Post your questions for Tricky
One of the landmark albums of the 1990s is getting the deluxe reissue treatment soon: the claustrophobic but freewheeling Maxinquaye by Tricky. Before its return on 13 October, Tricky will answer your questions about it and anything else in his career – post them in the comments below.
Born Adrian Thaws in Bristol, Tricky was immediately surrounded by music: his father ran one of the first sound systems in the city. His mother died when he was only four years old, and he combined her first name and surname to form Maxinquaye’s album title. The reissue’s cover carries a recently discovered picture of mother and son: the only known photograph of them together.
Tricky knocked about with gangs and was briefly jailed for trading in fake currency, but he also began rapping and fell in with the Bristolian sound system the Wild Bunch. Its members featured the coalescing Massive Attack, of which Tricky would soon be a part, rapping on their debut album Blue Lines’s title track, Five Man Army and Daydreaming.
He then secured a deal for his 1995 debut album Maxinquaye, made in collaboration with his girlfriend at the time, the singer Martina TopleyBird. It is often remembered as “triphop” but that doesn’t remotely cover the scope of this remarkable album, rooted in hip-hop pulses and sampling but also dub, punk, soul, folk and a sound-bed thick with noise and clatter. It is still one of the most sonically striking records to reach the UK Top 3. The reissued version expands it with “reincarnations” – reworked and newly recorded versions of six of its tracks – plus live sessions and other mixes, running to 49 tracks on the digital release (there are also three LP, two CD and single LP versions).
Tricky’s music career has gone well beyond Maxinquaye though, encompassing over a dozen more studio albums, among them the excellent recent project Lonely Guest. His collaborators have included Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Björk, Alanis Morissette, PJ Harvey and more, and he has covered material by everyone from Eric B & Rakim to Kylie Minogue. He has also acted, starring in projects such as Luc Besson’s sci-fi feature The Fifth Element, and Tool’s Parabol/Parabola music video.
It’s a rich creative life to look back on, so please post your questions for him before Tuesday 19 September. His answers will be published in Friday’s print edition of the Film & Music section, and online.