Travie McCoy: From Frontman to Solo Star

As the frontman of Gym Class Heroes, Travie McCoy is ready to make his mark as a solo artist with his debut album, Lazarus. Only a few hours away from opening up for Rihanna’s Last Girl On Earth concert in Vancouver, Travie took the time to sit down with me in the back of his cozy tour bus to talk about everything from his uplifting solo venture to his ambassador gig with MTV.

After being the frontman of Gym Class Heroes for over a decade, Travie explains the difficulty of coming into his own as a solo artist. “It was awkward being alone looking around and not having my boys around, you miss that comfort zone,” he says. “I’m still getting used to being on my own and I’m trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for me.”

However, Travie is quickly gaining confidence about what works for him. Even after Jay-Z publicly declared the death of auto tune, that didn’t stop Travie from working with hip hop heavyweight T-Pain on the track, The Manual. “I’ve looked up to him since he came out, a lot of people have been shutting him down for the whole auto tune thing but he influenced a whole generation and sound in hip hop,” emphasizes Travie.

André 3000 is another rapper that Travie looks up to. Travie reveals that for his dream collaboration, "I’d have Tricky Stewart (Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Rihanna) produce the track and have André come in and destroy the song!”

Before Travie teamed up with Gym Class Heroes drummer Matt McGinley (in gym class, fittingly), he’d always known his passion for music was more then just a frivolous dream. “I was always that kid in the mirror with the brush in my hand, wondering how I’d look on stage while working on my faces.”

From then on, Travie was determined to take a leap of faith and set his dreams is motion on full throttle. “The day I sat the band down, I said, ‘If we are going to do this, we really need to set all systems to go and take this seriously.’ From that day forward, our minds were set like, ‘OK this is what we’re going to do.’”

This optimistic attitude is evident on Lazarus, but in the beginning stages of the album, the songs dealt with some negative personal issues. Travie soon decided to stop playing the victim of his misfortune and began to deliver a more positive approach to the album. “I wanted something more upbeat and fun just for my own sanity; I didn’t want to come out as the broken-hearted boy,” he comments. “I’d rather uplift people and get them excited and give them a good time instead of having them reflect on negativity.”

With a positive spirit, Travie took time off from the band to become one of the ambassadors for MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation, which helps spread awareness of HIV and AIDS. “I got the chance to travel to Africa, India, the Philippines and it was such a life-changing experience. I came back a different dude after seeing what I saw,” he explains. “I definitely don't take the small things for granted now like running water. If I can have an impression on the younger generation to buy a certain sneaker, the least I could do is help them take life more seriously.”

Meanwhile, just like his work as an ambassador, positive and making an impression are merely a couple of ways to describe Travie and his music. So make sure to check out Lazarus, to witness for yourself Travie's confident debut as a solo artist.