Trek Life is one of the unsung heroes of California rap. He came up with Bishop Lamont, Evidence, DJ Babu, Blu and a bevy of other talented DJs, producers, and emcees (before anyone knew who they were). He’s done entire projects with long time friend Oddisee. His music has taken him around the world more than a few times, even having toured with label mates Diamond District throughout Europe. Trek, always soft spoken about his accomplishments, wouldn’t tell you all this himself but he even got in on the ground floor of licensing in Hip-Hop music – being the first mc to do work for a McDonalds’ commercial, placing music in numerous shows on MTV, Showtime, and even Breaking Bad. Last year Trek Life got the invite to preform at Paid Dues – a highlight for any emcee, let alone a California native.

Today Trek Life released his third official album titled Hometown Foreigner. The new project is as unassuming as the veteran emcee’s demeanor in real life, yet as worthy of praise as any album in the West. The project centers around Trek’s place today as a man, being in the center of so much (California can do that) and yet feeling just outside – the hometown foreigner. The album’s tracks are a fresh perspective on Hip-Hop themes including an examination of Hip-Hop values, the love of music, being a street casualty, and of course, living in the middle of it all and still being on the edge. Produced entirely by up and coming producer Duke Westlake, the record also features Oddisee, yU, Belvi, FunkLogik, DJ Buddy, Hawdwerk, GMK, Bishop Lamont, Hezekiah, Sean Wyze, and Richard Wright. Duke also mixed and mastered the album, showcasing just how talented he is in the realm of music.

From DJBooth.Net:

If DJ Babu and Trek Life were books… well, I’d be really confused about how a couple bundles of paper and glue had managed to record music together. But, to roll with this completely absurd hypothetical a little longer, the Dilated Peoples DJ/producer and the West Coast rhymesayer would be shelved in the Non-Fiction section—they’re simply too real to fit in anywhere else. The eighth exclusive world premiere in DJBooth and Event Electonics’ ongoing 20/20 Music series, this gritty selection finds Babu crafting a slow-rolling synth-sample beat (complete with a hook sampled from U.T.F.O.‘s classic Leader of the Pack) to back Trek’s unfettered display of lyrical aggression: “Loadin’ up rhymes and start blastin’ / I spit with a passion, so my comparison to guns is more realistic than you imagine.” The end result is a hard-hitting, gimmick-free banger sure to impress anyone with a taste for that raw ish.

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New video from Los Angeles rapper Trek Life off of his recently released remix project titled “Wouldn’t Change Nothing“. The video was shot on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles & at The Artform Studio by DJ Buddy.

“What It Is (Apollo Brown Remix)” was released from Trek Life’s upcoming project Wouldn’t Change Nothing. The upcoming album is a remix project that gives new producers a take on last summer’s Oddisee collaboration “Everything Changed Nothing”. The new project contains production from Apollo Brown, J Bizness, ST/MiC, MarvWon, Has-Lo, Captain, Slimkat78, Duke Westlake, A3, Bombay, and of course long time friend and collaborator Oddisee. Look for the new album at itunes next Tuesday July 12th.Download here and listen below.

Trek Life hails from Los Angeles, California and has worked alongside some of the Hiphop industry’s brightest talents: Kev Brown, Bishop Lamont, DJ Khalil, Evidence, Black Milk, Kardinal Offishall, Oddisee and DJ Babu. Trek Life’s music has appeared on MTV’s The Hills and G’s to Gents, as well as being featured in the classic documentary “Freestyle”. He toured Europe with Diamond District, and then dropped his sophomore album Everything Changed Nothing produced by acclaimed DC producer Oddisee. Trek is currently preparing his summer offering “Wouldn’t Change Nothing” – a 12 track remix project featuring the West Coast’s J. Bizness (producer on Little Brother, Ras Kass, Canibus), Detroit’s MarvWon, up and coming producer Audible Doctor (produced Battle Cry for Joel Ortiz), DC rookie legend Nick Tha 1Da who produced songs for the 9/11 documentary Loose Change and Finale’s “Jungle Music”, and Philly’s Has-Lo. To celebrate the upcoming release and the warming of the seasons, Trek Life, Oddisee & MMG have decided to give away “Everything Changed Nothing” for the entire week!

Trek Life “Everything Changed Nothing” (Mixtape))

With his sophomore LP Everything Changed Nothing, West Covina native Trek Life embraces the phrase ‘life goes on’. The album is an ode to the reality that no matter what changes occur in one persons’ life, the world still turns and other lives are still lead. With an LP produced entirely by renowned beatsmith Oddisee, Trek Life attempts to bring listeners to his window for peek into how his world turns.

Everything Changed Nothing succeeds, in part, because of it’s simplicity. It features one emcee with one producer, discussing topics that every person can relate to. Trek Life never attempts to be something that he’s not. He’s not gangster or a trapster, but a self described guy from the suburbs that wants to talk about his piece of Los Angeles. As Trek Life himself admitted, Everything Changed Nothing is a personal LP and the honesty of his words resonates through the entire album. His honesty manifests itself in the fantastic “Ready To Live”, a soulful track which finds Trek Life telling listeners to grab the bull by the horns and live life to the fullest. The track starts the album off on a positive high note, shining as bright as the LA sunshine. Tracks such as “Still Never Rains”, “As The World Turns”, “I’d Rather Be” and the title track “Everything Changed Nothing”, are all enjoyable tracks follow the same format with Trek Life discussing love, life and specifically life in southern California.

As an emcee, Trek Life of course has to drop some battle verses and does so well, specifically on the dope “What It Is”, which finds him running hard on a gritty Oddisee banger. “So Supreme” also satisfies, while tracks such as “Jump Out There” and “Due West” further display Oddisee’s prowess. Speaking of production Everything Changed Nothing lives up to the hype.Oddisee provides a nice collection of tracks featuring soulful samples, but also creates an awesome set of keyed tracks that bring their own flavor. The bouncy “Wow” comes almost out of nowhere and gets the head nodding as it kicks in.The standout track “So LA” kills, with it’s nasty production features a very comfortable Trek Life talking all things LA. Guaranteed satisfaction.

Everything Changed Nothing is a truly enjoyable release, both with it’s magnificent production and content. Trek Life is definitely an emcee to keep an eye on. The album is also a fine example of how universal hip-hop has become, as it is a record that anyone can relate to, no matter where they are from.

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

Trek Life and Oddisee continue to tease fans with another mixtape preceding the release of Trek Life’s sophomore album, Everything Changed Nothing. The mixtape, West Coast Beats, includes a concoction of snippets of instrumentals from the upcoming album, exclusive Oddisee beats, the first single, “So Supreme”, and an exclusive Oddisee-produced Trek Life track called “Get In Touch”, found only on this mixtape.

While Oddisee’s beats have a laid back California feel, he adds a strong synth that keeps reigns on the tracks and keeps them from becoming repetitive. The mixture of styles separates California music from its usual clichés by adding an urban feel. Oddisee says, “When I cruise LA and listen to those tracks I really feel like we accomplished what we set out to [do] with this album, giving a city theme music.”

The two full tracks on the mixtape, “Get In Touch,” and “So Supreme,” show how the blending of Oddisee’s beats back up Trek Life’s lyrical flow. Even though “Get In Touch” will not be on the full LP, it embraces the same theme as the album and is a good indication, along with “So Supreme” of the high quality of the music Trek Life and Oddisee have been making together.

Trek Life’s Everything Changed Nothing will be available at digital retailers on July 27th and physical retailers on August 10th via Mello Music Group.

Oddisee – “West Coast Beats” (Hosted By Trek Life) (Mixtape)