Tall Black Guy

Hip-hop producer Tall Black Guy specializes in a predominantly mellow and sample-based sound rich with atmosphere and musicality. Counting DJ Premier and Pete Rock as inspirations, and Questlove and BBC DJ Gilles Peterson among his admirers, the native Midwesterner has been operating since the second half of the 2000s with an array of original productions, remixes, edits, and collaborations, throughout which he has been equally adept at working with rappers, singers, and sampled voices. His full-length recordings range from 8 Miles to Moenart (2013) to Airplane Mode (2021), and include the Zo! collaboration Abstractions (also 2021).
Originally from Detroit’s east side, Tall Black Guy (Terrel Wallace) moved with his family to Chicago in the late ’80s. Toward the end of the next decade, he started beatmaking, using only rudimentary audio-editing software before he added components such as the MPC, keyboards, and plug-ins to his arsenal. He picked up his first official credits the next decade. In 2011, the year TBG relocated to the U.K., activity and notice increased with his first solo 7″ releases, issued through the Bastard Jazz and First Word labels. One of these A-sides, “Water No Enemy,” was licensed that year by Gilles Peterson for the Brownswood Bubblers Seven compilation. The first TBG album, 8 Miles to Moenart, followed on First Word in 2013. A cinematic and primarily instrumental tribute to Detroit, it featured a guest verse from Ozay Moore, one of TBG’s most frequent recording partners. Another LP for First Word, Let's Take a Trip, was out three years later with the likes of Daniel Crawford, Masego, and Moonchild added to the mix. Before the end of the 2010s, Tall Black Guy had put in smaller-scale work for other admired labels such as Ubiquity and Street Corner Music, and set up an outlet of his own, Tall Black Guy Productions.
It was through Tall Black Guy Productions that TBG issued much of his 2020-2021 output, which included Restless as We Are, an EP containing the producer’s highest concentration of socially conscious material, and the full-length Airplane Mode, a spirit-lifting affair. Trailing Airplane Mode by mere weeks in 2021 was Abstractions, on which TBG partnered with Zo! and featured artists such as Josh Milan, Omar, Elzhi, Black Milk, and BeMyFiasco. TBG had previously remixed Zo!’s “This Could Be the Night” and contributed to the multi-instrumentalist’s FourFront. ~ Andy Kellman