Listening to any Trippie Redd song is an experience in itself. Michael Lamar White IV brings a whole new style to rap music. Some have described it as “emo rap”, but whatever you call it, his sound is definitely very different from the rap music we grew up on.
A few days ago, Trippie posted a screenshot from Twitter to his Instagram showing the HITS Daily Double (@HITSDD) account proclaiming “A Love Letter To You 4″ as his first #1 album. But the accoldaes don’t end there, on December 1st, Trippie announced that his first #1 album made it to the Billboard 200 chart (link to the article below).
These achievements are just the start of Trippie Redd’s explosion to the top. His first official album release wasn’t too long ago – his debut album Life’s A Trip was dropped in August of 2018. Before the Life’s A Trip release, Trippie made his name known through his old mixtapes. His first one being A Love Letter To You and the second, A Love Letter To You 2. The songs that truly helped him gain ground in the hip-hop scene were “Love Scars”, “Fuck Love”, and “Dark Knight Dummo” with a Travis Scott feature. As a consistent and loyal fan to Trippie Redd, I can add that those songs are absolutely a few of his best (seriously).
I first discovered Trippie Redd at Rolling Loud back in 2018. I had no idea who he was before then- yet somehow ended up at his set. I entered his performance with no expectations at all. Immediately, I was hooked.
I was new to the emo-rap scene, so hearing this style of music was unlike any other. However, it was the way he performed that won me over. I think one thing we can all love about Trippie Redd is that he really pours his heart out into his music. In addition to performing with such emotion, his songs revolve around his emotions toward his haters, his ex-girlfriends, and his life as a whole. You can catch Trippie jumping and running around the stage with contagious energy, like fire erupting all over the stage. I loved seeing Travis Scott perform because of all of the fire cannons he had during his performance, but Trippie Redd doesn’t let the fire die down.
Personally, I think one of the reasons that Trippie Redd has caught the attention of this generation is the fact that he isn’t scared to reveal his emotions. There are some songs where he is singing/screaming, but it almost sounds as if he’s crying for help or relief. Unveiling these kinds of emotions in songs can be scary for the artist, but ultimately makes them relatable.
I can admit, I’ve listened to Trippie Redd during some of the more depressing moments of my life. Saying that belching his lyrics at the top of my lungs in my car wasn’t a coping mechanism, would be a flat out lie. Trippie makes music for the crowd that loves and feels hard, but does so in a way that doesn’t make the listener feel defeated. His music makes you feel empowered.
Whatever it is Trippie is doing, he’s got us all hooked and always looking forward to his next release. In addition to relating to his fans, he shows them love as well. It may be a promotion tactic, but I can imagine it makes fans feel noticed. Whenever he releases a new song, he makes a post on his social media telling his fans to send him videos of them singing to his songs and tagging him in them. What he then does is repost them! On the whole ! album, the album artwork on Spotify features a compilation of fans videos with a Trippe Redd filter over their faces. The filter has all of the tattoos he has on his face so that fans can put them on their own.
Trippie Redd’s career is only going to go up from here. He brings something new and interesting to the table, and his audience is loving it. If you’re ever feeling those “sad boi vibez”, try listening to Trippie Redd for a chance.
