For more than a decade, “HAY ZEUS” existed as legend—a song that lived in live sets, crowd reactions, and hip-hop folklore long before it ever reached streaming platforms. It traveled with Ty Bru from North Carolina to international stages, evolving through performances, rewrites, and shared energy, until the moment finally arrived for it to be officially released. That moment came in 2025, during the 20-year celebration of Mightier Than The Sword, when fans, friends, and family made it clear: this record was overdue, and its time had come.
“HAY ZEUS” is a dense web of homage, wordplay, and cultural conversation. Drawing inspiration from Wu-Tang Clan’s “Method Man,” classic rock, religious imagery, and street slang, the song layers humor with sharp commentary and reverence for hip-hop’s lineage. Ty Bru breaks down how its hook functions as both tribute and challenge – setting up a surreal, symbolic clash between Zeus and Jesus, clouds and crowns, judgment and freedom. It’s playful, confrontational, and deeply rooted in the boombap tradition that shaped him.
But this interview goes far beyond a single song. Ty Bru reflects on two decades of building MTTS as an independent cultural force – through global tours, legendary collaborations, beat battles, personal sacrifices, near-death experiences, and constant reinvention. From working with icons like Sadat X and Wu-Tang Clan members, to nurturing the Iconoclast Crew, to expanding into film, festivals, and preservation of hip-hop history, this conversation captures an artist taking stock of the past while sharpening his focus for the future. “HAY ZEUS,” it turns out, isn’t just a record – it’s a time capsule, a mission statement, and a reminder of why Ty Bru is still here.
“HAY ZEUS” has lived as a performance record for over a decade before its official release—what finally told you now was the right moment to let the world hear it?
Ty Bru: In May we had our four day festival for the 20 years of MTTS. So many people that are familiar with our history mentioned that song and asked about it and when it was going to finally be released. After a few of those conversations with fans, friends and family, I knew 2025 would be the year we unleashed the song to the world.
You’ve said “HAY ZEUS” has layers on layers, especially in the hook—can you break down some of the hidden meanings, entendres, or structures longtime fans might miss on a first listen?
Ty Bru: Yeah it’s like a spider web. The inspiration, and therefore the homage being paid came from one of my favorite hip hop songs, ‘Method Man’ from the ‘Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)’ album. You can definitely hear that in the cadence I use, so that first two bars of the hook is all homage, which essentially Method Man was doing to The Rolling Stones song ‘Get Off My Cloud’ from the 1960s.
When the writing process began, those two bars kept popping in my head, like damn this fits really good with the vibe and also pays respect to the culture of boombap rap. I knew I wanted to use it, but I had to make and say something different, so, HAY ZEUS was it, then that’s where it goes into those entendres and such.
Of course, that’s how you pronounce Jesus in Spanish, so that’s the first. Then you have Zeus being the God of sky and Thunder, who is usually seen in illustrations on a cloud. Then “Hay” has been used as a slang term for marijuana, which also produces thick clouds. So effectively, the first time I say the hook it’s screaming at the God Of Sky & Thunder that his throne (cloud) is mine, which has been made from the superchronic we’ve been smoking and he needs to leave, and if he doesn’t “you don’t know me and you don’t know my crowd” means the whole team combined is stronger than his godly power.
The second time I say the hook it’s directed toward Jesus, or more accurately, those who are followers of Jesus who seem to pass judgement so quickly and harshly, so that section is a more subtle and simple approach, like don’t judge us ‘cause we over here smoking, we all god good hearts. Plus you know in the manger there was a lotta hay, lol. And with both parts of the hook, it kind of sets up this battle between Zeus and Jesus, I’ve always envisioned a animated bit for that part of the song.
You famously described “HAY ZEUS” as the Die Hard of hip hop Christmas songs—what makes this track feel like a holiday record to you on a deeper level?
