Tr3 Taylor
Meet Maryland Rapper & Hip-Hop Newcomer
Ellis Taylor a.k.a. Tr3 Taylor was born in Forestville, Maryland and grew up in Capitol Heights, Maryland. He was introduced to music at the age of six and joined his family’s church choir. At age 12, he rapped a song called “16 Bars” to his father who understood at that moment how much Taylor’s love of music had started to grow. His father built a starter home studio for him and that was the beginning of it all. At 16-years-old Taylor released his first mixtape “Only Human” which he engineered and promoted himself. In 2016, he attended Frostburg State University where he connected with a lot of dope artists.
Under the artist name “Tre Taylor” he spent the next two years writing his first album “The Bridge.” In its first three months, it accumulated over 25,000+ streams. During the summer of 2020, Taylor broke away from a music deal and label that did not serve him and went on to create Choice Music Group, in October 2020, with his team. This year he will release his sophomore album “Walk With Me.”
Tr3 Taylor “Walk With Me”
Forestville-bred Tr3 Taylor is on a mission to prove that he and a new generation of music artists are about to take over. On Friday, July 1, he released his sophomore album under his new name “Tr3 Taylor.” The new album titled, “Walk With Me” will teach listeners a few lessons on what it means to be an educated,
25-year-old Black man in America today.
What makes this album and Taylor unique, is the fact that he is not a follower. On this 13-track album, Taylor pours out his frustrations, life revelations and narrates his reactions to current events, police brutality, love and
relationships. There is no cap, just dope beats and honest lyrics. Taylor’s new single “Angel” features rising singer Rumour in a hit ready for summer radio and Instagram reels.
Six95 is a popular track on the new album which includes as many different sounds as possible, according to
Taylor. New merchandise is out now and music videos are also on the way. Taylor’s previous project Letters from Sasha is still available on all platforms and includes fan favorites “For Ya” and “Petty Again”.
Meet and Get To Know Tr3 Taylor
KultureVulturez: You originally grew up in a Forestville, within the the DMV area?
Tr3 Taylor: Yeah. In Maryland, about 10 minutes away from Southeast D.C.
KultureVulturez: Can you breakdown what was life like growing up there for you?
Tr3 Taylor: Childhood was great because it was a full neighborhood, full of people and kids. At times, you know, it could get a little rough. But overall, we all looked out for each other. Then I moved out to southern Maryland. Once I moved out to southern Maryland in Calvert County, it was a big culture shock to me, because it’s a more rural area.
KultureVulturez: Growing up in the DMV and Washington D.C area, were there many influences on you musically and creativity?
Tr3 Taylor: Absolutely. I always try to make sure in my content that I always make sure that I put a little bit of our lingo and our references. Sometimes I do skits and stuff where people can hear what a conversation would be like in this area. So yeah, for sure.
KultureVulturez: As far as the music scene and the DMV culture, growing up what are some memories that standout?
Tr3 Taylor: I mean, number one, number one that is law, Go-Go Music. Go-Go was the number one priority in the DMV area. I hope one day, when I get the opportunity, I’m going to be able press that out when it’s my turn to show out.
KultureVulturez: Can you explain to the people was is the culture and sound of Go-Go like in the DMV?
Tr3 Taylor: So, Go-Go music is all sounds, it’s all authenticity. We come out killing with the drums, the guitars, we have a bunch of instruments. It’s just a lot of love. It’s a lot of love through that. Then, other than that, we have hip hop artists. Shout out to Wale, Logic, you know, artists like that definitely had an influence. The underground scene, Big Flock, Lightshow, Q Da Fool was popping for a little bit. So, yeah.
Tr3 Taylor – Six95 [Official Music Video]
KultureVulturez: What motivated and inspired you start making music in hip-hop?
Tr3 Taylor: I tell everybody this story. I always grown up around music. My family, we always threw parties and stuff when we were kids. I was a part of the church choir as a kid. Once I started listening to a lot of Lil Wayne’s mixtapes, I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to have to try this out because he was doing it like it’s impossible. So I’m going to try to see if I can do it.” And it stuck with me.
KultureVulturez: When you first started, what was your first songs and projects like, in your eyes?
Tr3 Taylor: I mean, you can go back to YouTube and SoundCloud days, when I was playing around as a kid, completely different name. A lot of that stuff I tried to get rid of, but there’s some stuff still out there. I was like, man, 13 to 15 years old. I didn’t start taking it like seriously until I was about like 22, 23 years old. I’m 25 years old now. It’s been two years solid of taking it taking it seriously.
KultureVulturez: What was the initial response from the people when they first heard you?
Tr3 Taylor: Everybody’s initial response, for me now as Tr3 Taylor or when I was younger.
KultureVulturez: Well, I’m sure as a young guy, it was mixed reviews.
