Los Angeles has long been one of hip-hop’s largest hubs. While New York is known for its boom-bap and lyricism, the City of Angels is often associated with G-Funk and gangsta rap. But there are plenty of West Coast artists who don’t fit that mold, including Tre Capital. In a recent episode of Unique Access, the burgeoning star shares his inspiration for wanting to push boundaries.
“LA is so confined to this tradition and there’s nothing wrong with that because that’s ultimately what pushes us forward,” he shares, “and we wouldn’t be able to have new generation artists without the stone to reflect on and be like, ‘This is what we need.’ I think for me, I always wanted to be different. I never wanted to be, I wanted my music to come out and be completely different and separate from anything you’ve heard. First LA music, off top, but then secondary just being hip-hop in general. So even though I’m doing that slowly and progressively, I want to set an example for other talented artists that are coming out from our city that we don’t really know about.”
Being the son of West Coast legend Xzibit has given Tre Capital a unique insight into the industry. He has the ear of several luminaries, which has helped him create his own lane. From there, he has become a leader himself as he shows the next generation how to hone the craft.
“I feel like for me being dialed in with the youth, but having OGs listen to me, I can’t waste my opportunity on just saying something, making a banger, just making a song to get the look for the song,” he explains. “I feel like there’s not a lot of young artists who will respect that. They’ll abandon the, they’re old, we don’t care about them. That’s the wrong way to go about it. I think me being able to navigate, not a lot of LA artists get to, solo artists, not even being in a group, it’s hard to kinda be solo and captivate people’s attention and really maintain it and take it further and not be on some gang music or be straight up money, bitches, like all that. There has to be something really different.”
Tre Capital also appreciates his relationship with WondaGurl as the producer has helped him explore music sonically while giving him a special responsibility with the message of his music.
“I think working with WondaGurl is you have the ability to make music that can go mainstream, but what are you gonna say with it?” he says. “I feel like there’s a lot of artists that work with her, but they never really get messages off. They’re just making heaviness. So if I captivate a message and also give people the experience to know me, that is gonna be whatever happens or comes out of this is just ultimately gonna be new. Kurupt is one of my favorite rappers, so sometimes I’ll really try to embody that. Kendrick [Lamar], Kurupt, they spit so crazy, but imagine if you did that on a level that was like people will really give you that ear just because they’re like oh he’s working with this person or he’s got this person on his project, I gotta listen. Then if you hit ’em with the he’s got a whole nine miles with it, I think that’s like where we’re gonna take it. It could go way farther.”