Even after being recruited by A&R Memphitz and signing with Jive/ Hitz Committee, Trai’D still had to discover himself. Here the 20-yearold Dallas native talks about inking a deal in high school, his new “Popularity,” working with T-Pain and Twista, and a new management situation with Play-N-Skillz. What are you working on right now? Anything new coming out? Everything. I’ve got the Popularity Contest 1.5 coming out. That’s my new mixtape. I got a new record called “Popular” featuring Tyga, and “Drop” featuring T-Pain and Twista, which is a big record. How did you put together a collaboration with T-Pain and Twista? Through Memphitz. I recorded it when I was in Vegas and it came out so well. I got Johnny Juliano on the beat. Shout out to Johnny Juliano, he’s doing his thang. So, Memph reached out to Pain and he set that up, then Twista submitted his verse. Shit sounds crazy. I can’t wait for the world to hear it. You have a good ability to come up with hooks and put together songs. Have you written for anybody else yet? Or is that something you want to do in the future? Not for other people, but I have been keeping a lot of shit for myself. (laughs) But I’m actually looking to get into that. If it’s another outlet to bring in bread, why not? What’s with the whole “Popularity” theme? Where does the concept come from? I did the original Popularity Contest mixtape with DJ Ill Will and DJ Rockstar. Shout out to them and their website HotNewHipHop, it’s blazin’ right now. The popularity theme came from – I went from high school straight to a major label situation so I went straight to TV. I had to get back into my city and figure out who the power players was. For the last two years I’ve been getting my relationships with certain people right. With the popularity theme, it’s like I’m the rapper at school again, but it’s on a bigger level now. Were you popular in high school? I went to school away from where I lived. So I’d go to school, and then go home and work on my music. I was always well-known, and I always had my thing with the ladies, but I wasn’t really Mr. Popular. I stuck to my music and went straight home after school. It got me where I needed to be, so I can’t complain.
Music kept me out of trouble. So you’re a ladies’ man? Yeah, I can’t really fight that argument. (laughs) You’re still single then? I don’t have no lady in my life, but I guess I’m always lookin’. But I can’t really balance it I guess, you can only focus on one thing or the other. When will you be old enough to get into 21 and up clubs? (laughs) March 27th. I’m excited. It’s coming up soon. But I’m pretty much good everywhere to get in the clubs, depending on who I’m with, even though I’m not 21. How does it feel to be so young and have experienced this much so far? There’s always somebody younger than you that’s working just as hard. Of course youth is an advantage, but I’m finna turn 21 and there’s cats that’s 17 coming up in the game. I was 17 when I came in, and there’s some people that age that’s already got it made. So you gotta keep pushin’. You feel like there’s always somebody on your heels? Yep. And you have to feel like that in order to stay motivated. Having a record with T-Pain and Twista is a pretty big deal. What are some other big moments in your career? I mean, when y’all get to hear that record, it’s probably going to be the biggest sounding record y’all heard from me, as far as nationwide appeal. But other than that, I’ve had plenty of big moments. Anything is something to me. I’m just a country boy from Texas, and on top of that, I’m Ethiopian so I never expected any of this to happen. For me to even be doing this interview is something big to me. Your parents are foreigners? Yeah, they were born in Africa... To read the rest of this interview, log on to www.ozonemag.com. You can also check out Trai’D on Twitter - @ TraiDMusic.
OZONE MAG // 21