No Jumper - The Trae the Truth Interview

Episode Date: September 2, 2019

Houston legend Trae Tha Truth is back with his latest project Exhale and stopped by No Jumper while in LA to talk about new music, his community and fatherhood. --- 1:46 Fatherhood 7:48 Projecting onto your kids 8:27 New single "Slindin' and new project 9:06 Nipsey Hussle 9:56 Relationship with Nipsey 13:40 Houston "adopting" Nipsey / memorial for Nipsey 14:56 Rappers being hometown heroes 15:51 Teach people how to care/ Hurricane 17:04 Respect of the community 19:06 Performing in prisons and talking to inmates 19:56 Teenagers in prison like Taykay 21:32 Parents should take care of their kids 24:12 Doing press for the album and spend time with his daughter 25:40 Doing the most to be famous 26:15 Relationship with DJ Screw 28:15 Never been tempted to drink 29:33 Prolific underground hip hop scene then vs online hip hop now 31:20 No more distinct regional sound / hard copies vs streams money 34:16 CD era going to the digital era 35:30 J Prince JR 36:54 How Houston operates 38:34 Respect is an investment 41:12 Artists mistreating their managers 46:08 Adam going to Trae Day! --- FOLLOW OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST! https://spoti.fi/2vi9lsD CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nojumper and iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/no-jumper/id1001659715?mt=2 and follow us on Social Media: http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm follow Adam22 as well: http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 and follow adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No jumper, coolest podcast in the world. And today I'm here with a legend in the game, someone who's been putting them work for incredibly long time. So I'm truly honored to have a conversation with Trey the Truth. How you doing, Gene? What up, my brother? How you doing? Amazing, man.

It's very, very nice to have you in here. We have a pack schedule today, but I was like, for Trey the Truth, we're coming in in 11. We're getting it in earlier than I think we might have ever done it before. There used to be like an exclusively late night podcast. Yeah, well, I feel special, but you know, we found this. It was overdue anyway. I appreciate, man.

Yeah, it's important. then we have these conversations. You want to introduce us to your, your offspring here? Yeah, for those who don't know this baby, too. This is the one who control everything going on right now. Oh, my God. How old? One. One. Yeah. Wow. Hi. How are you doing? How do you think she's adapted into being semi-famous coming around? She's on the breakfast club. I mean, that's a big deal. Yeah, she'd be cooler, man. She, at the end of the day, she's a daddy's girl. So even being amongst so many celebrities,

because it's, you know, it's a lot of pictures and videos. They ain't been posted yet, but she don't care to go to nobody. At the end of the day long, she was me, she, I, right. Right, yeah. She got this little zebra is that her, that's her choice of the time? For the day. Funny story. Her Uncle Tusha gave her toy, but that toy, she's not ready for that toy, yeah.

What kind of toys is that? Yeah, it's like a, like a little lighter thing, but it says one of his favorite words sometimes. Oh, man. You gotta keep that tucked away. That's hilarious. Yeah, I'm having that problem because now we have no jumper, shirts and hats that have this little weed guy on him. And, like, my nephew, he's five. And as soon as he saw it, he's like, I'm wearing this to school tomorrow.

And it's, like, really hard to explain why you can't wear that to school. Yeah, yeah, that's how that go, man. Oh, that's hilarious. So how many kids do you got at this point? Four. Four. Three boys and one girl. And what ages are we looking at with the boys?

18, 16, about to be 10, and then one. So she is seeing a very different trade of truth than what potentially the boys saw. Oh, yeah, Bob Paul. How would you say that you and your parenting style has changed with age, 18 years, a long time? It's always different with, it is in the name, but it's always different back then when they used to say you have a girl, but, you know, I didn't really understand until I had her, you know, because now a lot of stuff I wouldn't be cool with doing back then. And it don't even bother me. Now, imagine seeing Trader 2 walking through a queer

and with a baby backpack on that she's sitting in the pouch on front of my stomach while we just cool. Right. You know, when it comes to your kids, man, especially your little girls, you know, everything goes. You're going to do whatever to make them happy. Definitely. There was that whole situation that came up where the guy who played James Bond, that they had a photo of him wearing his baby on his chest. And then I forget who it was, but some late.

night host was trying to clown on him for that. And it was such a big controversy. He's like, how can you clown someone? Yeah, it looks a little goofy, but he's taking care of his kid. Yeah, definitely. You know, when you really care about your kids, they don't matter anyway. And then when you type of cat I am, there ain't nothing they can say that's really going to shift what I got going on anyway, because I'm still going to be respected the same, you know?

Specifically, were you ever worried about having a daughter in comparison to just having all these boys? Because now you know what it's like to take a child to adulthood. with a boy. The girl's like a different challenge. Yeah, it's definitely something that's spooky and it's going to be a challenge. It's not even going to be a challenge. Just the first 18. It's going to be a challenge of a whole life because at the end of the day, you got to protect her. I see with my daughter, she lives in L.A.

