Return To Forever: A Profound Discovery is what happens when a lyricist stops performing survival and starts narrating resurrection. Ty Sorrell, paired with the crate-dug alchemy of Profound79, delivers an album that doesn’t chase trends so much as it chases truth.
Across these tracks, the Richmond-by-way-of-Dumfries emcee doesn’t posture, he processes. He inventories the years between projects, wrestles with memory, and finds grace in the gaps. What you get is a document not of arrival, but of becoming.
And when Sorrell says, “you confront your demons before you leave them,” it ain’t a metaphor. It’s an ethos.
T-Rav: I have had “Everything I Needed” on repeat for the month of May. The line “you have two things when you wake up, a choice and a chance”. It has been such an inspiring mantra. When did that song start forming for you?
Ty Sorrell: Thank you! For me, everything is formed around the music itself. The beat to that song was in one of the first batches that Profound79 played for me back when we had first connected.
T-Rav: Related, the album starts with “All On You” is also so inspiring and affirming to bring our best to this life. When did you start Return To Forever: A Profound Discovery?
TS: Back in 2023, I was working at Plan 9 behind the counter, and Profound came in digging for records. I was already somewhat familiar with him and Gritty City Records just from being around and being involved with the scene. When he came to pay for his records, we started talking and clicked immediately. He sent the beat for “Better Ways,” and it became what you hear on the album that same day.
T-Rav:The line “ain’t no way around your demons, you confront them before you leave them” is another memorable example of what the album is full of. In writing the album, was it track by track, or is there a bigger picture story or “storytelling” guiding the LP?
TS: I just kept writing and recording, and pretty soon we were able to start piecing together the story based off of what we were hearing back together. I wanted to talk about the two or three years between my last album Homegrown and this one, and I think in doing so—in tandem with recognizing and picking the themes/styles in the beats—it made us see the journey as well as hear it. It made it feel like a “choose your own adventure” game, or some sort of quest or “hero’s journey.” All while using my real life.
T-Rav: Who did you work with for the compositions, song production, and beats?
TS: All beats are Profound79. This was my first time releasing a full album that one producer fully produced other than myself.
T-Rav: Where did you record elements and vocals tracking for it?
TS: In Profound’s studio on my old-ass computer, lol. His place is a hip-hop museum—an insane amount of records, old action figures, movies, posters, streetwear, so much.
T-Rav: Where does this album fit in your discography?
TS: I like a lot of different styles of rap music, which means I also like to create different things, and sometimes it can be hard to make stuff without feeling like people will box me into that category. With this album, though, I don’t feel that as much. I think this is the most me I’ve been on an album, and because of that, I’m at peace with whatever comes back from it—positive or negative. I don’t want to show one side of myself, my life, or life itself. I think it’s important to be able to fully express your human experience in music. Everyone wants to write about the great or fun things going on with themselves (as they should—it makes for great music), but there is so much more there.
T-Rav: Are you from Richmond when did you start making music?
TS: I’m not. I’m from Dumfries, VA (Woodbridge area). I started writing and recording music when I was in 6th or 7th grade—so like 13 or 14.
T-Rav: “I talk more than I rap” What do you think is the energy of your flow?
TS: I just try to give the purest form of me. Stylistically, the way I flow is loosely free but still precisely in pocket. I can choose to be technical when I want, and my cadence is based on how I’d say something in a sentence.
T-Rav: Who are some of the features on this album?
TS: We had Rah Scrilla, who I now consider family—a part of Gritty City as well. Mike L!ve, an MC from NC—we met on tour and recorded “Sharkskin Raincoat” during that time. Starrnyce, another member of Gritty City—I also consider him family at this point. Dope-ass MC, dope-ass producer too.
T-Rav: Who did the cover art illustration?
TS: A dear friend of mine, who I always credit to me being here in the first place, Alfred. Or @doodlermb on instagram.
T-Rav: Where can we catch these songs live this summer?
TS: We’ve been situating things to go and hit the road—still getting the dates with venues secured, but we will be performing these around town and along the East Coast.
T-Rav: “Hold On” on M.P’s Fever Dream was one of my songs from last summer and fall. Any special collabs or features you can talk about upcoming?
TS: Ohhhh yes. Speaking of M.P., myself, M.P., and King Kaiju have a collab album coming this summer—late June or early July right now. We are very excited and very proud of that! We’ll also be performing these around town and beyond.
Introduction by R. Anthony Harris
Main photo by Lyle Staufer
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