TruCarr is an upcoming hip-hop artist from Watts, California, and is greatly appreciative of his emergence in popularity. After featuring Blueface on the remix of his hit, “Outside”, TruCarr was singed to Wack 100’s record label, 100 Entertainment. From recording with Bankroll Freddie to shooting a brand new video with Hardini, TruCarr has been busy during the quarantine.
Despite his recent successes, TruCarr remains humble, looking to bring more positivity to his community and keep up the grind. TruCarr has been working out of a private studio, allowing him to continue recording during the pandemic. While there are many restrictions due to Covid-19, TruCarr’s team is taking advantage of the situation by blowing up his work online.
TruCarr Exclusive Interview
*This transcript was edited for clarity
RMR: You’ve been up to big things lately. From collaborating with Blueface on the Outside Remix to posting a brand new video for What I See, you’ve been busy, for sure. How have you been propelling forward during the coronavirus pandemic?
TruCarr: “A lot of studios are closed down right now but I got a personal studio on the side so I can get my work in and stay away from everything that’s going on right now. You know, stay secluded and stuff like that. That’s all I can really say right now, it’s either work or in the house or with the kids. Be with the kids and just about your work at this moment.”
RMR: Has coronavirus slowed you down at all?
TruCarr: “Look, the coronavirus can either affect you negatively or it can have a good purpose. Sometimes, you need to sit down, let people gather their thoughts, and see you. Now, everybody can pay attention. Everybody that was always on their phone is double on their phone, now. Some artists can take advantage of that by beating up the media and stuff like that. That’s what we’re doing on my team, shout out to 100 Ent and eOne Music.”
RMR: Recently, you’ve been featuring some pretty exciting artists on your tracks, such as, Bankroll Freddie, Blueface, & G Perico. How did these collaborations come to be?
TruCarr: “Shout out to my management, Wack. He had linked up with the QC label and we talked to Bankroll. Bankroll was liking the track, so he got on that. He a good dude too, shout out to Bankroll for doing that, I was just shooting the Up Wit It video with him in Atlanta.
G Perico, I met him at a liquor store in Watts. After that, I went to the studio, made something, and it was his type of vibe. I agreed that it was his vibe, so I sent it to him. He sent it back with something and we just rocked out. We just recently shot that video and got it out.
With the Blueface one, “Outside”, shout out to Blueface, that song was going up at the moment. It’s still going up, right now too. Bro was just playing it a lot, that’s what I was hearing from the people around him, and he hit me up. He took it into his own hands. Then after that, I went to the studio with him and met Wack. Everything ended up good and we took off from there, I got signed to 100 Ent and eOne. It was really a good reason I met Blueface because it got me to what I’m on right now.”
RMR: I’ve heard you talk before about how you don’t write lyrics down and you typically go off freestyles. When you are working on a song, what is your typical song writing process?
TruCarr: “Well, I gotta feel the beat for sure. Gotta have some type of bass in it, so I’m able to talk my stuff. To know if I really know the beat, I like it instantly in 10 seconds or 5 seconds and I’ll start mumbling some stuff. You know, I feel the vibe and replace it with words. As long as I got a rhythm on there, I might even come in. I freestyle because I might punch in and say the right thing. I rap about whatever I go through that day or even a previous situation, I just go up there and talk about that stuff.”
RMR: Wow, that’s extremely impressive Did it take time to develop that skill?
TruCarr: “I was writing at first and I couldn’t really grip to it, because when I get to the studio, it doesn’t sound the same. So, I ended up going to the booth one day. I just got in there and started doing it. I instantly was like “Man, this sounds better when I do it right off the bat.”
When did you start rapping?
TruCarr: “Six and a half years ago.”
RMR: What inspired you to grind so hard towards a rapping career?
TruCarr: “I was at a show with one of my boys from high school. It was Paid Dues, and we were in the crowd. There was a mosh pit right next to me and I’m from Watts, we don’t do that. We get outta there and I tell the homie after we leave, ‘Next time we go to an event like this, I’m gonna be on stage’.
The next day, I had a family event, and everybody was just playing around and rapping. I ended up getting into that and whatever I said sounded cool or whatever. So, the next day, I went to school and met somebody who had a little studio at his house and went over to record. I brought it to school, and everybody was messing with that. I just kept going, I did the talent show and won the talent show.
Two years after that, my daughter had passed away. I was already rapping so I was like ‘man, since my daughter passed away, that’s gotta be my motivation and I can’t just give up’. After that, I started going harder and that’s when my recognition came in.”
RMR: So, I’m interested in your story, what was life like growing up?
TruCarr: “Man, I ain’t gonna lie, everybody lives with somebody. My whole family. My mom, my pop, my brothers & sisters, we all lived with a whole other family and went house to house. There comes a point where everybody has their bad times and there was a good amount of times we had to live with other people. We got it figured out now, but we ain’t settling for what we have, we’re working to get where we’re going. There was a lot of violence just because of the area I grew up in.
I was into sports, but I ended up getting to the streets. It was the eighth or ninth-grade when I got deep into the streets and it took me to the point where I didn’t want to play sports anymore. I guess it wasn’t cool to everybody at that age and I just stopped doing it. I don’t know why I stopped, that was some dumb stuff. When I got older, I started thinking differently. In twelfth grade, I moved away from everybody I went to school with, so I wasn’t acting the same. I was an outsider at the new school, so I had to change my whole mindset. Growing up was a struggle, I ain’t gonna lie.”
RMR: You’ve mentioned that you want to bring more attention to the city you were born in, Watts. Why is this such an important mission for you?
TruCarr: “I ain’t gonna say it’s just because Compton got the name but, yeah. I do wanna do it because Compton got the name, and we are right next door to them. People don’t really know that part. People know so much about Compton. I was just on an airplane and I saw someone with a Compton hat on. I was like ‘You ever been there, bro?’ and he was like ‘Nah, I just got the hat,’ I was like ‘Dang, you ever heard of Watts?’ and he was like ‘Nah, what’s that?’. That’s it right there. I just wanna put the city on another level so that people know about it and bring more positivity to the city so we can gather, have more stuff going on, and have more events. It’s just like Compton, they have their tiny differences, but Watts and Compton are like the same thing.”
RMR: You have a pretty exciting upcoming album, would you mind telling us a little bit about that?
TruCarr: “That album right there, I really just switched up the music so I can go to other states and reach different crowds. You know, if I were to put just one style on that tape, it would have just been for one crowd. That means only one city would accept that type of stuff and I want to be able to go to every city. I threw up different kinds of flavor so it can be able to touch down in different cities.”
RMR: Who’s going to be featured on based on a Tru story?
TruCarr: “For this album, I got a lot of different artists from the 100 Ent label, shoutout to The Coyotes, shoutout the Blueface, shoutout to Mikey, shoutout to G Perico, shoutout to Bankroll Freddie, and shoutout to Rich the Kid.”
RMR: Do you have any upcoming projects we should be keeping our eye out for?
TruCarr: “TruCarr featuring Sada Baby, TruCarr ft. Drakeo, & TruCarr ft. Mozzy.”
