Rising Stars: Meet Tottywat

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tottywat.

Hi Tottywat, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Starting from the beginning, Music has always run thru my blood since I was a kid. My father was called a “Backpack” rapper” back in the day because he would have books on books full of rhymes he was always working on. That’s pretty much where my love for music comes from. I’ve been rapping since I was a kid but it wasn’t until 2017 where I started taking music more seriously. Use to go over to my homies house & he would literally have a mic stand in the middle of his room & his laptop on his bed & we would just sit there chilling working on music all day.

I graduated high school & moved to Georgia & I think that’s where my love for music grew stronger. I ended up turning a closet that was in our family living room & turned it into a mini studio. Most of my earlier songs I released where made right in that closet with a crappy windows HP laptop & some gaming headphones.

The name “TOTTYWAT” was something my grandma always called me as a kid & as I got older, it became more of a family nickname. When I was looking for rap names, we was in the “LIL” phase & I definitely didn’t want to be a lil. Tottywat was what I was always called so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to make that my stage name too.

Promoting my music was the biggest issue being that I was still a nobody so I had to stand out. That’s when I came up with an idea to make an Instagram niche account that promotes hiphop news. Slowly as the page grew I would casually throw a promotion on the page for “Tottywat” & that’s how my social media presence started. Honestly, I did this for awhile, maybe two years but it just wasn’t enough. This is when TikTok came into the picture & I knew I had to take advantage of the newest social media platform before it was too late.

I planned out a video idea one day while I was at work and had my homeboy record me while I was working. Put text on the screen telling people I work a 9 to 5 every day & still make time to work on music (with my song playing in the background) & we posted it up on his account telling people to follow my account. That video did 5 million views overnight & that was how my TikTok was born. Ever since then, I’ve gained so much knowledge on content creation along with getting better at the craft that I love which is making music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It wasn’t always a smooth ride. Money can be your biggest enemy when trying to be an artist & in the beginning it was har to afford any equipment I needed to make music. I would record on a windows hp laptop and apple headphones sometimes. I’ve have many days where I doubted myself, had people hate on me or just didn’t see my vision. I’ve been making music for five years now & it wasn’t until the end of the 4th year where things started looking up for me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an independent recording artist & content creator. I currently Record, Mix & Master all my music still to this day from home. Most people know me from my TikTok account, where I showcase my music. I have over 2 million followers on TikTok but I’m also widely known for the music I create & how I resonate with people’s emotions. I think I’m most proud of how many people can actually relate to what I say & how many people my music has actually helped. What sets me apart from others is that I’m active with all my supporters ever since the beginning. I like to remember where I came from and how I didn’t know a lot so I use that to help people I see potential in.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I take risks every day. I’m a full-time independent artist so my biggest risk was quitting my job and doing this full-time. Other than that, I take risks like dropping music when people tell me it’s no good or I shouldn’t drop it. Most of my biggest risks played out for the better so I definitely consider myself a risk taker.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tottywat.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Tottywat/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ahf5pekfIySM3tdhwceGg
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tottywat
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tottywat