Ty Bru: Yup! In recent years there’s this argument that comes up if ‘Die Hard’ is in fact a Christmas movie, so when I decided to release ‘Hay Zeus’ on Christmas week, alotta people asked why, especially since we have a ton of original holiday music we could promote instead. My answer was like, because I feel like this is a Christmas song. Then when it was released so many people said “How?” Which I understand. It’s a song that has Jesus in it, and Hay, just like the nativity scene. It’s kind of a reach, and kind of a joke, but I’m gonna ride out with this being a Christmas Song forever.
The song dates back to around 2011 and followed you from North Carolina to stages across China—how did performing it worldwide shape its energy and final recorded form?
Ty Bru: Every time it was performed it provided instant energy to me and the crowd and shifted the vibe to an authentic hip hop experience for the audience. It also gave me a little bit more confidence during my sets because I believed in the song so much.
In China it would just be me doing the hook and verse, but at home it would be Ed E. Ruger and myself, but we would change up the verses to fit what mood we were in and the crowd was in, we’ve never performed it with Sadat X, but that’s not saying that we never will, I am working on getting him into the Sunset Theatre in August, maybe that will be when we do it, you never know.
There was some times I caught wind of Iconoclast Crew mate, Stitchy C performing it as well while I was living in China, although at the time I wasn’t happy with that cause I was concerned people would think it was his song, but I got over that pretty quickly and with the help of our management at the time (Liz McLeod) he stopped doing it and we eventually laughed about it.
You waited years for the perfect feature and landed Sadat X – what was it about his voice, legacy, or perspective that made him the missing piece?
Ty Bru: He’s one of the pioneers of hip hop. I feel like he is is the embodiment of the culture and has been there since the beginning of it. His knowledge and experience is incredible, I actually made that beat with him and Parrish Smith in mind, since I was talking with them both at the time, I wanted to have something ready when the opportunity presented itself. So he wasn’t necessarily the missing piece, he was the first piece of the puzzle that ended up being put together last, if that makes sense.
Do you remember the exact moment or conversation when Sadat X agreed to jump on “HAY ZEUS,” and what did that mean to you personally?
Ty Bru: We started working with him in 2012 when we met him at one of shows at Greene Street in Greensboro, NC. We then released a song in 2012 or 13 called ‘No Suckaz Allowed’ and that still remains one of the most impactful songs we’ve ever done. Working with him on that made me more motivated to work more with him.
There were a few years that I didn’t record anything, so when I got back in the booth, ‘HAY ZEUS’ was one of the first I wanted to record, so I laid the hook down at Livewire Studio, sent it to Ruger, then revisited my initial idea of having Sadat X on there, and with him living in Raleigh, that’s like an hour down the road from me, I started the conversation, and he was going into the studio so I sent the record with the hook on it, the concept and he had it back to me within a week. You know alotta times you can get a verse back and it’s not what you expect or it’s gotta grow on you, but with Sadat X, it’s instant perfection each time. We’ve gone on to do six songs together, five of which are released, one we are working on currently.
As someone who has collaborated with so many legends, how does it feel hearing a hip-hop icon rhyme over a beat connected to your own long-term vision?
Ty Bru: It’s an incredible feeling, being on songs with artists that made me want to start doing this in the first place is always so surreal. The best is when they are highly active in the process of creating, which is rare but it’s happened to me more than I could have imagined, then there are some times where it’s solely transactional, and some that are from meetings with management that represents these artists, so sometimes they are far removed, but we still end up making great records with great legends.
When it comes to performance collaborations, like sharing the stage with other artists, that’s where it gets mind blowing. I’ve performed with, opened up or shared the stage with some of the best. Wu-Tang, Wiz Khalifia, Andre 3000, Snoop Dogg, Big Sean, Justin Timberlake, MGK, A$AP Rocky, Linkin Park, Skrillexx, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, shit the list goes on and on. Most times I can have a good conversation with them, sometimes we party together and sometimes it can be a conflict, depending on the size of the ego involved. However, they say never meet your heroes, but that’s something I can’t really agree on at the moment, cause all of my heroes that I met have been great and I have been able to learn directly from them.
You’re also known for crafting beats – how did you first get into production, and how does your approach differ when you’re making something for yourself versus a legend like Sadat X?
