relationship ended, Björk began a short lived relationship with drum and bass artist Goldie with whom Tricky famously had a fist fight at a Florida night club. He contributed writing on the Post tracks "Enjoy" and "Headphones".

[edit] Side projects and film career

Tricky has guest starred on a number of albums, including a notable appearance on Live's fifth studio album, V. This appearance came as Tricky and Live's lead singer Ed Kowalczyk had developed a close friendship, with Kowalczyk contributing vocals to 'Evolution Revolution Love', a track on Tricky's album Blowback.

Tricky has also acted in various films. He appeared in a significant supporting role in the 1997 Luc Besson film The Fifth Element, playing the right-hand man Michael to evil businessman Mr. Zorg. He reportedly put off actor Gary Oldman (who played Zorg) because, while he had his back to the camera, he was eating a Twix bar, to Oldman's anger ("He's facking eatin' a Twix!") [1]. He also appears briefly in the 2004 Olivier Assayas film Clean, playing himself, and had a large role in the musicvideo for "Parabol/Parabola" by Tool.

In 2001 Tricky was tapped to hype the online webisodal show We Deliver, [2] about a marijuana delivery service in NYC. Though he doesn't actually appear in any episodes, the commercial spins it as if he's an actual customer of the service... in reality he brought his own bud [citation needed].

After the release of Blowback, Tricky opened for Tool with the full support of his band during Tool's Lateralus Tour in 2001 and 2002. He and Hawkman, a rapper on Blowback, joined Tool on stage to perform "Opiate" and "Reflection", respectively.

[edit] Currently

Tricky's website last reports him busy at work with the musical acts signed to his Brown Punk record label. He is also recently produced several new solo works that have been featured in television programs such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The L Word and Girlfriends. As well as this Tricky contributed a track to a compilation entitled "Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited", the track is called "Au Revoir Emmanuelle". Coincidently the same compilation featured a new track from fellow 'Bristol-ians' Portishead, entitled "Requiem For Anna".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Maxinquaye
<center>(1995)
<center>#3 UK
Nearly God
<center>(1996)
<center>#10 UK
Pre-Millennium Tension
<center>(1996)
<center>#30 UK, #140 US
Angels With Dirty Faces
<center>(1998)
<center>#23 UK, #84 US
Juxtapose
<center>(1999)
<center>(with DJ Muggs and Grease)
<center>#22 UK, #182 US
Blowback
<center>(2001)
<center>#34 UK, #138 US
Vulnerable
<center>(2003)

[edit] Compilations

A Ruff Guide
<center>(2002)

[edit] Singles and EPs

Year Song UK singles Album
1994 "Ponderosa" - Maxinquaye
1995 "Aftermath" 69 Maxinquaye
1995 "Overcome" 34 Maxinquaye
1995 "Black Steel" 28 Maxinquaye
1995 "The Hell EP" (Tricky vs. Tha Gravediggaz) 12 also appears on The Crow soundtrack
1995 "Pumpkin" 26 Maxinquaye
1996 "Poems" 28 Nearly God
1996 "Grassroots EP" - -
1996 "Christiansands" 36 Pre-Millennium Tension
1997 "Tricky Kid" 28 Pre-Millennium Tension
1997 "Makes Me Wanna Die" 29 Pre-Millennium Tension
1998 "Money Greedy" / "Broken Homes" 25 Angels with Dirty Faces
1999 "For Real" 45 Juxtapose
2000 "Mission Accomplished EP" - -
2001 "Evolution Revolution Love" - Blowback
2002 "You Don't Wanna" - Blowback
2003 "Antimatter EP" - Vulnerable
2004 "How High" - Vulnerable

[edit] Collaborating artists

[edit] External links

de:Tricky es:Tricky fr:Tricky he:טריקי lt:Tricky nl:Tricky pl:Tricky

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