So I stay in Houston. So my biggest fear is something happening and I can't get here fast enough. So, you know, I'm real, real percusses when it comes to. Right. You've always sort of had that protector gene in you. It's always kind of been a big part of how people have. Have you always felt like that since you were young? Were you like the man of the house to a certain extent?

I wouldn't say I was the man of the house when I was younger. It was just always something about me that always looked out for people. And, you know, at the end of the damn low, as they come, if I'm with you, I'm with you to the end. And we're going to either crash out together, or we're going to win together. So I've always been that way with anybody I got genuine love for. And I think it's just, that kind of just stuck with me. And that's so crazy, and my kids too.

Well, not so her yet, because she ain't sharing nothing with nobody. She don't give a damn. But the boys and them, they always, you know, it'd be to the point my youngest son, baby Houston here hit me, oh yeah, I was just hit you to make sure you straight, you're good, you know, so it'd be cool.

But with my kids, I got that, the homeboy relationship. I don't do the strict daddy. Like, I don't want my kids, don't do none of that, man. Like, we're gonna hold a conversation. Right. And then you can come talk to me about anything. I'm gonna tell you if you're tripping, I'm gonna tell you if it's a good move, or, you know. Because when you have a boy, and I guess you've seen this straight up, so you could tell me what it's like, but it seems like...

You ain't got no kids yet? No, not yet. Definitely gonna change your life. The older I get, the more I feel like when I say that, that the dudes I'm talking to on here are kind of like, oh, like you gotta get on that. Like, you might not have much time, bro. You gotta pump some kids up. No, I mean, it's always time, but you definitely gonna want that experience, man. You're gonna want to wake up to see you're gonna want to see you.

to see a younger you. It's going to trip you out to see them doing stuff. And they don't even knowingly do it. They just do stuff that's going to remind you or you. And it's going to just sit back amazed, tripped out, you know, just the thought process. But then the flip side of that, you can't even get mad when they go to wild and out, especially if you was wild and out. So that's the other part of it.

Ah, man. You're making me feel like I got to go home and get to work. But no, okay. When you're raising a boy, it's kind of. of like you could raise them in this bubble where you're sort of protecting them from everything around you, protecting them from, you know, the swear words and the people smoke of weed and the way that people talk about women, et cetera. It's kind of like at a certain point, your son is probably just going to become one of the guys who's just going to be in the room while you're with your

friends having a conversation. So it's kind of like, do you want to try to shield them for as long as possible and then just abruptly introduce them to the real world? Or do you want to try to help them blend in from the beginning. I show mine off the rip anytime because the game I give them and the street knowledge of exposing them to certain stuff, it makes them not, you know, when kids come up, the cool thing is when you're curious or you're trying to show out for the other homies. So you go to do, you go to do stuff to prove yourself. But when you expose it to them right off the rip, when other kids go to do that, they're looking like, man, my old man, Ben showed me that like I ain't that don't excite me you're not even to give me to do that type stuff you know

I'm saying because I know this may be cool or this may be lame so mine they always been exposed to everything way early so they still able to be a kid but they sharp enough to have street smart way more advanced than the average child so you kind of give them the best of both worlds yeah definitely because if not what if I brought one around you and didn't I wouldn't high in with them then you like well man let's let's let's let's go do this or let's go I'm about to go no offense you say I'm about to go do a sroom or we about to go that's the vibe you get from me I'll just give you an example though that's cool I appreciate you giving me that instead of like blow or Molly or something yeah you do the first thing

came to mind I'm like I got on shrooms right now imagine yeah but that that's the thing is that I mean when when you think about who you are now as an adult it's because you've been through the ringer all this stuff that you you either did or you found out about or you you you thought was cool and then you did it and you learn from it it's all because you actually bent through that and it's a lot to expect a young kid to be able to learn from example but the closer you can get them to it then the better the chance is that when they're 12 and their friend is like yo let's go shoplift from the Walmart yeah they're gonna be like that's look at this gun you know yeah look at this gun we like you're just saying no no no no I don't need that

Yeah. And, you know, it just is, I instill it in them, they just got to be leaders, you know, point blank period. Yeah. Definitely. I was listening to a project today. There's some sliding. I was going to throw it out that as my favorite one. Yeah, that's the single right now. It is. Well, I'm a good guess of them because I didn't know that, but that was the one that stood out to me and have a little bit of West Coast type bounce to it a little bit. Yeah, I felt like I feel like I needed, especially with my daughter here and, you know, I got a lot of ties out here. It's just like I wanted to keep that part of the. the culture on my project too, because I'm out here a lot, you know what I'm saying? And everything else is dominantly me, you know, as far as Houston. But yeah, definitely that one,

it just, it gives you that good, turn-up young vibe, you know what I'm saying? So it felt like you kind of started the album out on a little bit more of a somber vibe. Like there's a lot of songs on it that sort of stand out as, you know, that you've been going through stuff, like in terms of the nipsy thing.