Ty Bru: Listening to the newest Nas album with DJ Premiere, there is a song called ‘Pause Tapes’ and in the intro it explains the process and creation of beats in the late 1980’s. That was very similar to how I made my first beats, back in the 1990s, I was probably 12. I wrote some rhymes to them, maybe even recorded to them, I can’t remember, I might even have those tapes somewhere, I’ll have to look now!
It wasn’t until Appalachian State days when I got that apartment on King Street, right before meeting Westtopher that I invested in some equipment to make a beat, I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was a USB type turntable that had buttons you could program, similar to an MPC, I learned how to do that and I caught the bug, I started sampling my own voice and made ‘Time Flies’ I did a few more, but by the time I met Westtopher and we started that relationship, I didn’t really need to make beats anymore and focused on my writing, management and promotions.
But when I graduated, before I flew out for my European tour, I felt I needed to really learn more about beat making, so I was a fly on the wall in Westtopher and Dric’s apartment as they made beats from samples of my CD collection. Watching them taught me as much as I needed to know.
As for crafting for artists like Sadat X, and I’m currently working on a beat with Cappadonna and Masta Killa, I try and be really crisp with the snare drums and really clean with the bass drums and not to overproduce, because the lyrics need to breathe and be showcased fully and keep it at 90bpm, with 80bpm as a secondary plan.
Has working behind the boards changed the way you write as an MC, especially this deep into your career?
Ty Bru: In the initial stages of making the beats it certainly did. I was learning more of structures to my bars, my verses and my hooks, eventually helping mold how I wanted to create the full song, I had much more control, a producer in the true definition of one for music.
It wasn’t until we (Iconoclast Crew) would organize and hold beat battles in North Carolina before I really took it seriously. It was a mixture of things that pushed me to make beats on that level. The first was the urge to be as self sufficient as possible. I grew tired of the stereotypical hustles of producers and beatmakers that would borderline beg at our shows trying to get me to use their beats. These fools are known for being pushy, arrogant, usually asking way more than they are worth and uninterested in an actual collaboration between the music and the words, which are 99% of how I make music, I’ve only “purchased” maybe five beats in my career, I just won’t do it, there is absolutely no return on that investment.
So I was like fuck it, I’ll do it myself and then I’ll enter these battles myself and aim to prove that I am right there with some of the best in the area at doing this, so I did that for a handful of years and I still have quite a large amount of nest eggs in the form of my beats that I can pull from probably until the end of my career, at this point it’s rare if I make beats, but I did get my old set up back up and running in the summer of 2025 so I could finish scoring my short film, ‘7eventh 7irkle’ and in that process I made a few hip hop beats, a couple with label mate, Tenacious and like I said I’m working on one with Cappadonna and Masta Killa for this ‘Bru Tang Clan’ album im working on.
Take us back to your connection with Ed E. Ruger—how did you two first cross paths, and what made that collaboration instantly click?
Ty Bru: That relationship is right at 20 years old as well, a long story of a strong friendship and business partnership.
I learned of his quick rise as “The Voice Of Carolina” during my final year at Appalachian State University (2005) when members of the Iconoclast Crew had a show on the street I lived on, King Street, at a venue called the Black Cat.
I’ll always remember that night, at first I was mad as hell someone else was in Boone doing hip hop, cause at that point there was only my crew (Scan Fam) and one other doing hip hop, and we stomped them out early on, where we were basically the only name in hip hop.
So I stormed in the venue with ill intentions, but I was quickly awed by the show that the Iconoclast Crew was putting on, the legend Tre’ Stylez & Stitchy C very much captivating the crowd, and in my mid 20s I naively deemed them deserving of performing on my street, lol, the arrogance of youth and egos. We talked a little bit after their set and then I began following them which eventually led me to Ed E. Ruger. We were put on the same show as Wu-Tang in Winston Salem, but that was such a chaotic night that we couldn’t really have a conversation.
