You can’t put a price on T.R.U.T.H. (The Real Under The Hate). The local rapper values originality and individuality in her music above all else, and it’s been working out for her so far. Since dropping her debut mixtape Luxocracy last year, she’s been hard at work building her first EP, Eve. It’s a full-fledged project, and hopefully the first of many.
“Coming into this one it was just like, I’m not really gonna rely on anyone at this point because people are kind of shady sometimes,” she said. “Going through Luxocracy definitely showed me that I needed to be more independent in my process of creating this album.”
I can’t speak for how the album sounds, as I haven’t heard it yet, but T.R.U.T.H. did give some insight on the themes within concerning the black community:
“More specifically, on one track in particular I’m talking about, like on campus now they’re doing protests and marches and stuff like that and my views on that particular call to action…My viewpoint on it is pretty much, it’s a great thing, I see that, people come together for a cause—that’s cool but for me it’s like, we’ve been through the 50s and the 60s where whites and blacks couldn’t sit together and stuff like that, and having a protest then was much more powerful than it is now. It’s cool for people to come together and talk about this kind of stuff but for me, I think we need more tangible objectives…I’ve seen people have dialogue and stuff like that, but where’s the action behind it?…To me racism is never gonna stop…but if we come together as people…more internally I feel like we need more than protests and marches and stuff like that”
Eve presents the artist’s personal take on current social issues in what surely will be a clever, mindful manner if the witty and honest lyricism on Luxocracy was any indication.
T.R.U.T.H. has also enlisted several members of her collective Paradigm Shift to perform in a record release show on Saturday, including other rappers, poets and singers.
From here, the emcee plans on working on a full-length album, to come out hopefully later this year entitled The Holiday. The album will stress female artistry and include female samples and beats from two female producers—which T.R.U.T.H. noted was rare in the industry.
She’s not one to boast, typically keeping her head down and working hard, not letting her ego get the best of her, but rather letting her work speak for itself. In her recent ART/BTS feature, she admitted to enjoying being the oddball as a female performer and surprising people with her skills.
T.R.U.T.H. could not possibly be a better moniker. Staying true to herself and simply making the music she wants to make has helped the artist appeal to a wide audience, not just fans of “party music.”
“Because I’ve seen so many artists, even local artists in particular that just…talk about stuff like party music, stuff like that,” she said. “That’s cool, but where is the depth? Where is the real message there? That’s what I’m trying to get to, so it just made me push harder to be myself.”
Catch T.R.U.T.H. and a stacked lineup of other Paradigm Shift performers for her Eve EP Record Release show at Canopy Club on Saturday.