Like that influence is clearly, really felt throughout the project, that sadness and that that reflection. I think man, at the time, and I tell people, at the time I was going through the Nipsey thing, then, you know, I'm fighting a custody case as far as with my daughter because, you know, I only get to see it once a month. So just everything, it was like I was just getting pulled in so many directions and I just felt like I had to just let it out. You know, sometimes when you, you may walk outside and just go in the middle of mailroads

and just scream, just out of frustration. but once you get it out, you know, you're going to figure out what's next. And I think that's what it was with this project. That makes sense. Can we talk about how you actually met Nipsey and what the relationship was like? Somebody asked me that earlier. I honestly don't remember when the first time we met. Really?

But we've been around a long time. You know, that's been family more than anything. As far as the music, you know, we got songs together, but we've always been closer as brothers in general. Was that something where you just met him and immediately? felt some sort of energy between each other? No, I honestly, I'm going to have to really sit and think when we met, man, because we got a long, long history.

Right. Even if you go back to look at some of the first times I was doing different stuff in the community, he's been there with me, you know what I'm saying? So we got a long history, man. And, you know, I used to pop in L.A. all the time and just pull up on them or we'll end up meeting you know like I remember many times I would come even though he lived he would always be a different hotel hey bro I'm staying here but these next few days pull up what you got going on and how you're gonna be moving around cool come pick up the truck and then you know we'll meet back up in a day or so whatever it's just

like we always just had our own relationship just family while like brothers right yeah when uh so you guys always just sort of got along real well together route Do you remember where you were when you first heard about what happened to him? Yeah, yeah, I was in Houston. I remember vividly, man. My youngest son was getting his hair braided. And that's when I got the call. And when I got the call, the first initial call was he was shot.

Right. Next call was, bro, it's not looking so good. And, you know, you still kind of like, nah, this ain't real. Like, I'm waiting on somebody to call and say he, Ike. And I think I found out. I found out definitely way before social media that he had passed. What is that? True.

Taking over the show. I was like, it would be taken over by hackers here, so it was like music playing in my it. It just kind of, it killed my whole energy, man. And I was telling, I was telling somebody I was doing the interview earlier. My son fed off it. Because, you know, I went to drop him off instantly and I was just kind of in a blank phase. But his mother called and she was like, man.

I don't know what's going on, but just something out of it. You know, like, he's been real sad, and I'm trying to figure out what's wrong, and I talk to him. Everybody want to take that? I just trying to feel for the audience at home. Might not be. Oh, I don't know if she's going to be able to handle it going away, is she? Oh.

Yeah. Now I was the worst person on that. God damn, I'm the one who took the zebra. Oh, no. Yeah, go on. And the Cheerios. Uh-uh. Come on.

Come on. Oh, my God. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Pull a headband down, so. And she got polo shoes. Oh, my God. She's dripping. Oh, baby.

Yeah, yeah, so. So, she's gonna be a-a-in-a-in-sing. Oh, man. It's so good that you have a team of big-ass dudes just taking care of this baby. It's such a funny thing to look over and see. Yeah, I'll be. It's a lot of us out here.

Yeah, yeah. You see her walking in the building, and you see about 10 of us. You can't know. Yeah, that little girl, we don't want to mess with that. That's so good. Okay, so where we're at? Your brother. Yeah, Nipsey.

And my son, energy was just, yeah, he was just, he was down because he just took the vibe and the energy of how I was taking it, you know. And I don't know, man, I was just, I was just at a blank face. for a long time and I was getting ready to come out here and then I was like man Nipsey used to be in Houston with us a lot like people in Houston kind of took to him as family as us you know so outside of my relationship so I end up doing a memorial for him before I came here you know it was real crazy it was thousands of people out there and I did that then I came here and I don't know man I just I've been

kind of been here every step of the way still rapping for him to this day yeah yeah damn did it hit you extra hard because of the fact that you're somebody who is still so much a part of your community and you're just around the people and that's just kind of a big part of your identity i think he was like that too it hit me hard more because that's somebody that i love that's what hit me the most now it hit a lot of people the way that you're saying because people was calling me out the blue like bro you got to be safe because everybody look at us similar right even to this day people look at me and him as similar because you guys are like hometown hero rap stars that are really truly like ambassadors of the community which you don't

always see from people that are in your perspective perspective you know yeah yeah i mean you know and it could be a lot more but you know at the end of the day nobody's nobody owes anything anyone anyone so they don't have to be that you know it definitely could be a lot more because you got to realize with me and nipsy we weren't in the uh uh uh a good situation like everybody else, like other artists, because you had other artists who were going to easy route and blew up and had millions periods.

