Redrum-187: What’s up Tre-8? Nice to have this interview with you. How are you doing?
Tre-8: I'm good. Just finished wrappin up an compilation album - entitled Purple Rain due out in April.
Redrum-187: Nice to hear. Even though you're veteran at New Orleans's rap scene, you probably are less known artist among of our readers. Could you tell us who are you and where do you come from?
Tre-8: Well… First I go by the name Tre-8. I'm from New Orleans La. 15th Ward to be exact. I first got national exposure with No Limit Records back in 1995. I appeared on Down South Hustlers, Mr. Ice Cream Man, Mia X's Good Girl Gone Bad, Priority's Legal Dope compilation and Mr. Scarface's My Homie's plus countless others.
Redrum-187: What got you into this rap game and when did it happen? Which are your biggest influences?
Tre-8: Well I first got in the rap game back in 93. I started producing tracks for a lot of local acts outta New Orleans until I got discovered by Master-P. My influences were Dr. Dre, a local producer out of New Orleans called DJ Ice Mike and LL Cool J. I used to hang out at Ice Mikes house damb near every day watching him producing tracks and takin notes, asking question about certain equipment and sounds and shit like that until I saved up enough money to buy my own equipment. It was on and poppin from there.
Redrum-187: You have produced your own tracks from the start. You have also produced lots of other New Orleans-artists. How did you get into making beats and what kind of equipment did you use back then? What do you use now?
Tre-8: Yeah. I always produced my own tracks but I also got other producers to do tracks for me too, to give me a different sound. Shit, I made tracks for so many people in New Orleans and other cities, so it would take me months to name them all. But some of my most successful tracks was the ones I did for Fila Phil, Lil-E, 187, Master P, Mia X and of course me. Shit... Back then I worked with an SP1200 and a EPS 16 plus and a couple sound modules, but today I'm workin with the MPC 2000, Reason 4.0, the Motif and Adobe Auditon recording software.
Redrum-187: You are now down with Purple Haze Productions. What happened to your own Smoke 1 Records?
Tre-8: Well me and my partners from Smoke 1 decided to go and venture off on our own and try different things. Mike Willis manages a hot nightclub in New Orleans called Ceasers and he started Too Loaded Records with his artist Toez and Lil Jinkz. Manuel Mukes started a gospel label with his artist Zeeda and Gifted. As you know I started my label Purple Haze Productions with my artist Dem Haze Boyz.
Redrum-187: You released your latest album called Most Underrated about a year ago. Could you tell some facts about it?
Tre-8: Most Underrated is my baby. That's the first official release on Purple Haze and all I can say it's a more grown up Tre-8 stuff and it features some of the hottest cats in the game. I have Killa Kyleone from The Boss Hogg Outlaws on there. I have 5th Ward Weebie on there, Kilo, U.N.L.V, a cat outta Philly called Noodles. It has some production done by Sinista who has also produced a lot of tracks for Juvenile. Some tracks on there is produced by T.A. who is Young Jeezy's producer and a lot of others. As well as those track's I've produced. Of course you can hit my myspace up and check out some of the tracks on there. As well as some of the videos off the album on Youtube
Redrum-187: As far as I know, you now live in Texas because of Hurricane Katrina. Could you tell your feelings and thoughts about that disaster? Hopefully everything is fine with your loved ones.
Tre-8: Yeah all of my loved ones are fine and actually I was caught in Katrina. I experienced the whole thing head on it was nothing you would not want to go through. I mean the shit was real scary. Man... I lost my studio to do looting and shit but I got it back bigger and better so that was a blessing.
I evacuated to the Astrodome in H-Town like everybody else and just stayed out there because a nigga didn't want to go through that shit again. Packing up and running from another storm every fucking year, ya heard me. But right now everything is all good. I mean shit Houston gets hurricanes too but city isn't located below sea level. So I can kinda deal with it better out here plus it's a lot of opportunities out here as well.
Redrum-187: New Orleans has a very unique and identifiable sound. Your city is also known as a birthplace of bounce music. Can you tell what makes N.O. -sound so special?
Tre-8: Well I would say it's a party city. I mean we party 24/7, hit clubs 365 days a year. I mean we're like a whole another country inside the United States. That's like the best way I could describe it. It must be in the food.
Redrum-187: Haha... I just jammed that Smoke 1 Click’s Ruff, Rugid & Raw -tape. As far as I know it's the only Smoke 1 Records release that came out only in tape. Other albums were released also as cd:s so what's behind that?
Tre-8: Well Smoke One Click's tape really was supposed to be for promotional use only because we were still working on the album and that was just done like that to get the buzz out. Some of our Click ended up going to jail and that put a hold on the project. So we put that one on hold and I went back in the studio to record another album. Once two members got some hard time, we just said together "fuck it all" because I didn't wanna do the album without the original members.
