The Pixies. Rakim. Kate Bush. Vybz Kartel. That's the sort of playlist you might hear on Tricky's tour bus. He's not particularly bothered about whether those artists belong together. He listens to what he likes. And when High Times asked him about cannabis, he made another thing clear: these days, hash is his preference. Music on the road, something to smoke and nobody telling him what genre he's supposed to be. Sounds like Tricky has his travelling arrangements sorted.
Cannabis goes back a long way for the Bristol musician. He remembers smoking joints with his Jamaican father when he was growing up. It felt like such an ordinary part of family life that Britain's cannabis laws barely crossed his mind. He traces his own experience back to his mid-teens. But he doesn't pretend every type of weed works for him. Some strains, he says, bring up feelings connected to a difficult childhood. He knows what he prefers and what he'd rather leave alone.
His approach to making records is just as particular. The people handling radio promotion didn't think 'Out of Place' would work as a single. There wasn't even a chorus. Tricky released it anyway, and BBC Radio 6 Music put it on its A-list. Meanwhile, another track, 'Piano', needed weeks of changes before it worked onstage. He took it out of the live set, worked on it and brought it back. And people still ask why his music doesn't fit neatly under trip-hop. Perhaps somebody should try telling his playlist.
