As you no doubt have heard, this past Wednesday's Trae Day, a celebratory day established last year by the city of Houston recognizing rapper Trae tha Truth's work with at-risk youth,
was sullied by post-festivities gunshots.
Rocks Off was able to steal a few minutes out of Trae's day Friday to briefly discuss how it affected him as a father, whether or not he's planning on doing it again next year and our own fandom.
Rocks Off: Guess we'll talk about the unfortunate stuff first. We know you're a business, but as a father - and we actually met some of people backstage and they all had nothing but great things to say about you - but as a father, how did that whole situation affect you?
Trae: There wasn't nothing right about that whole situation. They jeopardized babies' lives. There was nothing cool about that. I'll never stand for that. They could've waited until they got far away and done that. Or if they couldn't wait they could've gone in someone's backyard. I'm telling everybody that was not the move.
As a father and a bigger brother to the streets, you kinda go into a hysterical type of anger mode. I don't even really talk about it because I don't wanna feel like that anymore. At the end of the day, I'm proud of my city for what we did. It's a blessing to have everyone out there.
RO: So are you planning on holding this again next year?
T: Always. If I don't do it, then what was I fighting for in the first place? I came up with a brother doing a couple of life sentences so I had nobody to tell me I'm tripping when I was or tell me I'm doing good when I was. I'm always gonna be a big brother to the streets. I'm gonna let them know when they're slipping. I'm gonna let 'em when they're doing good and I'm proud of 'em.
Let's talk about the good stuff. I'm proud that over 3,000 [children] got immunizations, and that kids got school supplies - people that didn't have any. I'm proud of the people that waited from the time it started until we got there.
I wanted to give them a concert where they didn't have to see the stars from far. I was in the crowd. I was moving around. I need to let them know that I'm praising the community for coming out there.
RO: Okay, now this is from a straight fan perspective, and it has nothing to do with Trae Day. Back on Z-Ro's "M-16" song you absolutely wrecked it. We remember listening to it and thinking, "Yep, Trae just stole that song." Were you all in studio together when you did it? And is there always something a little extra when you're asked to be a guest on a song?
T: That's why I do songs like that. I want to show that I can hang with the best. That's what people are gon' see on this new album. [Note: The new album will feature Rick Ross, Shawty Lo, Jadakiss, Ludacris, and a several others. It has yet to be given a release date.]
He was actually locked up when I did that song. You know, he's my cousin, so when they asked me to do it I got it done.
Trae also made sure to send a shout out to his youngest son, D'Neeko, who celebrated his birthday the day after Trae Day. He was also in attendance at Trae Day. Listen to Trae on MySpace here and follow him on Twitter here.