Ruger was taking over the Greensboro area, and I was doing the same in Charlotte, so one night, the powers that be, with the help of my manager and promoter at the time, Jonathan Coleman threw a birthday party/show for me at the Jeff’s Bucket Shop in Charlotte and put Ruger on the bill, because Ruger was really trying to get into that scene.
That’s when it all started, our monumental run, I dug his music and he dug mine, we traded CDs and he called me the next day to say that my wordplay was bonkers but the quality of my recording was shit. And I agreed and asked him to direct me to where I should go, he then referred me to Jon “Double J The Jenius” Jackon and the Iconoclast Crew studio. The rest was history I swear. We did our first song together “Machine” and it sent the NC hip hop scene into a frenzy, I kid you not. I never felt such a validation in my life up until that point and within a few months was welcomed into the Iconoclast Crew myself and that’s been one of the top honors of my career.
That song was recorded late 2006 or early 2007 and him and I haven’t stopped since. We don’t see each other as much lately, since my shift into more film related entertainment, but we talk regularly and make music constantly, we share adivce as being fathers, he’s killing it with monthly events in Greensboro and has remained a titan in his field of both music and event programming/directing. As long as we are both alive, you always need to be ready for collaborations, he even whipped up the 20 year anniversary of MTTS logo and one of these days we will lock ourselves in the studio and finish Brown Bag Volume 2.
The Iconoclast Crew has a powerful chemistry—how do Ruger, Phillie Phresh, Double J, and Stitchy C each push you creatively?
Ty Bru: Ruger always pushes me to remain constant, with consistent quality and to stay relevant. He once told me that I was one of the only rappers that he felt could match him on songs. I took that seriously and remind myself of that every time I pick up a pen to write something.
Phillie, he pushes me to remain current, he’s younger than us, so I remember in my mid 30s he pulled me to the side and was like that brand of clothes ain’t it anymore Ty, you gotta come more correct! He’s also a hell of an innovator, so he keeps me on my toes with that. Lastly, he really encourages me and labelmate Tenacious to freestyle as much as possible, he’s a big cheerleader for that, which essentially helps to keep me sharp. He also was very adamant about Tenacious and I reuniting after a gap of time we weren’t working together much.
JJ, that man is the reason the beast was awoken in the first place, I knew it was there, just never had someone who could help put it out in the world in a real and formal format. He helped mold me in the early stages of my professional career. He pushed me, he welcomed so many unconventional approaches and was the first person that showed me in real time, when it comes to my art, that if I can think it I can do it. One night I told him I had an idea for a conceptual album based on Sweeney Todd, everyone else in my circle at that time laughed and he was like, we can do that, make the beats and write the lyrics, we can arrange it all here, we did that within a few weeks and that project alone got me in the doors of Hollywood many years later. There would absolutely be no Ty Bru without JJ.
Stitchy keeps me true to myself and reminds me not to be afraid to be different. He’s got a heart of gold, he is one of the most unique individuals I have met and has faced great losses at a young age with Tre’ being murdered, so he’s got a ton of emotional fuel for his art. Dude stands out, and he stays true to the course of his musical roots, I admire the hell out of that and with him doing that, it motivates me to do the same, even though the styles are on two totally different clouds, we are brothers in the same sky, floating together.
MTTS began the night of your Appalachian State graduation—did you have any idea that moment would turn into a 20-year cultural institution?
Ty Bru: None whatsoever, I thought it would last as long as my three week tour in Europe and then I would be in international business the rest of my life. The feeling after that tour was so great and filled with emotions that I knew I couldn’t leave my music, my art alone.
I actually could have died the day I arrived in London, which was July 21, 2005, I was on a train that a bomb was on that failed to detonate, look it up, shit was wild and being that close to death at 24 years old really changed my outlook and trajectory to realize I needed to get all these ideas and creations out into the world while I still lived, and over 20 years later I’ve grew that vision a thousandfold.
Looking back, what were some of the biggest risks or sacrifices you had to take to keep Mightier Than The Sword alive and independent?
