Travy is supercharging the Dublin rap scene

“I like peace. London’s just hectic full stop”, says Travy, reclining on a couch in an oversized hoodie.

The rapper is enduring a trip to the English capital to do a bunch of interviews, but feels much more at home in Ireland. Born in Nigeria, at the age of six Travy moved to Tallaght, an outer suburb of Dublin, where he was sent to boarding school by his mum: ​“I remember bringing J‑rice [jollof] to school. That was my first introduction to putting Irish people on to African culture,” he says. ​“They would try it and I’d just see them running up and down like what is this? This is so crazy! That was one of the first times I thought, maybe I should show my culture more, who knows? They might really fuck with it.”

After dropping out of college in Dublin, Travy pursued acting, modelling and music. Teaming up with his best friend and fellow rapper Elzz in 2022, the pair founded Gliders, a Dublin-based clothing brand, event series and cultural collective. Travy and Elzz have since dropped two hard-hitting collaborative albums, Full Circle (2023) and Doghouse (2024), which reached No.2 and No.1 in the Irish charts respectively. But when Travy went to collect his plaque from the record label’s office, he was underwhelmed: ​“They’re not having meetings to [expand] new areas,” he says. ​“There’s like one person in these offices. Seeing that made me realise that I have to build my own industry”.

Travy attributes his confidence to his mum, a chef and business owner who was the first to introduce African cuisine to the shelves of Irish supermarket SuperValu in the form of ready meals and snacks. ​“My mum’s kind of like the way I am with music – she’s full of belief and nothing can stop her. I’ve seen where it takes her and it’s rubbed off.”

Most recently, Travy’s been working on his upcoming solo mixtape Spooky, a more personal record exploring his experiences as an immigrant in Ireland. ​“People were hearing the music in places like New York and seeing that [though I spoke English] I was coming from a completely different perspective.” The tape is dropping on the 10^th January. Don’t sleep on it.

Are you still pursuing acting as well as music?

For sure, I recently did an audition for a Snoop Dogg biopic. I got good feedback but I think they went with someone American in the end.

What’s your favourite movie?

Ratatouille. It’s such a crazy concept, like a rat teaching a human how to cook? It made me [temporarily] move to Paris.

Ideal first date?

In the crib, watching Ratatouille.

Biggest pet peeve?

Them chunky Fila shoes, I don’t really mess with those creps.

Like, love, hate?

I like snacks, I love my family, I hate those Fila chunky shoes. I hate them. I hate them.

Strangest DM you’ve ever received?

I recently met a dog trainer. He sent me a video the other day of him walking around his crib, he’s like, ​“You need to come to my house, my boy.” And as he’s recording he goes into his bedroom and he’s got guns. Like, these are not BBs. He had an AR-15, like four pistols hung up on his walls and then he showed me bullets. He was like, ​“We’ll have fun, my boy”. I was like, what is going on?!

Which three people, dead or alive, are you doing a SuperValu food shop with?

Michael Jackson, Kim Jong Un and Snoop Dogg.

Do you think you fit your star sign?

I have it in my bars: ​“Talk about star signs, Give me the ick /​Let’s talk about cash /​And I’ll talk about this.” I don’t believe in star signs [too much]. I think it’s more down to siblings so if you’re an only child, you have a certain set of traits. If you have two [siblings], you have a certain set of traits. But when someone’s telling me about Leos and how they’re natural leaders, I’m just liking what they’re saying. So I’m like, okay I fuck with it but I don’t actually believe in it.

Number one holiday destination?

Lagos. It’s like GTA, there’s no rules.

Pointless skill?

I can cross my toes — if I ever say I promise, just know I’m crossing my toes.