Down-South: Who have some of your influences been throughout your career?

Trae: My main influence would probably be my older brother Dinkie who got 3 life sentences. Like if you look on the inside of the album covers and shit, you’ll see pictures of him. Like the new Guerilla Maab cd he is on the cover of the cd and he is on the flyers with me Dougie D and Z-Ro. My other influence would be my cousin Z-Ro, Me and Doug and my partner the underground legend DJ Screw.

Down-South: What effect do you feel the passing of Screw has had on Texas music?

Trae: I would say he opened the doors for a lot of people and it had some good effects and some bad effects. The bad effects is that everyone is tryin' to ride off his name and use his name knowin’ damn well he didn’t do that just to try to get their foots in the door, and that’s hoe shit ya feel me? The good effects is that he originated it and he put a lot of us rappers out of Houston on the map.

Down-South: Do you feel other DJ’s such as Watts and Ron C should use slowed instead of screwed to describe their music?

Trae: I’m not really gonna comment on that but I’m gonna say it like this ya dig, and I’m gonna mean it. There’s only one DJ Screw and there will only be one DJ Screw and there will never be another. So for anyone usin' that name I could give two shits cause he is my potna and I got him tattooed on me and I’m gonna ride for him til I die. To me personally no one should use that name. Me personally, my cds are called S.L.A.B., Slow Loud And Bangin. The original screw is at Screw Up Records and Tapes, those are all originals, anything that come from there is original.

Down-South: What are some tracks on the new album you think people should look out for?

Trae: I’m not even gonna lie, there is 27 songs on there, double-disc and everyone is gonna have their different vibes. Some people love to hear us and Z-Ro, so there is gonna be a lot of songs on there with us, some people been dyin’ to here us collaborate with our partners out of Screwed up Click so we gonna have a collaboration with a lot of them. It’s something for everyone to feel. Rakeesh did the production on the whole album except for 1 song that Z-Ro did. Rakeesh produced In The Mist of Guerillas and Rise.

Down-South: Anyone you haven’t worked with that you would want to work with?

Trae: I wouldn’t really say that, but I would say I’m down to work with anyone as long as they spit real shit. Cause us people in music, we spit shit from the heart, shit from the hood ya feel me? It’s cool to be mainstream, and some mainstream people I would like to speak with, but I like the underground, the gutter people know what I’m sayin?

Down-South: People say they’d like to hear you all and Paul Wall and Chamillion on a track, any chance of that ever happening?

Trae: I would say it would be no problem, he’s cool people. Chamillionaire and Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Mario, 50/50, I know all them cats and they are cool people so I wouldn’t never have a problem with it.

Down-South: How come you all aren‘t nationwide right now, do ya‘ll get offers or what‘s goin’ on?

Trae: Yeah man shit, they been givin’ us and Z-Ro offers before we even had albums out. But it’s like this, the right shit hasn’t really came along yet, I know its gonna come in due time, but right now we’re just ridin’ it out and just tryin’ to get everything coastin’ and keeping steady paper til that time come. They don’t want to see us mainstream, they don’t want to see us, Z-Ro, or S.L.A.B. mainstream cause if they see us they gonna have a lot of hell cause we ain’t gonna come with none of that wack ass rappin’ ya feel me? We gone bring it. When everything comes I don’t even want to say it would be a competition, but when they start singling people out and givin’ the ratings out, we are gonna be at the top cause we gonna bring it. None of that weak shit, we bringin’ straight fire cause that’s all we know.

Down-South: Do you think that Lil Flip is opening doors for Texas artists right now?

Trae: Yeah I could say that, I am proud of him. That’s another partner out the SUC and anyone out of the same click as us, I’m gonna be proud of them as long as they are doin’ something. Another person who is opening doors for us right now and who ya need to be on the lookout for is Big Hawk. H.A.W.K. just dropped his album and it’s bangin. He got me on there, he got Z-Ro on there and a lot of people on there. And his album is just jammin' period. I also don't want ya'll to over look Redd from H.S.E., he is hard ya know what I'm sayin? Matter of a fact, Redd is on our album so be on the lookout for him too cause a lot of us youngsters out here are raw.

Down-South: Raw D on the new album at all?

Trae: Raw is my cousin and he is on every album we put out regardless, he was on Resurrected and he is on this album too. Then we got S.L.A.B. which is my lil brother Jayton and my lil cousin Lil B. It's really like one big family cause you got me and Z-Ro who are cousins, Dougie and Z-Ro brothers, so it's like our whole family it's just natural know what I'm sayin?

Down-South: Is it hard to top off classic album after classic album?

Trae: Naw, I'm not gonna say it's hard cause it's just like I say, it's all we know man. Some people gotta realize that some of these cats just do music to do music, but we do music that comes from the heart, so you can tell the passion we have for it and we were blessed with the feeling we have for it. I'm not gonna say it's hard cause it kinda come natural. As long as we livin' and we are near a studio then we gonna give them somethin' to bob their heads to.

Down-South: Is there any certain way that you would explain your style?

Trae: Maan, how could I say it? I would say flippin'/harmonizing/street/thug & gangsta. I mean it's so many ways to explain it. Just like on the new album you got some shit for the females, but we keep it gangsta at the same time. We just got our own lil flava, sometimes you catch us and Z-Ro singing, sometimes ya catch us rappin'. We do different shit, shit that's creative ya know what I'm sayin? We drop Tuesday November 12, it's a double cd, people are gonna like it cause the people who got it early love it.

Down-South: You ever thought about doing a solo album?

Trae: Everybody always ask me that. I wanna say I've thought about it and then I also wanna say I haven't thought about it, cause I got so much shit goin' on. I handle a lot of business for us too so my main focus is on doing our album and then handling the business for that so don't really have the focus as far as doin' a solo album. But it is possible, it's been possible since 96 when me and Z-Ro did Look What You Did to Me. I've just been kinda laggin' with it and just chillin' but it'll come though.

Down-South: Was there anything else you wanted to add to that?

Trae: Shit man, keep supportin' these down south rappers. Fuck it, support any rapper that you know out there tryin' to do somethin. Cause there are a lot of people out there that deserve a lot of credit that they ain't gettin', so my word to the people on the streets is keep it gangsta and keep it real and get out and support these cats. Cause if you was out there you would want people supportin' you. There is a lot of talent in Texas and we just get over looked and some of the vibes that people got thinkin' Texas is all bullshit rappers, that shit ain't true. Cause when you in Texas you gonna be in the mist of some real guerillas. We ain't on none of that bullshit, maybe a few cats on some bullshit but you gonna catch a lot of real cats too. There's real niggas in our hood just like there's real niggas in your hood. My main thing is go get that album Year of the Underdawgs, Trae and Dougie D. We got Z-Ro on there, we got H.A.W.K. on there, Pokey, Lil O, 3-2, Big T, S.L.A.B., Pharoah from Street Military, Redd from H.S.E., D-Drew, its just a gang load of shit on there ya feel me? We come out the same day as Jay-Z, Missy, Fat Joe, all the big names and thats gonna let ya know as soon as we drop. We underdawgs bringin' some real fire and we can't be denied. 

by: Pat Ice © Down-South.com