Like we had to hustle hard for us. That's a big part too, yeah. And we still did, we did from the heart. So imagine if we had what they had. But at the end of the day, I understand, they're not required to have to care either. And in a lot of situations, a lot of people, not just artists, it can be movie stars and athletes,

nobody required to care. if it doesn't affect them personally. That's how a lot of people look at it. And I try to teach people otherwise, because you never know, like, when the hurricane hit Houston, a lot of people was, oh, man, well, I'm good. My place is good, but when they start really realizing, then they got some of their relatives, like,

well, Trey and them saved me, or I don't know what I was gonna do if they didn't come take care of me and then start, people start appreciating it more. Like, even though it may not affect me directly, can still affect me. It could be somebody that I care for that I've been going through and then I got to I got to take the moment to start being a little more considerate. When I'm saying that I'm speaking from their aspect because me I'm on the front line all the time. I'm going to do everything I can. Right. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because, you know, a lot of people

are involved in kind of like the street life doing stuff when you're younger that whether it's violence or selling drugs or whatever. It's like there's a lot of stuff that you might not consider when you're 18 or your early 20s, the negative impact that it's happening on the community. And when I see you doing something that you absolutely don't have to do, like going out and helping with the hurricanes and stuff, is like, how is your mind state on what you're doing with your time evolved over time? Because it's kind of like a lot of, you know, stuff that you might have been doing when you were younger, you might not have necessarily considered the impact that could have had negatively. But now you're going out of your way to have an overtly positive impact on your community. Yeah. One thing about it, I'm highly respected across the globe.

And it's always going to be that. The flip side of that is with me doing what I do. it also shows some of the youngians that's coming up. You could do this and still be cool. You still can be that guy. You know what I'm saying? And sometimes people need that because if they don't know, then they're going to overlook it like me.

I ain't going to do that. Everybody going to laugh at me. But when you're a person like me and you're your own leader, you don't care what people think about you. You know, you're going to do what you want to do. That's like me. I've been a street cat my whole life. I ain't never smoked and drink in my life.

And you would think every street cat got to smoke a drink. But the fact I don't, you know, people they respected just as much so with that being said the impact that I have now I think with a lot of things that I went through in life you know from having two sisters murdered another brother murdered I got a brother doing two life sentences my my um middle son disabled it's like I just bent through a whole bunch man and I feel like with some of the youngsters coming up that's why I grabbed them and put them under my wing because I feel like I want you all to be able to experience what being happy in life is as opposed to having to go down the road

or the environment I have. I'm not telling you not to be that because I understand it. You know, so I understand that way of life I'm going to be here and I'm going to be one of the big homies forever. But I'm also going to watch you not crash yourself because coming up, I didn't necessarily have people to tell me, hey, don't do that. My first case was an aggravated robbery case, you know, which I was blessed to end up, I think I'd end up doing two years deferred probation on it, but the first time, the first offer was double digits.

But I ain't have nobody, you know, as far as this, I'm, man, we in the neighborhood. We're going to take whatever we want to take with somebody and keep it moving the next day. We're not knowing how serious it is. And it's like, that was a blessing from God that I made it through that situation. But what about the next little one? They may try and hang in with 60, 70 years. I don't know if you know I'm the first person that toured through, Texas prisons like as far as going in the prisons being able to rap, kick it with the

inmates for a day, everything. But I remember man, there was kids in there. They were so young and small. They had them on a whole different wing of the unit. You got kids 11, 12 looking at doing life for 50 years, you know. And it's like man, when I were going there and just see them and you know, talk with them, chop it up. They would be kids all over again. They're not thinking about this, the world and the, but then me leaving the reality set

that just for that moment they was able to experience happiness and live as a child, but now they gotta go back to surviving. Yeah, I mean, we could even keep it within Texas. Like, Tay K was looking like he was gonna be this big breakout star out of Texas and they gave him like 50 years and this, you know, you could say that the situation, you could say that the situation he was involved in was all messed up and he definitely shouldn't have been involved and there's no question about that but they're not even saying he pulled the trigger and he's out here getting handed 50 years and he was 17 16 when that happened when you see something like

that it's got it's got to hurt just knowing that the mistakes you make when you're bare you're not an adult the mistakes you make are going to basically ruin your entire life and from what i learned to from what i learned about the homie not only did they do that they end up winning and taking his money too so even the the stuff that he was making off the and the music he had was stripped of him too. So they're gonna sue him for everything he made off of it because they're trying to say he was glorifying the criminal act or whatever.

Yeah, I think they already won, if I am mistaken, but you never really know. You know, sometimes stuff spread on the internet fast. But, you know, definitely prayers and blessings to him, you know, even to the victim, if that's something that he had part to do with. But I understand the life, man, you know, we all mess up and everybody deserves second chances.

in some form of fashion, whether that may be just being with the man up above or whatever the situation may be. Right. But I know we're in the day and age now. You got a lot of people that's getting ridiculous time for stuff that ain't called for. Not just his case, I'm saying just in general. You know what I'm saying?

So it's just, it's all messed up just around the board. Yeah, and I really, I think this kind of emphasizes why it's like, motherfuckers need to take care of their kids because you could easily have a 16, 17 year old kid who ends up ruining his entire life just because he maybe didn't have his dad around. I'm not, I can't say that about take care of anything. But that's like, you know, you probably known a lot of people who weren't on top of taking care of their kids throughout their life.

