T4 Choyce is an up-and-coming musical artist/producer based in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. He graduated from the Esom School of Music in February with a Bachelor’s Degree in Audio Production and Engineering, and his music reflects a wide range of influences including Afrobeats, Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul, and Funk. Inspired by music of the 70s, 80s, and early 2000s, he released his debut album, Scenic Street, earlier this year. His latest single from that album, “Mine,” features hip-hop artist XO Baby Blu3.

What does the name T4 Choyce mean to you, and how does it relate to the music you create?

This is a good question, bro, and many people have been curious and wanted to know the meaning of my name. Firstly “T4 Choyce” is a short form of “The 4th Choice.” Now here’s the story: I grew up without a father. He abandoned me when I was three, and my late Grandpa, Mr. Erisha Kazo, took me in together with another two kids he had chosen to take care of, so I was the fourth choice among the many, and he took only four of us. We got a chance of good health, education and morals. So when I reached in Form 3 in my secondary school, I wanted a stage name because I was already performing and engaging in school’s music, dance and drama duties. And since I wanted to take a name that is meaningful and relates to my life story, I decided to call myself “The 4th Choice.” But it was long. I had to cut it short, and i cut it to “T4 Choice.” But still I wanted it to be more of a name than just a word, so I went for “Choyce” instead of “Choice,” and came up with “T4 Choyce” meaning “The 4th Choice.”

What are some of your earliest memories of listening to music?

I grew Up listening to more Gospel music because my Grandpa was a gospel music teacher, and songwriter at an adventist church who taught me music solfers and a keyboard.

So he heard Tapes of great Country music pillars like Don Williams, Ken Rogers and Jimmy Katumba (RIP) who was a Ugandan, and I could lip-sync to their music.

And other memories was when I stole my uncle’s tape and found Erykah Badu, Sade, Whitney Houston,MJ ,Lauryn Hill, and R Kelly’s music ,and i was so amazed because it was my first time listening to such kinda music, and from that day I told myself that “I wanna do music close to this in future.” Hahaha. It was amazing.

When did you realize you wanted to be a musician? How did you get started?

To be honest, I wanted to be a musician at the age of six because I was already exposed to music at an early age with my Grandpa being a songwriter and a music teacher. I remember that time I was already in a school choir at my primary school, and I could dance and sing. We traveled around the country visiting many schools, primary, high schools and universities, and we used to shut down their pitches with our strong performances. I featured in every video of our primary school both as a dancer and a singer. The treatment I received around the country and the fame we got as a choir made me feel good and believe in talent, so there and then I told myself, “Maybe this is the kinda life I’ll live.”

How have you evolved as a musician since then?

I was six that time. Now I’m twenty-three, so a lot has happened along the way. I recorded my first project in high school, went on to study music, doing an amazing album, and I have lots of music in stock. I have two big projects already in my country that I have worked on as a producer, so I have evolved massively, and I smell success coming my way.

The sound of Scenic Street is incredibly slick and professional. How did studying at the Esom School of Music prepare you for the challenge of producing an album?

At first, I was a producer before using FL studio with the help of youtube tutorials, but I was an amateur. I didn’t know what i was doing at that time, and I had no money to hit professional music studios to make my music, cuz i was a student and had no job.

So immediately after my high school, I decided to join Esom to study production to fulfill my desire of being an artist/producer. My homies backed me because I had already shown them my art, which was natural. They heard what I was capable of doing , so I believed that with a bit of polish to my knowledge I could be a super producer. After graduating at Esom, I wanted to test myself on what I had been studying. So there and then produced my whole album with help from different producers around the world.

I’m always grateful to Esom because I can now mix and master, and I can make beats as well.

Are there any production or mixing tricks that you picked up over the course of your studies?

Yeah haha, a lot to be honest–both those used by pros in the game and those I learned through research, and they helped me to adapt to the industry quickly.

Beyond music, what did you learn?

Music business, music intelligence, and human nature, too, haha.

You’re both a producer and a recording artist. How do you see those roles as both similar and different? What’s the job of a producer as opposed to the job of an artist?

Similarities can be both a producer and an artist can hear the same thing or share the same knowledge or have the same taste to a particular musical sound.

Difference could be my conciousness as a producer may be diffrent and my ear is way too diffrent from an artist’s.

A producer is in for the beat making, mixing and mastering. Production may fall into all those categories.

An artist is in for the execution, nail and pull of of a track by the use of his/her vocals, emotions, lyrics, energy.

XO Baby Blu3 performs on your latest single. How did you two start working with each other?

To be honest he wasn’t my friend and I didn’t know him. I had a rapper called Trevor Shy, who happens to be a friend of mine, and I was working on his song the same time I was working on my album. When he came to pick his song, he came with Xo, and  he was a vibe–young and talented. I liked him in the first place, so he told me he’s a rapper, and I was like let’s see. I dropped a beat and he killed with a freestyle, so I was like ok do u wanna feature on my album? He couldn’t believe it. I played him a couple of demos I had lined up for an album, and he liked two tracks, “Right Now” and “Mine.” He wrote verses for each, and we nailed it.

What’s on  the horizon for you?

Hahaha! Wow… Didn’t wanna spill the beans, but it’s okay. Right now I’mm still pushing my album Scenic Street. As it’s doing good locally and on online stores like Spotify, Audiomack and more hopefully till the end of the year, I won’t release any new projects till next year. But I got a couple of singles lined up to rock next year, a couple of collabs, local and international, and I have an EP lined up for next year already. It’s done recording and producing, so a lot’s happening, and I hope to start performing on as many gigs as I can.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

You’re welcome! Thanks for having me, too!

I’m so humbled! Hope to be here next time, hahahah.

I’m proudly Ugandan, for God and My Country”

May the Lord Bless U, Marc.