Redrum-187: I heard some rumors about full album by Smoke 1 Click that exists. Is that true and is there any unreleased material from the older days by Tre-8 or Smoke 1 Click that we can expect to be released some day?
Tre-8: As far as Smoke One Click, we never got a chance to finish that album, so that's just a rumor and almost all of the older Tre-8 master's got lost in Katrina. So you'll probably never get a chance to hear that, but I have a lot of underground cd's I put out before Katrina that I still have access to. So you might get to see me to release those again in future.
Redrum-187: You’ve also been part of legendary group called Westbank Coalition. Could you tell something about that group and its members? How are those other guys now and are they still in the music business?
Tre-8: Westbank Coalition were the same members as Smoke 1 Click. We just added a few new guys and changed the name to Smoke 1 Click. The members were me, my brother D.J. Bass (r-i-p), T-Smooth, Ceaser (r-i-p), and Mr.Cheefa. Mr.Cheefa and T-Smooth still do music off and on but not like me. They still kinda off in them streets, you know how that is.
Redrum-187: You signed contract with Master P´s No Limit Records in the middle 90´s. What are your thoughts about that record deal now?
Tre-8: I mean as far as the exposure goes that was a great opportunity. That's about all I really have to say about that situation, you know how that goes.
Redrum-187: You have collaborated with a lot of N.O.-rappers as a rapper or as a producer. Do you have any funny stories from recording sessions or backstages?
Tre-8: Yeah… This one time I had a concert with Juvenile and I was so hyped up about doing the show. I got so drunk before the show, so I ended up passing out backstage before I went on. It took my people like an half hour to get me up and when they finally got me up, I started to throw up all over the place. No one thought I was gonna be able to perform but I held up enough to do my show with no mishaps. As soon as I got done with the last song of the show, I immediately passed out again. After that all I can remember is waking up back at my house.
Redrum-187: Haha. I need to ask something about MC Spade. You produced (and also featured in) his "You Betta Recognize" -tape. That tape is definitely a classic thanks to your beats. Are you still in contact with him and if you are, how is he doing nowadays?
Tre-8: Yeah M.C. Spade is one of my best friends but he never took the music thing serious. He just liked the attention I got from the music game so much, that he payed me to produce one album for him. He liked the attention from the ladies. After that album he quit and opened up a barbershop and nightclub. I still talk to him every now and then. He's located at New Orleans and I'm in H-Town so I only get a chance to see him when I go to New Orleans to visit.
Redrum-187: Southern rap seems finally getting recognized nationwide. Many artists from south have finally made it big. What do you think about that and what are your thoughts about today's rap game in a larger perspective?
Tre-8: Right now I feel everybody doing their thing. I mean all eyes on the south right now for a change as long as we keep droppin that hot shit and reinventing ourselves. We gonna hold it down for a minute right now. We have other coasts tryin to do the music that we're doing. I mean it's a great thing. I remember when it was hard for us to get heard but now you can hear our shit everywhere. That's crazy but I like it.
Redrum-187: If you could choose any artist to make a collaboration song with, who would it be and why?
Tre-8: It would be Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Luda, T-Pain and T.I. I mean all those dudes goin hard in the paint right now and I like the way their word play comes off over the trackz they pick. Plus damn near everything I heard by them is a certified banger. So that's why I would want to collab with them dudes right there.
Redrum-187: What kind of music are you bumping at home? Could you name some of your all time favorites?
Tre-8: When I get a chance, I try to listen to everybody’s shit to see what they comin with. I'mma music fanatic. I love music so I'm always bumpin something but right now it's mostly Purple Haze shit. That's all I'm bumpin right now. I'm just making show. We got our shit right.
My all time favorites is N.W.A. Niggaz For Life, Geto Boyz We Can't Be Stopped, Dr.Dre The Chronic, The Hot Boyz Get It How You Live. Damn near all of Jigga shit and LL Cool J's Bigger and Deffer, Snoop Dog's Doggystyle. That's my all time favorite’s right there. Well, at least some of them. Anyway I have a lot of 'em.
Redrum-187: What are your goals in year 2009 and what do you expect from the future?
Tre-8: Well right now my goals are to get Purple Haze in the fore front and get my album and my artist albums the exposure they need and take my label on the road on like a 20 city tour, so they can see what that lime light shit really bout. In the future I would like to get a movie deal as well as a reality show. Everybody that knows me have told me that I would have a hit reality show if I had one. Something is always going on at my crib. These are my goals and my plans for the future.
Redrum-187: I think that's it. Thanks a lot for your time, I really appreciate it. Could you say something to our readers and your fans in Finland?
Tre-8: Yeah... Ya'll go out and get that Tre-8 Most Underrated. It's in stores now and on iTunes and online at any music site that sells music. Be on the look out for Dem Haze Boyz album Purple Rain coming this spring and don't forget to check out my myspace page. Leave me some comments and messages. Much love and I'm out.
LOL