How Tiffany Thomas became O’She Tyght … and helped change local music

ALBANY — Tiffany “O’She Tyght” Thomas, one of the emcees, the secret weapon even, that has kept the rap/rock/R&B fusion outfit Unbreakable Bloodline among the most popular musical performers in the South for a dozen years, is among the most unique individuals you’ll ever meet if you get to know her.

And not because of what you think.

Sure Thomas — she’s called “O’She” by her bandmates, by UBL’s legion of loyal followers and by just about everyone else who gets to know her … more about that name later — has a million-watt smile that endears her to fans and just regular people she meets, people of all ages, races or inclinations. She carries herself with a confidence that’s electric, probably wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress or skirt, and has an honest-to-God beard (more about that later as well).

But what makes O’She stand out has more to do with the person inside than all those outer, insignificant in-the-scheme-of-things matters.

“I’m not doing anything I do for effect, and nothing about me has anything to do with anything except me being comfortable with who I am,” O’She said during a recent conversation that carried over into dinner and ended with a “have-you-heard-this” musical sharing session that included a listen to her then-not-yet-completed solo single “I Like It.”

“I’ve been called ‘sir’ any number of times, and one of the questions I get most is what pronouns I use. I tell people, ‘I’m just me.’ I’ve never wanted to be anything but me.”

“I Like It” is expected to be the lead single off an O’She solo album that could drop this year, but that doesn’t mean there’s any kind of riff between the emcee and her bandmates, fellow emcees Vernon “Chief H” Cruz, Jerome “King O-Z” Osborne, bassist Ryan Meyers, guitarist Jon Smith and drummer Paul Ward.

“That’s my family,” O’She says of the boys in the band, who burst onto the scene 12 years ago, way ahead of their time, and they’ve slowly evolved as the rest of the musical world caught up. “We have our fights and we’ll argue — just like a family — and we also went through growing pains. But we love each other.

“Those guys are my brothers, and there’s always that family feeling of inside jokes and making fun of each other. But we always have a ball on stage together.”

Rapping and singing with an eclectic group of musicians was not on Tiffany Thomas’ to-do list as she was growing up in Albany after her family moved to southwest Georgia when she was 8. But there was a calling, an almost primitive urge, to make music.

“Even when I was young, there was something about music,” O’She says of that earlier connection. “When I’d hear music, I felt the drums, the horns. It made me want to close my eyes and just see the music. So, yes, musical instruments were always on my Christmas wish list.”

Thomas played basketball and ran track at Westover High School in Albany, splitting her time between a budding sports career and chorus and band practice. She accepted a basketball scholarship to play at then Darton College, but an injury essentially ended that part of her life. But Laron Williams and Matthew Lamar, friends she’d met in middle school, started inviting O’She over to make music with them on their home equipment.

“I was an ’80s baby, so I was mostly into R&B,” she said. “I actually did not like hip-hop, but we listened to such an array of music. There’s a part of me that grew to where I could chop a whole note and see all kinds of variations. I couldn’t tell you an A from a C; I’ve always been a person who would feel the vibrations in music.”

O’She started making music with another school friend, Kevin Wesley, and he and Ishmael Williams introduced her to the members of what would become UBL.

“Jay and Chief Havoc were working on this album, and they heard some stuff I’d done,” O’She said. “They asked me to come in and work on a song with them, and that song turned into two and turned into six, and the whole thing turned into their whole album.

“Ryan Meyers was teaching bass at Parker Music, and we all started doing stuff together. Me met up with Chad (Basco, the band’s original drummer) and Dusty (Ashberry, the original UBL guitarist) out on Holley Drive, and there was this almost immediate thing between us. Everything happened so easily, it was like, ‘Where have y’all been all my life.’”

When the band went into the studio to record, then-Tiffany Thomas kinda felt left out due to the fact she didn’t have a cool nickname. But when she fell into a rap flow with some of the musicians in the studio, the engineer mumbled, “Oh, she tight.”

“I like the way that sounded,” O’She said. “I changed the spelling around and had my name.”

As the relationship among members of the band grew stronger, their musical output grew even, well, tighter. Soon, they were among the most in-demand musicians in the South. Twice they won prestigious Georgia Music Awards, and they were named the city’s Best Band by an Atlanta radio station.

O’She, who’d inexplicably started growing facial hair when puberty hit, spent her hypersensitvie teenage years keeping the hair closely shaved. A moment of forgetfulness changed all that.

“The more I shaved, the thicker the hair got,” she said. “I kept it always shaved, but one day when I was getting ready for work, I forgot to shave. There were some comments, but about that time I just said to myself, ‘You know, everyone knows me, so I’m just going to deal with my shame.’ I quit talking about hormones and just said, ‘This is me.’”

As Unbreakable Bloodline’s reputation and musical repertoire grew, so did the demand for its services. O’She said it’s easier for the band to prepare for a big show than a small one, and that’s understandable when you take time to consider some of the most memorable shows the band has played:

5. Opening for George Clinton: “He was performing in Florida, and someone associated with the show recommended us to open for him. I was standing there, boo-hooing, thinking to myself, ‘That’s George Clinton.’ It was unbelievable, surreal.”

4. Opening for the SOS Band and Lakeside at the Albany Civic Center: “That one had me crying again. That’s the people I grew up listening to.”

3. School Days: “A teacher friend at a north Georgia school, Luke McFarland, has us up for a day to spend with his students. He always preps the students, and we’ll talk to his classes and walk the halls and high-five all the kids. At the end of the day, we play a concert for the whole school.”

2. Meeting Afroman: “I know this sounds silly, but we were recording at Log Cabin Studios in Tallahassee and Afroman came in. He was so drunk, but it was fun spending time with him.”

1. Playing Bonnaroo … Three Times: “There was a competition to pick a band to play at Bonneroo, and we made it to the finals but didn’t win. There was a guy there from Miller Lite who said, ‘I’m going to get you on that stage.’ And he was true to his word. We did the camping thing, and it just turned into this whole neighborhood vibe. And we’re there with these artists like U2, Travis Scott, Chance the Rapper, the Weeknd, Lourde, Cage the Elephant. It was amazing.”

With UBL planning new music and playing a regular schedule of shows (next up, the ‘Burg Bash in Leesburg Oct. 15) and O’She working on a solo album, the woman once known as Tiffany Thomas (and still called that by her relatives) is looking to branch out into her own creative world. Her The Tyght House virtual business offers a place for independent artists, writers and entertainers of all ilk to learn how to use the resources available to them, resources O’She has stored up over her decade-plus in the entertainment business.

“I’m in take-it-as-it-comes mode right now,” she said. “There are other things I’d like to do; I’d love to try my hand at writing plays, movies, shows. I’m not above learning anything new.

“But I’ve got to say, it’s been a journey to get here, but right now I’m very happy.”

Staff Photo: Tara FletcherStaff Photo: Tara Fletcher

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