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By the time that Trae's album Restless dropped last summer on Rap-A-Lot, I had heard his name a few times (mostly through somanyshrimp), but I didn't know enough about him to warrant dropping $15 on his cd. The album itself seemed to fly under the radar for a few months until late last year, when various hipster-oriented sites began to collectively proclaim it to be one of the best releases of the year. I'm not sure why so many sites picked up on Trae at the same time, but they all seemed to be more interested in the fact that Trae had actually lived through the violence that he rapped about than with any talent he was bringing to the mic. That in and of itself would normally have been reason enough for me to forever banish Restless to the long list of cds that would never make it into my stereo, but after receiving recommendations from several of you, I finally gave in and picked up Trae's album last weekend.
While there are a few Texas-based rappers that I like - specifically: Devin the Dude, the Geto Boys and UGK (at least when they're doing tracks with Jay-Z) - Trae is not one of them, and after listening to this album I don't think he will be any time soon. Even though they cover a lot of the same material, I find it much easier to listen to songs from his cousin Z-Ro. I'd imagine, however, that if you're into the music that's been coming out of Houston the past couple of years, you'll be a big fan of Trae's (though if you're into Houston rap, you no doubt picked up Restless several months ago).
I won't bother doing a full review on an album that's been out for almost a year now, but suffice it to say that there are a few of you whose music recommendations I will be somewhat skeptical of in the future!
Having said all of that, if you put an mc over the right beat, I'm willing to listen to just about anything. And as I said the other day, the beat that Kanye put together for Common's single The People is dope. So dope that I even like the verse that Trae dropped over it:
Trae - People (Mixtape verse)
That's off of a mixtape that Trae is about to put out in the next couple of weeks. Here's one more track off of the tape:
Trae - Push It (Mixtape verse)
Should you be so inclined, you can hear more music from Trae at his myspace page.
6/14/2007 7:28:29 PM posted by Fresh