Yung Trey | Chicago’s Next Success Story
Yung Trey is a 20 year old hip-hop artist who came out the mud. He switched homes and moved around the country a few times, but is based in the belly of Chicago,IL. Also known as Chiraq, but better known to the birth places of revolutionary artists, such as Chance The Rapper, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and company. It is a hub for beautiful hip-hop music, and it’s a no brainer that Yung Trey is next on the scene.
His recent track ‘911′ that dropped on September 30th, is jam-packed with bars and delivered with flows so catchy that they are haunting. If you miss the times when rapper’s actually rapped, instead of some mumble garbage then I suggest you check this track out. This track has bite to it, and makes you want to talk your shit. It’s a beautiful sight to see when an artist is completely in their element and totally comfortable delivering a message they want heard. This is totally the case with this track, and good job Trey- we hear you loud and clear.
‘I come from a city where niggas throw Semi’s and shoot like Stojakovic’
off of ‘Intro’ from ‘Mind of A Menace’ EP
We had the pleasure of talking with Yung Trey, here with an exclusive interview from Rap Fiesta.
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Whatsup man, we love you here at Rap Fiesta and are hella happy that we have the chance to interview you! Why don’t we start with the basics. What’s your name, how old are you and where are you from?
I’m Yung Trey, I’m 20 years old and I’m from Chicago, Illinois.
Let’s talk about your birth place. Chicago has a really crazy reputation of being a dangerous city, are you affected by this at all?
It’s weird because I moved around a lot. In fourth grade, my parents divorced. When that happened, me, my mom and my sister moved to Indiana for a year. Then I moved back to Illinois and have my family that live in Chicago and we’ve had shit happen. It’s weird trying to connect with people when you move around like that.
I think people want to know where your motivation for making music began. What made you get into writing music?
It started in 5th or 6th grade and we had this little poetry session in our English class, and I was excelling in that class. My teacher made me feel like I could do more with it, and I connected that poetry to music. I been listening to music my whole life and just use music to express how I’m feeling. I didn’t really start writing seriously til high school.
What was the point in your career that really made you feel like you should be doing this seriously?
When I got to college, I met a dude here who was into music like I was and I freestyled with him one time, and he gave me the confidence. He told me on some real shit, “if you take this shit seriously, you can actually do something real with it”. Other than that, my mother really drives me to keep going. I always tell her that I’m going to buy her a house one day because she does so much for me. She’s really the one who keeps me going hard at this.
What separates Yung Trey from the rappers that we hear in the game today?
I’m very versatile. I listen to so many different genres of music. I know when to switch my flows up and keep it interesting. I say things that people might not have heard on a track before that might make them say, “Did he really just say that?”. That difference definitely separates me.
I really love that you showed the work ethic early, and dropped a whole damn 5 track EP called ‘Mind of A Menace’ last month. What made you want to drop this as a whole project and not in singles?
I’ve always been a quality over quantity type of guy, but by just putting out one track, nobody can really get the whole package. I wanted people to get the whole range and see what I can do in a full length project.
Right from the intro track, you took the EP in an aggressive direction calling out everybody. You said “let me talk my shit” who is that message to?
Honestly it’s to the people who don’t think I can do this rap shit, and to those that don’t take me seriously. Growing up all I listened to was Meek Mill, Drake, YFN Lucci, Travis Scott and J. Cole, and they really inspired me to prove myself to those who doubt me.
What I respect about your sound is that you actually rap and don’t just mumble words. There is some dope word play in your delivery. Why do you choose to separate from the rest of mainstream rap and take your music in this different direction?
I feel like mainstream rap still has bars, like ASAP Rocky is the truth, but I wanted to make sure I stand out. Everybody sounds similar. To make the music sound good you need to have something special so I try and channel that when I’m in the booth.
The production on ‘Mind of a Menace Interlude’ combined with your lyrics really brought out the emotion for us, it feels like you really had something to say. It really seems like somebody fucked you over or did you wrong. What was the inspiration for that track?
Honestly, I heard that beat a while ago and I was like damn if I’m going to rap on this, I got to do this shit differently. That track is actually two different beats. I talked with my engineers at the time and he actually merged the beats together where I can show my versatility with rap, and throw a few melodic parts on it too.
I hear a bit of Dave East and Dom Kennedy in your music. Who would you say influenced your style the most?
I fuck with Dave East heavy. He inspired me from an interview he had. I really fuck with him. Meek Mill definitely inspired me the most. He came from nothing and so did I. That’s what I’m trying to do.
What’s your writing process like?
First I find the beat and lock in on that. I usually go throughout the day and 4 bars will pop up in my head and I’ll write that down and make sure I don’t forget it. If I’m writing a song, I usually just freestyle over the beat a couple times and do a couple flows to it. The one that sticks the most, I’ll write the track with that flow.
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