Ty Bru: With sacrifices, most recently the time it takes away from my wife and sons. The boys are 3 and 7 years old and it hurts sometimes to be away from them, especially when I go to and from L.A. so much, and when I plan for these events at the Sunset Theatre, they consume me and take over, even when I balance the time, it still never feels like enough.
The biggest sacrifice is financial stability, in 20 years there is nothing stable in this endeavor when it comes to making a living. What is stable is the opportunities, there are always those, but most are little to no pay, or straight bartering and that doesn’t always help in the ways I think.
With risks, moving to China. I’ve actually moved there a few times in my life, but the decision to move there on a permanent basis in the height of MTTS as a label was a huge risk and it didn’t end well, but it didn’t break the business or shatter the capabilities either. I lost friendships in the process, we certainly lost the momentum, and I lost my trust in many people, and some people kind of lost trust in me. Going hand in hand with that, I think it would have been much more detrimental to stay put and keep going. There was a least a year during that time it was just me on the team, then in 2016 we started the rebuild.
The Mighty Monday campaign was incredibly ambitious—what did releasing music every week teach you about discipline, teamwork, and hunger?
Ty Bru: That’s something I’ve been wanting to try for the longest time. When 2025 hit, I knew it wasn’t a possibility for a full year, but I started making serious and conscious decisions with re-connecting many of the artists of the past to start putting in work and be involved with the four day festival in May.
But when we started meeting up together, we quickly picked things up as that team we’ve always been and were structuring out songs and I felt like from the end of May until the end of the year would be much more manageable especially since we were knocking out 4-5 songs each studio session with some heavyweight features to help motivate us to stay on target. It taught us how important a calendar and schedule is and how strong following one is.
How important was it for the 20-year MTTS celebration to reconnect the label’s global history back to Asheboro and the surrounding NC communities?
Ty Bru: That was of the highest importance, I am from Asheboro, I’ve lived here 35 of my 45 years, however I established MTTS while I wasn’t living here and through the first years there was no place in my hometown for an entity of our scale.
It’s a smaller city, a little over 20,000 residents at that time and prohibition was in effect with it being a “dry” city and county, until 2008, which meant the nightlife was nearly nonexistent, also meaning little demand for energetic performance music and entertainment in general, let alone hip hop.
So we had to do so much of our work outside of the city, like Charlotte, Greensboro, High Point, Asheville, Boone, Raleigh, etc. and it wasn’t really until 2010 before we could hold regular shows in Asheboro and that was because we had branched out into Beach music, hard rock and heavy metal and that was much more accepted.
Fast forward to 2025 our little city, in particular our downtown has been totally rejuvenated thanks to some innovative business owners and has begun to be ushered into a more contemporary direction, and we have taken the helm on so much of that in recent years, so it was damn near mandatory for us to have this grand finale event in Asheboro, because now it’s a place that we can do so.
“Hip Hop Time Machine” feels like a love letter to eras past—how do nostalgia and preservation play into your mission as an artist and label head?
Ty Bru: Everyone loves the feeling of nostalgia, it just has to be their own particular nostalgia, and hip hop was really young when we were really young, so we really did grow up with hip hop. As a label, once in a while we deem it necessary to create some songs to a throwback time like this one, and 1999 was a very important year for me musically, it was my first gig (as a DJ) and then of course 2005 was the year of MTTS establishment, so that’s the direct years we went to for this song.
However, preservation on the other hand is much more important and plays a large role in my mission, I think that is the journalist in me, making sure that all of our content and creations are preserved and given a chance to be shown to the world. Some of the best artists, best rappers, best performers have never been heard or seen by the world, and I made it my focus when I started MTTS to make sure the people on our team would be heard, seen, found and noticed.
Your label co-founder Westtopher produced “Hip Hop Time Machine.” How has your production partnership evolved over the past 20 years?
Ty Bru: Westtopher was there before I established MTTS, we were both part of the group Scan Fam, which originated from my college roommate (D-Roc) and myself in like 2001, a few years before meeting Westtopher. He was called Ty-Writer at the time and we ran into each other freestyling in the parking lot at an Appalachian State bar, and we both had serious skills, that was rare to happen at that time period in Boone, so the impact was great and as you can see, lasting.
