TGETRUTH TELLS US AND SHOW US WHY HE’S THE BEST RAPPER IN MTL
Écrit par Alicia C. Moore
Photos prises par Jrdn photography
Tgetruth IS DOMINATING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN BOTH MUSIC AND SPORTS while PUTTING Montréal,canada ON THE MAP. HIS MOST RECENT PROJECTS INCLUDE HIS new ep “ the truth is out “ WHICH IS available on MOST STREAMING platformS. AT THE TENDER AGE OF 20, HE HAS EVERYTHING THAT IT TAKES TO BECOME THE NEXT BIG THING OUT OF THE CITY.
FREDDY: WHEN AN ARTIST POPS OUT OF NOWHER AND THEN YOU KEEP SEEING THEM... IT’S BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN PREPARING RIGHT?!
TGETRUTH AND HIS CREW HAVE BEEN RAPPING TOGETHER SINCE THEY WERE ABOUT 10 YEARS OLD. IT’S BEEN 11 YEARS NOW.
T.G.E (which stands for The Grey Era), IS A RAP GROUP FROM LASALLE AKA TEXAS WITH A SOUND THAT IS DIFFERENT THAN MOST OF WHAT IS BEING PRODUCED AROUND GREATER MONTREAL AREA. Here at the Warm Up, we were curious to dive deeper into how this all came about.
FREDDY: HOW’D YOU HOOK UP WITH M-PRESS?
TGETRUTH: I WAS JUST SITTING THERE WAITING TILL MY SESSION STARTED OFF. P HAD FINISHED A CHORUS BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE AND HIM AND HIS BOYS WERE KIND OF STUCK... I WAS FEELING THE BEAT SO MUCH THAT I JUST STARTED MUMBLING SH*T AND GETTING INTO THE VIBE OF THE BEAT. HE WAS JUST LIKE “YOU WANNA HOP ON IT?”. IT WAS JUST LIKE THAT. WE ENDED UP MAKING 3 SONGS THAT DAY.
2-3 DAYS LATER, EMPRESS MESSAGED ME AND HE WAS LIKE “YO, YOUR SOUND IS CRAZY, IT’S DIFFERENT.”
[…]
TGETHETRUTH: WE SHOT A VIDEO, FOREIGN WHIP AND THEN THINGS JUST STARTED GOING FROM THERE. WE STARTED CHILLING OUT, HANGING OUT, PLANNING THINGS AND THE VISION JUST STARTED GETTING CLEARER AND CLEARER.
Aside from m-press and Pbenz, TGETRUTH has worked with Dirty-S but says that 90% of the time he works with his own crew (THE GREY ERA).
TGETRUTH LIVE ON THE WARMUP FM !
Nothing can’t stop us !
Photo : JRDN PHOTOGRAPHY
TGETRUTH makes sure to rep his set and his hood very well while bringing us a flavor of visuals that are in a class of their own.
FREDDY: I’M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW. USUALLY IN VIDEOS, YOU KIND OF SEE STUFF THAT MAKE YOU GO “OH, I KNOW THAT SPOT, I’VE SEEN THAT KIND OF WHIP...” THEN WHEN I SAW YOU, I WAS LIKE “IS THIS DUDE FROM HERE OR NOT?” AND EVEN THE SOUND, LIKE YOU SAID IT’S VERY DIFFERENT.
TGETRUTH: VERY DIFFERENT. WE GON’ BLOW HERE BUT WE AIMING FOR ELSEWHERE. THAT’S REALLY WHERE WE’RE GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. WE’RE WAY TOO ADVANCED FOR THIS SH!T OVER HERE. AND THAT’S JUST ME BEING HONEST.
FREDDY: BUSINESS WISE, WHAT’S THE RELATIONSHIP LIKE BETWEEN YOU AND M-PRESS?
TGETRUTH: ‘PRESS IS MY MANAGER. HE’S BIG BRO.
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TGETRUTH’S MUSIC STANDS OUT FOR SEVERAL REASONS BUT A BIG ONE IS THE FACT THAT HE IS BLOWING UP WHILE MAKING HITS IN ENGLISH DESPITE QUEBEC’S TOUGH MUSIC MARKET.
LOCAL LABELS, MEDIA OUTLETS AND EVEN MUSIC FESTIVALS SEEM TO CONSTANTLY LEAN IN FAVOR OF FRENCH ARTISTS.
