On Da Come Up with Trel Mack
Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009
Tags: trel mack
Straight out of North Philadelphia independent emcee Trel Mack is primed to become the straw that stirs the Philly rap scene. Unlike most artists from the City of Brotherly Love, Trel is less focused on rhyming about gun play and drug sells but instead on creating a lane for himself comprised of real life situations and lady hits.
His two mixtapes, Mack of the Year and The New Dynasty, received critical acclaim by some of Hip-Hop’s top critics. However, with ’08 long gone Trel is focused on the release of his upcoming mixtape Inspired by Greatness off his indie label Street Knowledge Entertainment.
Trel has received props from other top underground, collaborating with the likes of Wordsmith and Donny Goines. Now though, the self-described mack of the year isn’t taking a backseat to anyone. As he ambitiously preps himself to the forefront of Philly’s rap scene, Trel took a moment to discuss his music, label and upcoming mixtape. Check it out.
HHR: What’s going on Trel, tell the readers who you are.
TM: This is Trel Mack, Recording Artist, CEO and co-founder of Street Knowledge Entertainment.
HHR: You established quite a buzz for yourself in ‘08 with the release of two mixtapes that were received well by Hip-Hop heads, Mack of the Year and The New Dynasty. What is new for you ‘09 grind – any mixtapes coming out?
TM: Yeah, I’m working on a few projects. I have a new mixtape series that will be released no later than August. The concept is fire and it will be called Inspired by Greatness. We got some heat coming, and I know the people will enjoy and respect it. In the meantime I will be making music that can give me that global presence.
HHR: A little bit of everything for everyone, not bad. That partially answers my next questions. What should fans expect to hear coming out of there speakers?
TM: The same beautiful music I’ve been putting out – hit quality music. My fans know I’m not a mixtape rapper, that’s why my mixtapes sound like albums. When I give music out for free people ask me, “why the hell you giving something of this quality away for free?” – which is trust to some extent –but hey sometimes you got to do what you have to do to get heard.
HHR: I dig. Such is the climate of the music industry. Now though, there was a lot of talent coming out of Philadelphia in the late 90s-early millennium. What is the Philly rap scene looking like nowadays?
TM: The same way it’s been look these last couple of years. I’m not impressed at all. If you zoom in enough we actually have talent in Philly. The only problem is the right talent is not being looked at – the future money makers aren’t being acknowledged. Our plan is to bring Philly on the map the right way. Shout out to dudes like Tone Trump, DJ No Phrillz and my boy Q the Question because we are the future of the next Philly Hip-Hop scene.
HHR: Sounds good. Where do you see yourself taking Philly rap to?
TM: Put it like this we will be on the cover of Vibe or The Source or XXL together getting money, making music, and making an impact in the music industry. I want my team to be the foundation of that. We will get on and put our city on. All the dudes I just mentioned like Tone Trump, Q The Question, No Phrillz – we gonna show how it’s done.
HHR: Are there any artist you would like to collaborate with? Why?
TM: If you talking about industry wise: Kanye, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, Em, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco and others – I mean the list goes on. If you are talking underground wise, anyone who is making good music, I like to collaborate with artists that know the importance of making a quality record.
HHR: I hear that, there is too much hokey pokey rap out here nowadays. Quickly, you talked about Street Knowledge Entertainment. Aside from yourself, who do you have down on the label?
TM: We have Quinton Hatfield, my partner, who also owns Qthequestion.com so check that out. Brandon Bauder, which is my artist development guy at SKE and Newco – New Company – he is working on a various artist mixtape called Locked and Loaded that will be coming out soon and I’m on it. That’s my management team right now. We have other artist that we collaborate with outside of the Street Knowledge family. We are working on business moves right now, so when the time is right we’ll have a nice roster for you.
HHR: Cool, will there be a compilation album showcasing that talent on SKE?
TM: Yeah, we will be having plenty of compilations with SKE all over it. We are the new dynasty, this is a movement that we will not let fail.
HHR: Before we leave you, where can the fans find you and your music?
TM: Right now you can Google Trel Mack music, its everywhere on the net and easily found. Myspace.com/trelmackmusic, new SKE music websites are coming soon. Don’t forget to check out Qthequestion.com – the illest site coming in the game and hit him on Twitter.com/qthequestion.
Music
Trel Mack – “Lock Me Up”
Trel Mack – “We Did It” with Wordsmith
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