We quickly expanded Scan Fam to add him and his roommates at the time and we started recording material with beats D-Roc and I already had on deck, with Westtopher taking the helm as engineer, then him and DJ Dric started making beats and by the time I graduated we had released three Scan Fam albums, I want to say with all original beats that we made, I can’t for the life of me find a copy of ‘New Era’ to fact check that info lol.
Even though I established the label in 2005, it wasn’t really until 2006 that Westtopher helped take the reigns as our main in house producer and formally co-founding the label. Remember at first I didn’t realize how serious MTTS would become so I didn’t really want to include him in something I felt wouldn’t last, so when I knew we were going to release albums the professional way, it was a no brainer for us to team up like that and continue what we did in college and he came correct with lacing me beats for my debut album, ‘On The Brink.’
We’ve learned so much together and we have grown and matured incredible leaps and bounds, we’ve also grown closer as friends and understanding one another, he was signed with Cool And Dre for a few years, and he’s produced for Dave East, Fat Joe, Papoose, and now Jadakiss, AZ and we have one in the chamber ready to release with Method Man.
As MTTS moves beyond its 20th year, what’s the next evolution—more films, stage plays, global events, or something entirely unexpected?
Ty Bru: Trying to keep the momentum going we are coining this year, “21 Years of MTTS, Old Enough To Drink.” It keeps a theme going that gives us time to really shine and above all a reference point.
We plan to continue the MIGHTY MONDAY campaign, adding more re-releases to the calendar year. There were so many albums that we released from 2007-2011 that kind of missed the digital streaming era. So we are going to be focusing hard on getting our entire discography out there in a more accessible way for our fans, friends and family. Right now it’s mostly on Bandcamp, but that’s not as accessible for everyone. The play these days are Spotify and apple music, with you tube music gaining more interest, so be on the lookout for our past music popping up on your favorite streaming services.
We hope to film and release a ton of music videos this year as well, I have a hard drive full of footage I took for music videos back in 2023 when I was in LA so many times, I’ll start with that, and then move on to new filming with artists like Tenacious, William Zaybiane, Marshall Alexander, J Bryant and Cowboy Elad XIII.
We also started late in 2025 a new podcast called, ‘Comedy Hurts’ with our in house comedian, TFoxx. We hope to film a handful more episodes of that at least, while resurrecting the Asheboro Undecided podcast for Season 3.
I’d like to follow up my ‘7eventh 7irkle’ short film, but we will see how this first quarter goes before I think about planning that, because before we know it, August will be here and that’s the big event! Our third annual MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD AWARDS at SUNSET FILM FESTIVAL, will be here, a three day festival, Asheboro’s first ever film festival…for the third time! It’s going to be incredible!
Finally, if a new listener hears “HAY ZEUS” as their first introduction to Ty Bru, what do you hope they understand about who you are and what MTTS represents?
Ty Bru: The song definitely represents the authentic hip hop that helped create MTTS, it represents the fun nature, slight humor mixed with hard, razor sharp lyrics and a beat that could fit into any era of hip hop. It shows the beginning, and it shows the growth since the beginning, all in one song.
What are your plans for the future? Can we expect more music, or are there other creative projects you’re eager to explore?
Ty Bru: The whole thing, “less is more” that’s this year’s mantra. I’ve always admired the Bruce Lee quote, “It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential. The closer to the source, the less wastage there is” and I feel like there’s power in doing this. In December, I put to bed my fashion design endeavors after 10 years, and although bittersweet, the feeling of letting that go was liberating, so until our 25th anniversary, that will be the name of the game.
I also hope to check off a lot from my list of ongoing “WORKS IN PROGRESS” there’s too much, I need to wrap them up and release them, so I can get that weight off my shoulders and strengthen MTTS even more.
HAY ZEUS ft. Sadat X & Ed E. Ruger (prod by Beats By Bruski) by Ty Bru
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