Proudly admitting to having just woken on the tour bus after a Nando’s dinner, it takes Ty Dolla $ign’s bleary-eyed DJ Dre Sinatra all of a few seconds to extinguish hip-hop’s illusory glamour. The LA singer-rapper-producer, when he eventually appears, swigging from a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, looks Instagram perfect in his shades and designer coat. But there’s a workmanlike essence about the resultant show, which – lots of Auto-Tune heavy vocals and one random slap-bass solo notwithstanding – feels like little more than a glorified club PA.
Real name Tyrone William Griffin Jr, Ty has built a reputation as a pre-eminent hooksmith, having scored a tertiary co-writing credit with a Beatle on Rihanna, Kanye and McCartney’s FourFiveSeconds and collaborations with artists including the Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar and Charli XCX. Bazillions of digital streams have flowed, but such are modern music business economics, the vast wealth about which he brags seems to be drawn as much from conspicuous product placement as it is record sales. Certainly European tour receipts aren’t putting the dolla in Ty Dolla $ign, if this half-full venue is any measure. And yet few of his young fans will leave feeling short-changed, after bouncing with their idol to abridged playbacks of clubby fare such as Familiar, Wood and Leather (featuring that random bass solo), Paranoid and Wavy.
Ever the charmer, Ty at one point entreats everyone who hasn’t got an STD to wave their phones, before stripping down to his sculpted and tattooed torso – he’s shy like this – and loudly pondering “after the show can we get some pussy?” before graphically oversharing sexual exploits in the club, bedroom and on the kitchen table on Or Nah. The prodigiously blunted Blasé heralds the most stage-managed stage dive ever, after the track is cued up thrice to get everyone in position, cameraman included, before Ty eventually launches himself on to a tightly herded throng. Moments later, he’s at the merch table, posing for selfies, more dollars earned.
• At Tramshed, Cardiff, 5 April; O2 Institute, Birmingham, 6 April (supporting Krept and Kronan); O2 Academy and House of Smith, Newcastle upon Tyne, 7 April. Tour details here.
