Tony Hamlet AKA "Tony D" Interview (2022): The Halcyon Show
8My interview with Tony Hamlet AKA "Tony D".
A man synonymous with, and a cornerstone of, the battle rap scene in both the freestyle and written eras, he is also a musician, a podcaster, an actor, a writer, he has performed across the world for numerous promotions such as Don't Flop, Premier Battles, King of the Dot, No Loose Chat, BOTB just to name a few over a career spanning 30 years.
Tony D is considered a veteran in both the British rap battling scene and the UK underground hip-hop scene. He was a founding member of the group Poisonous Poets. The group also consisted of Lowkey, Doc Brown, Reveal, Stylah, Therapist and DJ Snips. He started his written battling career in April 2011 against Micky Worthless however, he is known to have a background in freestyle battling. Tony D started to gain a lot of recognition as a battler after beating Adam The Rapper, Suus, Illmaculate and Arkaic. After this he was given the title shot against Don't Flops first ever Champion, Oshea in a battle that is widely considered one of the best in Don't Flop history. He went on to successfully defend his title against Deffinition in February 2013 and Chris Leese in November 2013, becoming the first battler in the world to successfully defend a championship title twice, and after successfully defending his title for a third time against Don't Flop battler Unanymous he conceded the title.
He has led an immensely successful career, and still continues to pursue battles, music projects and projects relating to his passions of education, social activism, sport and music. We discuss his career, his aspirations, his outlook and Steven Segal...oh yeah, we go there!!!
00:00 Intro
02:25 "The Advanced Rhyming Dictionary"
03:07 His views on learning to perform Rap
08:44 Experience vs Knowledge
10:06 Tony's performing style and nerves
18:26 Dealing with mistakes and pressure
26:24 What does he see as his future as a performer?
40:01 How Battle Rap has evolved from 2012 to 2022
51:22 How does battle rap evolve awareness?
01:07:18 How brands benefit and suffer from being synonymous
01:09:43 Meet or Don't Meet your heroes
01:13:56 Steven Seagal banter
01:22:40 Happy Days and Chappelle's Show
01:25:00 Racism and progress
01:26:23 Writing style
01:29:53 Where "Uncle" comes from
01:34:54 His Fandom of Tottenham Hotspur
01:39:02 Football Banter
02:00:13 General Banter
02:03:42 Tony D has never seen "Star Wars"
02:14:44 What does he want to be known for?
02:25:15 Tony reckons I'm alright
02:28:35 Where to find Tony D online and plugs
02:31:02 I pitch me as his hype man
02:31:28 We talk body image
02:39:44 More General banter
02:44:18 Outro
#tonyd #BattleRap #TheHalcyonShow #premierbattles
https://twitter.com/tonydpoison
https://www.lbbonline.com/news/short-film-featuring-rapper-tony-d-is-an-unabashed-examination-of-british-blackness
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/the-parent-rap
https://versetracker.com/rapper/tony-d
Tony D is on all good social media sites typically under the handle of @tonydpoison and is available on Spotify, the BBC, and YouTube. Check out his podcast https://twitter.com/lovetheshirt.