HHS: How did you link up with Oddisee?

Trek Life:We met through a mutual friend named brub.Oddisee was on tour with J-Live and they were out here in LA at the House of Blues. About five or six years ago, Oddisee asked brub, Rhettmatic and some others  about west coast emcees that he could work with and we were introduced. After talking about the game and music and touring and everything associated with it, we pretty much agreed on everything about how to go about things. So it started right there.

HHS:Can you talk a little about the album? I know it’s very personal to you.

Trek Life: Yeah, it is. The title of the album is Everything Changed Nothing. I have a two year old daughter who means the world to me. The first album, Price I’ve Paid was more about becoming an adult, the pressures of adulthood and having to become an adult even when you want to be young. But with Everything Changed Nothing, it was different. I was sitting there with my daughter who was probably 6 months old at the time and I was just thinking about how no matter how much she meant to me, the outside world hadn’t really changed at all. There were still people out there being foolish, bill collectors were still calling people, I had to still work and I really just had to live. So I just ran with that concept about life in general about how you can give a person everything and nothing about them will change. The concept gave from my little girl and I documented everything about my life on the record. The record is very direct and a lot of it is like therapy for me.

HHS: Is it hard to do that as an artist, to put yourself out there and let listeners get into your personal life?

Trek Life: It is, but it’s getting easier for me. It was very difficult at first because there’s a lot of weakness when you start to do that. Honestly, I always admired artists who could put it all down on paper. If you look at Kanye West, he talks about his entire life, even his flaws. That’ll be the next stage of my writing, being able to put my flaws down without feeling that the next emcee is going to dis me with it. It took a while to get to that point.

HHS: Listening to the album you don’t have the typical “west coast sound”. Is that what you’re going for or do you want to be viewed as a west coast emcee.

Trek Life: Yes and No. It’s strange because there’s a part of the west coast that continues to go unrecognized. If you look at The Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship and Dilated Peoples, they represent the existence of the regular, everyday, L.A. person. We tend to get either the most street perspective or the most Hollywood perspective. In between that, there are thousands of thousands of people that our music represents. So it becomes more for a city person. So a person in DC can relate,  a person in New York can relate, a person in Germany can relate because they are just average people that do everyday things like skating, clowning around and talking to women. So I just like to keep that perspective of  Los Angeles and if it becomes a global thing thing that’s a bonus. But I always like to present that there’s a less glamorous and less violent part of L.A.

HHS: Right, groups like P.U.T.S and Dilated and artists like MURS are able to rep where they are from without necessarily having to talk about street shit.

Trek Life: You get a city perspective about L.A., but now you’re hearing more of the suburban perspective, more people from the outskirts, more people from the Valley and the 9-0-9 because they have a voice now.

HHS: How about touring? Whats your schedule for that as the album makes it way out there?

Trek Life: Oddisee and I always do Europe in February and March. We’ve been doing that for 4 years. We’ll probably do New York and Atlanta in October, but the main tour is always in February and March.

HHS: What do you want people to take from the album?

Trek Life: That it’s okay to be a father and an emcee. It’s okay to be vulnerable and an emcee. It’s okay to put your experiences on paper. I want people that disagree with me to know that it’s okay. It’s okay to give your personal perspective and not necessarily have to embellish. I want people to also feel comfortable in writing down their own experiences and challenging my experiences.

HHS: How about collabos? You obviously got down with Oddisee for this, but are there any artists that you’re looking to work with?

Trek Life: Umm, rhyme-wise, I’ve worked with people that I want to work want with. I definitely want to work with yU, he’s one of my favorites artists out right now. I’m a big fan of Fashawn and the energy that he brings. But otherwise it’s just production. My man J.Bizness, I want to constantly do records with him. I’m finishing this up this project with Babu.But the dream producer work with at this point I want to definitely work with is 14-kt.

HHS:Beyond this new album are there other projects that you’re working on?

Trek Life: I’ll be doing a JB3P, a three song EP that J.Bizness produces that he’s been putting up every month. I’ll be doing one of those in November.  I’m working on a project with Babu tentatively titled Fire Outside. We’re looking at early next year for that one.

HHS: Any last words?

Trek Life: Of course shout out to Oddisee and J.Bizness. Without them, I pretty much would have been done with this. And to anybody that listens. Listen, get your perspective, like it, love it, hate it. If you don’t like it, I’m not upset, just realize that it was 100% genuine.

Check out Trek Life at: http://www.treklifemusic.com and on twitter at http://twitter.com/treklife