6 TRE GANGSTA

It’d be easy to make assumptions about the kind of artist 6 Tre G is given the fact that he’s been to jail, is a member of the notorious Gangster Disciples, and was born in Birmingham, Alabama. But this is one artist who has no interest living up to anyone else’s clichés. “I was in the penitentiary with New York rappers, West Coast rappers, and Jamaican rappers,” he says. “I can speak patois and spit that. I’ll challenge anyone in the game. I’ll slaughter them because I’m not confined to one thing. I’m not South or East Coast or West Coast.”



6 Tre G spent much of his childhood in Fayette, Alabama after he was adopted due to his mother being addicted to drugs. His surrogate family influenced him musically during his formative years with his sister teaching him to play the piano and his mother, who was a literature and arts teacher, sparking his interest in rhyming after suggesting he do so for a creative writing contest in second grade. Shortly thereafter, when his cousins brought him a record from Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, Tre became fully immersed in beats and rhymes. “I learned ‘La Di Da Di’ because it was the only record I had,” he says. “When I came home from school, I played that. It got to the point where I knew it so well that I just played the instrumental and I’d say the words.”



He proved to be extremely musically inclined learning how to play the saxophone in band class by the time he was 11 and already recording songs. But a visit to Chicago during the summer when he was ten would prove to be a pivotal and destructive moment as he met and joined the Gangster Disciples. Admitting he was “an idiot” from that point on, 6 Tre started his own G.D. faction once back home. Shuttling in and out of juvenile detention centers, he amassed 11 felony charges by the time he was 13. Finally declared an adult by the state of Alabama just shy of his 15th birthday, he was received a nine-year sentence shortly after, when he caught five felonies related to a robbery. Luckily, 6 Tre was productive during his incarceration as he learned how to play the guitar and wrote hundreds of songs.



Upon his release in 1999, it only took three months for him to garner interest from a major label after an impromptu performance at Joe’s House of Entertainment in Huntsville, Alabama “I took the mic from the DJ,” 6 Tre recalls. “I had asked him a couple weekends in a row and he wouldn’t let me. One day he let me and I rocked the whole club.” He caught the attention of the owner, Joe Douglass, who quickly signed him to his imprint J.D. Entertainment. Douglas’s connections at Warner Records and the surplus of material 6 Tre G had already recorded quickly evolved into a monumental $11 million deal. When one of his songs, “I Live For You,” was featured in the Emmy-award winning HBO series, The Corner, things looked promising.



Unfortunately, after AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001, with no release date for his album in sight, 6 Tre was granted a release. Although he had his freedom again, the financial ramifications were difficult. “I hit rock bottom,” he admits. “I had a real affluent lifestyle with big screens, cherry wood, leather, and gold everywhere, and driving Cadillac’s beating the block down. All of a sudden everything is gone. I’m talking no money. It forced me back into the streets.” Eventually 6 Tre got over his disappointment and began building his own company, Darkhouse Music Group, releasing numerous mixtapes and tearing up local radio airwaves with hits like the flossy “Dem Jayz.” But when he unleashed his fun, carefree ode to partying all night, “On A Roll,” it proved to be his tipping point. “I put that to radio and it took over Huntsville,” 6 Tre says with a smile. “I was getting attacked in stores. People were singing my song to me at my shows. They loved the record.”



Executives at Battery/Jive also loved the record and quickly signed 6 Tre G. His music is a reflection of the perseverance it’s taken him to get here. “Rain” is somber reminder of how turbulent life can be at times. While Tre uses “Day Off” to take a short vacation from all the stress that comes with being in the streets. His catchy first single “Fresh,” brings him full circle as it samples the record, “La Di Da Di,” that made him want to initially rap. Although many new artists would be nervous about how their music will be received, Tre doesn’t feel any pressure. “I’m not trying to show anybody anything,” he says. “I wanna give people something they can relate to. Then the people that I have a like mind with are gonna end up being my fans because I’m talking what they’re living or wanna do.” Anybody who’s overcome insurmountable odds in life should be able to relate.

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