Did that ever even seem like an option to you or was it always so obvious that you were going to be a good dad? And did you ever even come close to not fulfilling your duties in your opinion? I think the one thing out of fatherhood for me. me that probably I wish I could take back is at the time my son De Nico which is my disabled son which I do everything under the sun for and behind them I think at that time I was just hitting my prime peak so anything he needed he had any and everything way before and advanced but time wise I was on the road constantly constantly constantly to well I wasn't even able to

live for myself. I was on the road. I'm doing three, four shows a week, you know what I'm saying? And, um, which I, I definitely commend this mother because I love her to death, man. She, she stood in there. So at times I couldn't be in times I was on the road, she was always handling whatever need to be done. That's why we're a team. We are not. Like it's down there, like my best friend or sort. And, um, I think that definitely touched me just because even though I spent a lot of time and did everything I could, I wish I could have spent more. So that's why when I had my son, Houston, after him, I tried to make up for it too and keep him around. You know, like even when I was traveling, because that's one stuff.

By this time, I'm going through different lawsuits, different stuff. So it's like I'm not moving how I used to move. So I would grab Houston and just take him with me. We would be out here. We would be in different cities, you know, to where I felt. like I had I slacked a little the first go around giving my time to the people and the fans as opposed to give a majority of my time to my family and I think any orders go through that because sometimes you know it can get overwhelming because at the end of that you still got to get out there and go make money

to provide for your people so I get it both ways I mean it's weird situation for you now because you're dealing with the custody stuff you can only see your daughter once a month it's like would you be having a really hard time making decisions about how you balanced your time if you were able to have her every day would it then be really hard for you to go out and do three four shows in a week so you know it's crazy that you said that so i had an album that just came up i have to get up and go do press i haven't you know i put out tapes but i didn't put out the album in a minute so i was in a dilemma i only give her once a month but the album coming out in a week or two do i take this chance and go to new york and go do press or do i just shut everybody out spend time my daughter and just

just say after album and we'll try and push it back now honestly i tried to push the album back but it was it was too far in the system by this time so now it was like man i got to work but i got to be a father first and that's how you ended up seeing baby truth on the breakfast club with me so i took her and houston and we was on the road and now i'm in la doing press and you see she right here with me yeah i mean i think it's good too because it's like you want people to know that you're growing and to be able to grow with you and it's like you know you've clearly your demeanor and attitude has changed over the years but it feels like with the having the baby there it's very like in your face like nah this I'm a different dude than I was 10 however many years ago different and the same because

disrespect we ain't going to tolerate right here like they they know that but a lot more stuff as you get older you can tend to overlook because it's like at the end of the day I got to make sure I make it back home to my kids now if it's time and we got to go that I'm prepared in all aspects and I'm still going to get on to my kids but if it ain't necessary why entertain them man you know because a lot of people get caught up in these situations where they have to put on for the world they have to put on for media they have to put on to try and prove that they them people and with me I ain't you know I can walk in the room and I say it would still be felt probably 10 times

more than the person that's in there doing the most right you know what I'm saying so growth now is a I'm a lot more a lot more mature but I have to be you know because everything I'm doing that from this point it ain't about me as for the legacy of my kids and those I love

Right Yeah definitely I know you probably told the story a million times But you tell us just Hit us with those memories Or the first times that you linked up with screw And what it was like going into that atmosphere And where were you as a rapper

Before you got introduced to that? As a rapper before I put before you meant screw. Yeah, I put an album, I put a group album out, which is Gorilla Mob. But what happened was

Screw ended up getting a hold of the music and the thing back then bigger than radio, bigger than anything. Tapes. If you ever made it on a screw, even if you didn't make it on there

with a freestyle, your song made it on there. Like the tapes was so important and vital to our culture. We didn't have track listings. You didn't have none of you. You just get the tape.

Once you hit play, what you get is what you get. And never forget once the first time we've been on there, the first time he put us on there, he actually reached out. And you know, he would come pull up on us because he had relationships amongst all of us on his own. But that definitely changed because throughout the city of Houston, you don't know who it is. You don't know the artists of the name,

but you may know that song. And then when people start putting the name with the face, it start growing you. And screw was probably one of the most genuine people you'll meet. Layback, quiet, cool, just had a real big heart, you know. And that's why even as homies, as brothers, you give and take from your people. Like, I don't know if you're around somebody every day, you may pick up something from them or they may pick up something from you.

And I always had the heart, but also being around him and the love we have. that it only enhanced the love that I have for the people, you know what I'm saying? Because he's one of the people that like to reach out and touch to people and just cheer. You know, you just genuinely want to see people make it. And that's the same note I'm on. And was that weird going into that environment

where there's a lot of smoking and drinking and everything being done? And were you not into that even at that time? No, I ain't never smoked a drink. You never felt tempted? No, it didn't, but it didn't bother me. You know what I'm saying? And the good thing, like I said about me,

I've always been accepted for me. You know what I'm saying? It's nothing. You got to think bringing your child on no jump or a breakfast club. Probably wouldn't see people do it ever. But guess what? You can mark my words in due time. You're going to see people carrying their kids around to interviews that they feel need.

You know, a lot of people, man, they don't step out as far as being them. They still be kind. They still kind of be worried about what the next person is going to say or how they're going to feel. Yeah, I just don't give a damn, man. Because if you ain't been through what I've been through and just went through these obstacles, man, I'm not doing it for you, doing it for me. So with that being said, I was always just me, you know?

