So my new album ('Unorthodox') is coming up and I've been sitting in a small work room with Brian Bachmann (the man making the beats behind me on the new album who also acts as my management in many ways) for hours and hours contacting upwards of 20 magazine, 100 radio stations, and God knows how many regular every-day people (mostly friends in other cities for promo). Apparently music is more about marketing than actual music these days.
Anyways, with all of that said, I now have a blog more just to fill my time than actual promotion. But hey, maybe someone will come read this and say 'Hey, he's an alright dude, let's check out his music!'. That would make this a successful blog. But I mean hell, if that doesn't happen maybe ya'll can at least get to know me better. I would be fine with that.
I think I'm just gonna tell you some random things about me.
I am Tre Houston to most of you. I am a connoisseur and performing artist of the hip-hop music genre. I love it. My real name is Rowland Wickes Folensbee, III. I got this name from my dad who got it from his dad, but my mother (Flossy) hates the name so she dubbed me Trey (III = 3 = tres = Trey...which later becomes Tre). I cut the 'y' off of the name in the 6th grade because I was bored one day and I really have always been fond of changing things around and doing things just to get people to ask me why. I have two brothers and a sister: Tyler, 17; Matt, 13; and Meredith, 9. They support me in all I do.
At a current height of 6'4, I am going to be the shortest man in my immediate family. Tyler is going to be at least 6'5, Matt is supposed to wind up somewhere around 6'7, and my Dad is 6'6. I may not be short but I feel like it in my home. My mom is only 5'6 and my sister is supposed to be around 5'5. At a comfortable weight of 285 lbs I am, however, the biggest man in my family. We are all big guys though, and I pity Meredith's first boyfriend - we are all flying home to be at the door holding guns.
My parents are both intrigued by the brain (Dad is a psychologist and Mom is a psychiatrist). We have had our entire lives video taped by our parents so that they can then use those videos to show developmental stages in babies, children, and adolescence. I hope none of you every see these videos - I was way too cute to be me now. I think because I grew up in a home so aware of 'feelings' and emotions I gained an ability to dissect character pretty well. It also helps with my music more than I can explain. There are thousands of songs inside the stories and emotions people have...I want to find and write them all down and perform them.
My parents both being doctors of sorts also led to my parents being at work a whole lot. This is where my first Black influence came into my life. Mama Nell (Warnell Clay) came to work with my family when I was 3 months old. My mom needed to return to work and did not want to put me into daycare so Mama Nell was hired to watch over me. She wound up doing a lot of raising me as well. She became a part of the family...my parents (being younger than Mama Nell) ask her for advice and talk to her before any major decision comes in any of mine or my siblings' lives. She is a second mother to me who still is with us today taking care of Meredith. Mama Nell introduced me to Black Culture in a very subtle way. We didn't watch BET (She can't stand most of it) or anything along those lines...it was food and music. Al Green, fried chicken, Marvin Gaye, mac n cheese, Barry White, meat-loaf, Luther Vandross, and some damn good corn bread. At the time I didn't associate any of these things with 'Black Culture' but rather just the music and food I heard and enjoyed. I think this is what left me open to hip-hop later on in life. Damn I love Mama Nell.
From the time I was 4 until maybe the 9th grade, my best friend in the world was Jonathan Emmons. Jonathan was brilliant...maybe he's smarter than I am. He introduced me to hip-hop. His brother David was a big fan of old school rap, NWA, Eazy-E, Grand Master Flash, Run DMC, all of them. This rubbed off on Jonathan, which then rubbed off on me cause his Napster account was full of all these songs that he would burn and play when I was at his house. To be honest, I didn't like them in the beginning. It was just noise to me. It grew on me though...and we began to try to rap ourselves. I guess I should mention that Jonathan and I were always super competitive as well. One of the main reasons I stuck with rap for those first years was simply because it was really the only thing that I was better than him at.
This story is nowhere near complete but I have class in like 4 and a half hours and I need to sleep. I'll continue this soon. Post up and tell me what you think. It doesn't matter if I know you or not. If I don't know you, I will soon enough.
Be good.
Tre