I went to a French school but I’m English… Je parle bien français but I don’t like speaking French. English is just easier for me.” … “I was alone a lot of the time over there [Lasalle] so I had a lot of anger in me” … “Every single one of my boys went to English school so they wasn’t with me. I was just by myself over there [his school].” … “We only tapped in to each other’s realities after school, on the weekends, when we had time” … “I was mad bro. Doing a lot of crazy shit. Breaking cars… Doing a lot of shit that we won’t get into…” … “My mom was like “I can’t deal with this so the best outcome would be for you to go play football” - TGETRUTH
BEYOND RAP, TGETRUTH IS ALSO AN ATHLETE. NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THIS ABOUT HIM, THOUGH.
Antony: Are you good bro?
TGETRUTH: I’m the #1 linebacker in Canada, so… Big shoutout to coach Shawn, that’s my dawg.
FOOTBALL IS MOST LIKELY WHAT KEPT TGETRUTH FROM GETTING INVOLVED IN THE WRONG THINGS.
TGETRUTH: I didn’t take a route where I had to go to jail and different stuff like that because I had an outlet to express myself... My hunger and my aggression, I displayed it on the field. I channeled it.”
IT’S REMARKABLE HOW HE MANAGES TO BALANCE BOTH A RAP CAREER AND A SPORTS CAREER.
TGETRUTH: “One thing about myself is, when I put my focus into something, it’s unstoppable” I got too many brothers behind me, we got too many stuff going on for it to not work. Your team is your biggest thing. I always had my guys around me and we were always supporting each other so we just put 100 into all of it and it worked! I got a few scholarships to go play in America. I ended up staying at Clear Water Academy in 2019 with my boy TGEStephy… It went well. We turned stuff around. It went really well and then after that, COVID happened.
Antony: So you came back?
TGETRUTH: Yeah! I had Division 1 scholarships to go play in America and I kind of had to make a choice. Am I gonna go over there or am I going to take care of my grandmother? Because my grandmother is over here. It was inconvenient for my family so I didn’t end up going back over there. The pandemic happened. It was the lockdown. I still remember that day. It changed my life... I made a decision. We stayed here. Me making that choice would help me better with my music career... I used to train three times a day, go home [and] I couldn’t even do homework. I was tired.
Freddy: Are you done with football?
TGETRUTH: I’m currently playing at the University of Ottawa.
Freddy: You gotta have crazy focus to do both of these things.
Antony: The truth is out!
TGETRUTH: The Truth Is Out! Everything that I put on that project… Every word, the emotion, what you hear, what you feel, that’s me. I don’t fake it. That’s why “the truth is out”.
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Prior to his recent releases, we used to hear TGETRUTH use his vocals in other melodic ways...
TGETRUTH: I would sing for the ladies. “Hurt You” and all those [like] “Wanna Know”.
Antony: You can do both, right?
Freddy: Especially these days…
TGETRUTH: Im not gon’ stop because that’s what made y’all hear me. That’s what made people start listening.
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The conversation between the show hosts and the rapper took a sudden turn when Antony asked:
Which rappers are you comparing yourself to in Montreal? Who do you like? Who do you dislike?
TGETRUTH: What kind of stupid question is that?! What are you talking about bro?! What do you mean?
Antony: What do you mean? What? I just want to know…
TGETRUTH: You asking me who I compare myself to?
Antony: Yeah.
TGETRUTH: Are you crazy?!
*crew laughs*
Antony: No I’m not.
TGETRUTH: Brother, brother… Listen to me. I’m gonna make it real clear alright?!
Antony: Tell me bro. Tell me the truth.
TGETRUTH: I felt disrespected by that question because the city don’t got no one that can compare themselves to me. No comparison. You want to talk about numbers? You want to talk about views? You want to talk about streams? … Nobody has the talent and the passion and the hunger like we got it. You know what I’m saying?! They don’t got the potential. We just got a whole bunch of people throwing autotune on songs... We put our time in this shit for real. WE MAKIN’ MUSIC. We’re not in the streets running around doing a bunch of crazy shit. We’re artists. We’re not street gangsters bro we’re fucking artists. We’re musicians. We make this shit happen. We do this shit for real.
Freddy: Is that why you don’t work with other people?
TGETRUTH: Yeah because I’m not trying to mix myself up into a category you know what I’m saying?! We ain’t mixing ourselves up into a category because we’re too unique. We have a sound that, in the city and even on the other side, they never heard it before. There’s no comparison. There’s a difference between numbers and influence.
Antony: Are you saying that you’re the best rapper in Montreal?
TGETRUTH: I went on live. I am the only rapper in Montreal… I am the only Montreal rapper in existence to ever go on live versus 25 people and won 25 times.