It'd be times, many of times I'd be a screwhouse when everybody's rapping, I may be sitting in there playing a video game. I may be sitting there chilling. Or maybe times everybody chilling and talking, I may be just sitting in there with school watching him mix. So it's like, I always just been my own person. right definitely um when you were in that environment though uh like or what you're describing there it just makes Houston at that time period it makes it sound like the underground hip-hop scene

was just so alive with this this whole screw tape thing and everything at that time how would you compare that to the rap scene these days where it seems like so much stuff just basically takes place online there are a ton of rappers coming out of texas right now texas definitely having a moment right now, but how would you compare that sort of scene, like at that time when you fell in love with rap versus the way it is these days? I'm honestly cool with it both ways. The difference of back then when Screw was living was he brought a lot of people from different parts of town and different neighborhoods together to where it became a alliance and a crew, you know, even if you may not necessarily deal with them. This crew on a regular is still some type of respect and some type of understanding there to where everybody became bonded to where it was just one big, one big coalition. And then you have people that's how you came out with the fat pets, the DJ schools, the big moles, the H.A. Dub K's, the three twos, the grace, the mafios. There's so many, you know what I'm saying, even down the pimp C.

like people didn't realize man even a lot of West Coast because we have a lot of ties to the West Coast so you know you have people used to come out there like Sebo you know um Cube it's like so many people were tied in different ways but I think the difference of that now is it's just a newer generation of ways to get your music out way way different and it's a quicker process now does it seem does it seem weird to you that there's less of a regional sound now because of the internet It's like this you don't hear music as often. They're like, oh, that's that Texas shit.

That's that Texas sound. Yeah, because everybody's able to be exposed to all different sounds and everybody again, like I just said even from home, was everybody taking use here and there. Whether they may acknowledge it or whether they may not, everybody feeds all different stuff. Because if you walk in the club and you watching what everybody excited about, you're going to try and figure out what you need to do to make sure everybody get excited for you the same way. So it's just how I go. And it's a different age because like if you were to look at that era, those screw tapes and everything, that's an era where there was literally no other music on earth that sounded anything like what he was doing at that time. It's very different than like we're hip-hop.

Now when we talk about the next new artist out of Texas, we're talking about the artists that are resonating, that are doing millions of views on YouTube where it's making sense to the people. Yeah. And then the difference of the game nowadays, which it ended up switching for the best because you have people like us who came from the in the trunk air. So, We actually sold physical hard copies, but now in this day and age, a certain amount of streams equal to sell. So it kinda worked both ways back then.

We just had to hustle a lot harder. And you know, it made a lot more sense, but then as time went by, you know, it started out first with YouTube. And then you're seeing these artists starting to get all these views and now they're starting to get ridiculous numbers as far as sales. But then the difference is without the streams, it'd be kind of hard for a lot of people to get the physical album sales.

Because you can have somebody that may sell 10,000 physical sales, but stream 35 million. You see what I'm saying? All the time. Yeah. So it's just, it's so many different ways with it now. But it worked out because you work hard for those streams. I'd be proud to see them get them plaques off the streaming services. And just even the situation as well, you may not be big to be on radio or anything like that.

The streaming services is what keep your alive, you know. Then you know for all this, you got sound exchange now. So not anytime somebody play anything with yours, you had an opportunity to where you get paid for it. And it's so crazy, we were so into being into our own world, our own space, how we came up independently out of the Trump. I didn't even really find out to sign this change to Guys are the one who put me on top of it from Empire You know, that's my bro. But I didn't even really find out about that

To the last couple of years. So you got to think, man, when I went in, I had already lost them to 10 years worth of money that I could have probably had Never knew nothing about. Yeah, you kind of came out at a weird time Like between the CD age and the streaming age. There's a lot of artists like you

who maybe never really got the money you or the props that they maybe could have in a way, not to say that your career in any way has it been great, but you know, it's just sort of a weird time period to fall into where artists weren't necessarily just coming out and getting these big signing bonuses like at that time because it was harder to monetize an artist. Yeah, yeah, definitely, man. But that's also the gift and the curse, you know, that was the curse part of it. But the gift is I'm still the artist that's respected in every area.

That's like even with so many of the old, you can have. have you can go to a listening party with me like the one I just had New York and you can have a DMX Buster Rhimes, main though, you know, that are on legendary status. And then you also have some of the up and coming like flip the narrow and other ones that show up. So it's like I'm one of the ones that's kind of locked in in all aspects. You know, I'm respected by the old heads because with the old heads I was the younger one that always ran with older heads. Then with the younger ones, I was younger one that ran with the old head so they still look up to me the same too so it just all work definitely you know we just got a jay prince jr's first interview oh yeah yeah it's my little brother

shout out to pops man make sure y'all get his book you know what i'm saying see a lot of people understand me and j prince senior we very very similar you know what i'm saying and he's out he always been supportive everything i do is vice versa is me supported with him and man the the good thing with all of us with Julian everybody as we are our family and I'm proud of them from junior and jazz because a lot of people don't know like jazz responsible for a lot of artists that's out there you know junior as well like we all do our thing as just a family but just to think that jazz would take Drake to Wayne you know what I'm saying to think that jazz like jazz kind of tied in so so many different ways you know and jazz more

kind of the mainstream industry, then you got junior who reach out and grab a lot of the up and coming, the underground, the street side. Right. Then you have pops that just, he tied in to everything. Like, I think one of the biggest things with one of the biggest artists that Jay Prince have now is the YVMMA, you know, like I'm just from a distance, and Quote, just watching them from a distance, and those little dudes followings is ridiculous. And it's, I think.

