It’s Goin’ Down
Trae
By Bart White
Photo by Mike Frost

T-R-A-E. Damn, how things change in a year. After the H-Town explosion of 2005, it’s been a quiet year in terms of album releases for Texas. Now that the North side of town and the Swisha House camp brought their fire, it’s time for the Screwed Up Click to step up. First to bat…

Up until recently when Trae’s smash hit H-Town single, “Swang” took flight on the airwaves, the young MC was probably best known for his connections. The younger cousin of Southside Houston’s pride & joy Z-Ro, Trae has been making a name for himself alongside Z-Ro in the Guerilla Maab, and as a member of the Screwed Up Click (SUC). He could hardly have been deemed the most recognizable member of either click through the years, but his reputation has grown steadily.
               
Today, with “Swang” still burning, Trae is fresh out of a bidding war and signed with the hometown dream team at J. Prince’s Rap-A-Lot. But the situation could only be described as bittersweet. “Swang” featured brothers Fat Pat and Big Hawk, two of the very first SUC members. The song acted as an homage to both Houston and to Fat Pat, who was tragically murdered in 1998.
Sadly, in the midst of Trae’s glory, Hawk was also shot and killed in Houston on May 1st. “I mean it hurt you know, cuz not only was it that somebody was on a song, it was like my OG. He been like a brother to me.” He adds, “I’m like the last one left on that song, because both the brothers are gone.”
               
But the game goes on.
               
Mirroring the struggles of his life, Trae is not your typical Houston MC. That’s not to say he shuns the popular view of the H as draped up and dripped out. Trae rocks diamonds, but he’s interested in more than just the finer things in life. “They call me the truth. And the reason they call me the truth is cuz I bring stuff that people don’t wanna hear, and I bring stuff that people need to hear.” He elaborates, “My whole everything is based on being in the street and reality. You know I’m here to shed light on the lower class, on the people that go through real life sh-t. People need to understand there’s a lotta sh-t go on out here. I need to speak up for them.”
               
And don’t expect verses about sippin’ syrup. Trae doesn’t touch any drugs or alcohol. “With me goin through the lot of sh-t that I go through, I don’t wanna be doin it, and that sh-t wear back off and I’m back to reality. I’d rather just head up the sh-t head on, and take it for what it is.”
               
Now Trae finds himself representing for the SUC and the whole Southside of Houston. “We all gonna step up. You know, we lost somebody. I’m stepping up for my team regardless. If it’s meant for me to blow up off this album, that’s what it’s gon be. If it’s meant for me to pay a few more dues, and that’s what its gon’ be. Either way it’s not gon’ stop me… I’m here to do what I do for my homies who passed, and for my brother Dinkie who in jail, and do it for my team, and for my city.”
               
Catch another side to Houston’s gloss-n-floss. Trae drops his star-studded major debut, Restless, this summer.