There is a great story about Ty. In 2004, he was rocking out at the Montreux Jazz Festival with his then-labelmate Roots Manuva. Also on the roster was Jaylib, the duo of Madlib and J Dilla who, despite only managing to release one album before Dilla’s death in 2006, were already considered iconic musicians solo and together.

“We were backstage before the show, and Madlib said wattup – I mean, he knew about what I was doing, but Dilla didn’t,” Ty recalls. “After my set, Dilla was just amazed. He gave me his numbers and said, we got to do something together.”

It would be a mistake to set Ty’s value as a rapper solely by the fact that Jaylib wanted to work with him, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Ty’s blend of soulful, off-kilter rap music is hard to imitate, and is a lot of fun to listen to, but this is not, unfortunately, a story with a happy ending. Three years later, Ty – who has dropped three albums, been nominated for a Mercury Award and been hailed by various journalists as one of the best hip-hop artists the UK has ever produced - is unsigned.

We’ll come back to that. Ty did most of his work on Will Ashon’s Big Dada imprint. Aside from producing two solid albums and at least one classic on the label, the London-born Ben Chijioke has managed to make a name for himself as the go-to guy for unusual collabos. He hooked up with Blak Twang for the UK remix of Reflection Eternal’s ‘Down for the Count’, and his last album Closer was notable for the amount of international heat on the roll call.

“I think it was a natural progression for me as an artist,” says Ty of the album tracks with Bahamadia, De La Soul, Zion 1 and Speech of Arrested Development. “It was because of the second record (Upwards, Mercury nominated) that I touched base with people I’d met while touring. Lots of people were interested, and the motivation for me to get into a studio with my colleagues was very strong. But people in the UK didn’t always understand what I was doing.”

That’s one side of Ty. And that last comment brings us to another: a whole bunch of thorny ideas and often contradictory opinions. He’s a man who thinks about what he says very carefully, yet every so often lets slip a thought that goes completely against what he’s just told you. Get past this, however, and you’re privy to some observations about the UK music scene – and his place in it – which make a scary kind of sense. Hence, for example, the reasons behind why he is unsigned.

“Big Dada and I went our own way. The split was amicable, but for them it became about selling records. Big Dada needed to make money, and I understand that, but they came half-hearted.” Ty mentions having to take out a loan to go touring, and how Closer received little promotion in the US . “And this is my third album!” he says. “This was the album with all the international artists on it, that would have been perfect to promote overseas…It was like Big Dada walked away without saying goodbye. That’s that. But in the end, I really love those guys.”

The contradictions become more apparent when we discuss something he said in an earlier interview – the idea that hip-hop is despised in the UK (his words). Ty sticks to his guns. “That’s right. Institutionally, our music is not accepted or encouraged with all the attention given to other kinds of music,” he says, a little heated. “There is a lot of criticism about violence in music – I’m not aggressive, I have a different vibe, but I get treated the same way! When it comes to radio and TV, there are certain bottlenecks – people like Jo Wiley and Jools Holland – and pluggers are having a nightmare situation. We’re left out in the cold without a blanket.”

Surely there’s a temptation to start throwing around conspiracy theories? “No, there’s no conspiracy theory aspect to it,” he quickly says. A slight pause. “Think of it this way. A black artist could not do what Amy Winehouse is doing. They’d be thrown off their label. Why is it OK for Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty to self destruct in public, but not OK for So Solid to flourish?” he says, referring to the much-publicised police crackdown on the rap crew. “Black artists are being taken to task for their influence. But Amy Winehouse is going to die – I mean that – and record labels are cool with it.”

The question arises then of how musicians and their fans can respond. Ty reckons it has do with forcing a change in media attitudes: “We need to do what Neville and Doreen Lawrence did,” he says, referring to the parents of racial murder victim Steven who successfully campaigned to get the police to re-investigate evidence in their son’s case.

With this much to say, it’s a pity you won’t be hearing any new album from Ty until sometime in 2008. Not even a mixtape? “What, like rapping over old instrumentals? Rappers say it’s all about keeping your name out – no, it’s fucking lazy. The idea that if you make enough noise and enough music you will get heard is a lie.”

On stage, Ty is just as explosive. He rocks either with a full live band or with his DJs Big Ted and Bizznizz, and has a reputation for solid shows. “We’ve always put a lot of effort into our shows. We just try to deliver something more,” he says. More is right, and Ty has been delivering it to far off places. He’s just done a show in Paris and was recently in Gambia where he was developing a youth centre with the local children.

At the moment, at least, Ty is fairly relaxed about being unsigned, confident in his ability to keep performing and to keep making music. And the Madlib collabo, if not with Dilla? “It could happen!”

Ty plays the Jazz Café on 14 December 2007.