Tr3 Taylor: When I was a youngin, everybody torched me (made fun of) because I sound like a little kid. It wasn’t like I was talking hard stuff. I wasn’t trying to cuss. I did not want nobody to get mad at me in my family. I used to get cut up for my music. A couple of years ago though, me and my team, we started taking this seriously. Now, we’ve gotten to this position where we represent our community now.
KultureVulturez: Now, officially starting and taking music seriously, how can you separate yourself from other artists?
Tr3 Taylor: I separate myself from other artists because, one, most important thing, I’m willing to learn. I know I’m not perfect, but I’m trying to be as close, as perfect as possible, and I’m open to a lot of different opinions. I have a lot of people that talk to me and I always say Exoskeleton. I start with the exoskeleton or what I what I want my approach to be. They don’t play with my lyrics, but if I mess up or something just doesn’t sound right, they’ll tweak certain spots and tell me, try this.
Tr3 Taylor – Dope [Official Music Video]
KultureVulturez: Has it been easy for you to find yourself and your way as an artist?
Tr3 Taylor: No, absolutely not. I’ve been through it, when when it comes to this, like, emotional wise. I care so much about just being a part of music and having my name in history that, you know, it hurt me when I was younger and people told me I wasn’t going to be able to do this. Now, it don’t matter no more. But yeah.
KultureVulturez: You just released your latest album with Walk With Me. Can you breakdown the album and what was the concept behind it?
Tr3 Taylor: That joint is just the essence of the product of my environment and how I see the world. I started off a tad aggressive, when I tried to get some stuff off that needed to get addressed. I go ahead and get that out of the way. There’s a lot of local stuff that people that are close to me and close to the situation, they know what I’m talking about. Then it mellows out a little bit while I try to do a more mainstream style of music. Once it gets to about track six all the way to the end, everything I’m stepping with is with a purpose. I’m trying to teach stuff. I’m trying to have a lesson behind it. But my shit is still cranking.
KultureVulturez: Did you fight and struggle with finding a balance sometimes? Between being more mainstream and more conscious.
Tr3 Taylor: Yeah. There was a lot of different features and sounds, subgenres of hip hop and pop and a little bit of R&B. I think we did an amazing job, man. I think when people hear, ‘Hey, there’s a new artist coming out,. they think the quality is not there, but our shit is there. We definitely stand out. The people that take the time to listen.
KultureVulturez: Have you released other music before Walk With Me?
Tr3 Taylor: [00:07:01] Yeah, so far so. Before this one, I had a project that came out in 2020 when we started taking it seriously, called “The Bridge”. People locally really appreciated that too. It was during the pandemic, so everybody was in the house. When people heard it, and you know, they couldn’t go outside, but I had scenarios in it, which was like how it is when n****s be kicking it outside. I have a lot of stories inside of it. There are times when the song stops, it’s a skit with me and my n****s talking. Going through life.
KultureVulturez: When everything is said and done, where do you see yourself or where you want to see yourself at?
Tr3 Taylor: My number one goal right now, my main priority is to get a Grammy. That’s my number one priority. I know I have a very long way to go, but I understand that. That’s my goal.
Tr3 Taylor: I think overall, you want to try to be as unique to yourself as possible, but also flexible to kind of play both ways. So yeah, I think every artist, well a complete artist, they do kind of still have to have that really good image that people are really attracted to. But authenticity, being yourself and really having some content behind your shit, it’s dope if you put it together.
KultureVulturez: Are you involved with anything outside of music?
Tr3 Taylor: Oh, most definitely, man. I’m also a small business owner, Choice Music Group, LLC. I have a couple of business partners as well, where we also do merchandise through Due Numbers and Snakx.online. Then also through Choice Music Group, we try to help other small artists out together. On top of that, those are my brothers. I’m making music with some really, really talented people, that when they hear how we come in is going to surprise them. Lastly, my brother, Mind of Marq, he does all of the visuals, but he’s also my manager. He has his own LLC as well through his stuff. All my brothers got their own businesses and we we handle this shit together, so it’s clean.
KultureVulturez: What’s next for you after this?
Tr3 Taylor: What is next for me after this release, you’ll actually be the first one to hear this, but I have a compilation tape with a few artists that I’m going to be on like two or three songs. I was glad to be on that joint. We recorded that joint in a day. It’s just us having fun. We started recording it 2am, and didn’t stop until the next day. Like the next. Other than that, I’m just going to be trying to do features and handle this business for Walk With Me. If anybody out there would like, they can hit me up for a feature or you just want something different and I guarantee you it’ll be different. Just hit me up.
KultureVulturez: Anything else would like to let the readers know?
Tr3 Taylor: Y’all make sure they check me out on Instagram, @Tr3Taylor. Then from then Twitter@EmojiTr3. That’s my Twitter and that’s my Tik Tok. Mind of Marq, you guys can go in and check him out on YouTube, that’s where all my music videos go.