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Trippie Redd Does 2018!
Don’t sleep on Trippie Redd in 2018. He’s creating some of the most honest music in Hip Hip.
If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice everything special about Trippie Redd. In 2017, the newly 18-year-old rap artist from Canton, Ohio released two impressive sleeper projects, A Love Letter to You and A Love Letter to You 2, the latter of which debuted under the radar at #34 on Billboard Hot 200. Surprise hits attached the attention of and subsequent collaborations with major artists like D.R.A.M. and Drake and Travis Scott. Still, after an impressive output, co-signs, and remarkably, insightful songwriting and attitude, many still are hesitant to give his music true respect. 2018 will do nothing throw pies in faces.
Trippie, born Michael White IV, started making music seriously after he moved to Atlanta where fellow rapper and close friend Lil Wop helped him get a studio together and they collaborated with Kodie Shane frequently. He eventually signed with Strainge Entertainment and relocated to Los Angeles. I first saw him on Worldstar after hearing and seeing his name for a couple weeks over the web. I watched the video for ‘Gleem’ with Lil Wop. I don’t think I understood at first listen so I didn’t revisit for a few weeks after. I did the same thing everybody does when they see him and hear his music initially: notice the face tattoos, notice the pistol play in his videos, the golds, hear the auto-tune, write him off like every other youngboy popping out from SoundCloud and YouTube cracks and crevices. Thought he looked a little ghoulish. But then months after it dropped, I saw the video for ‘POLES1469’ with 6ix9ine and everything changed. I tried resisting. When I noticed myself humming the melody for several days after, my roommates catching that melody and making it pervasive throughout the apartment, we had to run it back to see what’s really up. For the next two weeks straight I played it 50 times a day. I even started to see him as sorta cute. What’s his deal? Why’s he resonate so thoroughly?
I started to notice the characteristics in his music that made it so unique. The ear for beats, of course—something no rapper should go without. His Jaguar-esque voice; the way he swings so elegantly between an ugly, saturated growl into beautifully sweet tones that balances the other and soothes your earbuds. He’s actually hitting notes when he sings. You can hear Marilyn Manson and Sade and Lil Uzi Vert. He outshines every other artist in tracks. He’s spitting in a conventional sense, has a wonderfully refreshing appreciative attitude for the position he’s in: ‘Thank god for the stove/ Thank Tom for a stove/ Without Edison wouldn’t be here/ So I thank god for the stove/ Gotta thank time for the stove/ Gotta thank my mom for the stove/ Gotta thank the block for the stove/‘
Each track has that special mix of replayability, sense of enjoyment, and thoughtfulness like he’s pouring everything into each song, means every emotion he projects, and that really is the resonating factor for me. The hooks grab you. see: ‘Limitless,’ ‘Romeo & Juliet,’ ‘Stoves on 14th,’ ‘Q’s & P’s’.
The music keeps developing, too. Each release has some feeling off risk in it. ‘Dark Knight Dummo’ shows a darker, malicious sound, mostly screaming & stacking the fuck outta vocal tracks. One-off ‘Oowee/Thots’ sees him attempting harmonizing, only a two-part harmony but with delightful success. His voice is lowkey beautiful.
Trippie will continue this glow up this year. He recently hit over one million followers on his Instagram account, where if you’re following you’ll catch snippets of new music frequently. All this and people are still doubting him. Hope people love Lil 14 whip cream.
Watch his interview with DJ Smallz Eyes 2 from last summer to learn more about the man behind the artist.
Credit: Marcus Scott Williams