Ty Dolla $ign‘s brother, Big TC, joined his Coachella set via a video from prison. Watch the footage below.
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The moment took place during Ty’s set at the festival on Friday (April 18), which also featured surprise guests Wiz Khalifa, YG, Tyga, and Leon Thomas and saw the stage designed to look like a prison yard, complete with chain link fences and barbed wire.
Halfway through the set, the rapper played a video of his brother singing, recorded from prison, on a giant screen behind the stage. Though the clip was pre-recorded, a live choir accompanied his vocals.
Big TC is currently serving a 67-year-to-life sentence in California’s Calipatria State Prison for murder.
The Coachella performance follows years of Ty publicly supporting his brother, who he has long maintained is innocent, beginning with his 2015 debut album ‘Free TC’.
Ty Dolla $ign surprises Coachella crowd by having his brother sing from jail during his set. pic.twitter.com/r9a4EyeeRa
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) April 18, 2025
In a 2016 interview with Vice, Ty said: “Have you ever had a family member die? It’s basically that. He’s basically dead. It’s like hell, almost. A living hell. Luckily, you can reach out and you can go see him, but it’s like, he’s basically dead. It’s like if a family member dies. I want him back, man. He’s a fucking human man. Imagine if you had someone stripped from the family, man. That shit is fucked up man.”
He went on to say: “He’s a human. A smartass human. A talented human. A human who could be on some whole other shit right now.”
Ty then explained how his brother has changed since entering prison in 2004: “A human who is mine but who is totally different than he was then. You grow everyday. You change everyday. The whole system is fucked up, too. I damn near say that if you’re going to put someone in for life, you might as well kill them. That’s a human, you know? The world is fucked up.”
In other Coachella weekend two news, A.G. Cook brought out Kesha as a guest for ‘Yippee Ki Yay’ and Lady Gaga suffered technical issues, but used the mishap to joke with fans about singing live.
Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong also came out in a ‘Brat’ hat during their headline slot, and drummer Tré Cool sported an “Actual Headliner” sash, seemingly squashing rumours of tensions between them and Charli after their fans warred on social media.
Elsewhere, Kneecap led a “free Palestine” chant during their set, after the trio’s pro-Palestine messaging was reportedly cut from the weekend one livestream.