confusing to a lot of people the level to which guys like you guys operate on respect and how that's the most important thing to you. And, you know, like when we saw that incident where Almighty J goes chain took or whatever and then to have Jay Prince come out and just say like we need that back and nobody will disrespect us and stuff. It's almost like that mentality of just really standing on your principles has kind of become sort of foreign to people in the modern social media age. I tell people we the outcast. The outcasts are if we stand, we have principles, morals, integrity, just everything that we stand for. That's the outcast these days because we're in the day and a day and a day. It's where people feel like we're going to do whatever we got to do to get by to win to make it through a certain situation. And you know, you got people like us that won't, we won't fold, we won't convert to make a situation easy or peaceful. Like we just don't believe in it. If it's something I don't like and I don't stand for or believe and I ain't going to do it. That's just like if you was doing stuff that I felt wasn't cool with your show,

I wouldn't give it. I wouldn't give them to you the biggest thing on earth. I'm not going to do it. That's not what I want to do. Right. And I feel like at this present time, it's not enough of that, but I feel it's always going to have to come back to that. Right. Because you have some of these younger cats that's getting older and understanding why we move, how we move,

and why we think how we think. So it's going to come back to that. You know what I'm saying? And again, a lot of people don't take it seriously because it don't affect them directly. When it affects them directly, they'll start thinking twice about it. Because when I did the Jay Prince interview, leading up to it, I've been watching interviews with his pops and stuff

and just kind of thinking about the concept of respect and just sort of dwelling on in my head. And then after I do the interview, Jay Brins Jr. tells me that the reason why he wanted to do the interview was because there had been this girl on the podcast and she had said to me, Like what's up with Jay Prince Jr. or whatever? Like should I be scared of them?

And my response was, I don't know if you should be scared of them, but you should definitely respect them. And like, I didn't even think twice about it when I said it. But she shut up right then. She was, I don't know if she was going to air some shit. I would say something. But she shut up right then. And then Jay told me right after he's like,

when I heard you say that, I fucked with that. And that's why I wanted you to be my first interview. And that just like reminded me that when you do the respectable real thing in any given situation, it might not immediately pay off. but it's always like an investment on what people think of you going forward. Yeah, and the fact is when you give any type of respect, it's always going to be some type of respect that's going to be giving back.

Right. You know, and a lot of people would be frustrated because they don't get that certain respect. And when they don't get that respect back, then they go to thinking we're the bad guys or we be tripping. But it's all about how you come into person. That's like, I came here at the end of the day. I could have been in here like, I'm trade of truth. hurry up, sit down, let's do what we need to do.

Oh, I came here, hey, bro, you good, what you got going on. Well, cool, let me figure out a way that we can try and help you with this. Or, you know, like, it's just a different genuineness. Because even though we have the reputations where people feel like, man, I don't really want to get into it with Trey and them because I don't know how it's going to turn out or whatever that is. They really don't know from the outside looking in. We're probably some of the most coolest people, some of the most humblest people.

Right. Just don't mess with us the wrong way. I'm not going to do nothing to you. you don't do nothing to me. But if you go to handling me a certain kind of way, I have to be what I was raised to be, you know what I know. I think part of it too is just that you had to grind so hard for everything that you've accomplished in your career.

You never had it really handed to you. And the number one people that I see acting like, you know, spoiled brats or whatever is when you see some 18 year old kid, whatever, who just blows up out of nowhere. And he didn't really have to work that hard on his music career, but now he's got everything being thrown at him. And he doesn't really have that perspective on it. I would put you in that category. I put myself in that category because I had to work so hard doing this shit,

making jack shit for money before I could even get to the point where I'm at now. So it's like when you see every step of the way, it's hard for you to be a rude jerk to the manager. It's like, why would you be a jerk to the manager for no reason? He's the guy with a job just like you. You know, it's so crazy, man. I'm one of the people when I do interviews. I don't talk about.

I don't like to bring up other artists. I don't do none of that because I don't get involved in no tight mess. anything I need to handle, we handle it out there how it need to be. But I can give you a situation, I'm not even gonna name them. It's been times I've seen young artists spazzed out on their managers. And I have to, even in the manager kind of you'll be looking and they don't really know what to do. Because one, they need the job, two, they're trying to make them happy, but they're also trying to feed their family. So there's been times I had to pull artists to the side away from everybody like,

man, that ain't the way to move because if you reverse them shoes and that was your mama or your sister, to manage somebody else and somebody handling them like shit how would you take that and you have to bring it to them in that aspect and then they go to thinking like well yeah they did miss up but maybe i shouldn't have went so hard on them you know what i'm saying because they do fuck up different people fuck up managers in it i even had times like that but i also be mindful to where i don't go overly extreme with it because it's like man what if somebody did that to to to your people That's like me. I don't, I don't run around there.

If a bitch piss me up, I'm not gonna slap up or goddamn head, if anything, man, just get your ass from around me. I'm gonna get away from you. Because in my mind, somebody ever touched my daughter like that, bro, I'd be prison the rest of my life. With everybody. Me too.

I'm coming to Texas. I'm not happy about that. You see what I'm saying? So it's like you have to just, you have to teach people like, man, just do on the others. You know, it's so crazy to hear this. You know you hear it, I would assume you heard this your whole life. this your whole life, do on the others that you will want done unto you.

But it's a kind of lesson that you're just going to keep learning it over and over and over in your life in different ways and it's going to keep sort of sinking into your brain. You've been hearing it since you were too young to even really understand. Yeah, yeah. But as you get older and a lot of people ask me how time, do you think all this is going to change I say, man, one thing for sure, it never fails. Either they're going to change their own or life going to change them. You know, you may change your own because you have a child and you're getting old and mature.

Or you're going to run into that brick wall you weren't prepared for and it's going to change you. So it's always going to happen. And I'm not trying to cut you off. I'm looking at him keep signaling because I have another interview right now. Oh, you do? Okay. Yeah, yeah. But I'm trying to make sure we get there.

We got a solid 45 minutes in that. That's good. Yeah. But it's the first and it won't be the last man. Yeah, anytime. And then it's dope because, you know, I'm a transparent person. So from people watching your interviews, they just think it's always going to be some bullshit, but not knowing that you can hold a simple conversation talking about real life.

They love any time that I talk to somebody that's like a grown-ass man that I got a real conversation with, just because, like, you know, they get annoyed. I think sometimes when you interview a young rapper, they got a hot song, but then it's like they ain't really that good at having a conversation, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I definitely, I think people are going to be able to appreciate what we were able to get them right now. definitely shout out to you the album exhale is out now and i'm i appreciate you even checking it out um the next video was sliding coming but when you see that letter the truth that's going to be

something real it's going to open a lot of eyes and the reason i'm saying that is you got a lot of fathers you have two type of father you have fathers that don't do shit for their kids and don't care but still when they're in the court system they can do whatever they want when they come to their kids and you have fathers like me that that you have fathers like me that imagine somebody telling you you can only see your child for one week out of a month I can see my daughter 12 times a year yeah right that shit just don't even sign you see what I'm saying so but it's also a lot of fathers that can't speak up in this system these days it's designed for mothers to win right and I'm not against that because some mothers deserve it

because they work hard they bust their ass and take they wear all both pair of shoes but then you do have some people that do do right but we take enough the consequences of what man in the past did and fucked up. So that's why even with this song in this video, I'm trying to open it up so people understand, man, it's about being equal with your kids. Right. It shouldn't be to where,

because the way they look at it in the system, as long as you ain't on drugs or killing the baby, then the baby should automatically be with the mother and I don't agree with that. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Because it's just you catch fucked up situations Like if you're familiar in Houston with the Malaya situation where a child can come up dead from another parent.

You know what I'm saying? And it's like some of that shit wouldn't happen if you haven't equalness with it. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I'm on right now. No, that's an important thing to be calling attention to those. That's the grown trade of truth right there is like raising attention to serious issues. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm always trying to take care of the city.

Next year, I need to bring you the trade day though. Oh, I'm definitely trying to come. I was listening to talk about that. You never experienced that. You're going to. I'm there. I was just in Dallas. I get people asking me to go to Houston all the time.

It's been a minute. I haven't been there in a year or two, so I'm definitely trying to pull up ASAP. And you know, one other thing, I'm speaking in the atmosphere. We talked about a long time ago. We need to go and get ready to try and do this tour or run. We need to go and do it.

So next time you do it, you need to sit down and figure it out because that's something I want to. I love jumping in different worlds. Let's do it. You know what I'm saying? I would be remiss if I didn't mention this in this interview is that you know how sometimes you and your friends will just have a song that maybe isn't the biggest song but it'll just go you and your friends listen to it a thousand times future long live the pimp feature and trade the truth I have listened to that song five million times throughout my life of my boys got a gold plaque with it that's amazing song I was just listening to it and I swear to God that song still hits so hard yeah man after this after because it's going to be a while in me pushing this album.

After that, I'm going to probably do a train friends tape. I got, bro, I got over 2,000 songs with damn the Indian area artists you could think of. I believe it. So, we're going to, the next project going to be more fun. And then me and Mazzi got a group album and a movie coming out. So we just, you know, we working, man. And I'm going to make sure I get you in my cartoon too. Oh, yeah, yeah.

I need to be digitized. Let's do it. Yeah. Hey, man. Trade the truth. Exhale. Out now. Everybody go check that out.

Trade the truth. No Jumber coolest podcast in the world. Like, comment, and subscribe, et cetera. I messed up my ultra, but I'm just going to rock with it. Nojumper.com if you want to support. Appreciate y'all. That's good.