Indie rapper Trae tha Truth, a mainstay on Houston’s Hip-Hop scene, will be recognize this month for his contributions to his community with an honor that has yet to be presented to a rap artist in the city’s history.
On Tuesday, July 22, Houston Mayor Bill White will issue a proclamation officially declaring the date as Trae Day in a ceremony to be attended by the city officials as well as several other prominent Houston celebs.
In the last few months alone, Trae has participated in two high profile initiatives tied to Texas’s often underserved prison community.
In May, he embarked on the Hopefest Tour, a speaking and performance tour which took him, frequent collaborator Slim Thug and members of their respective crews ABN and Boss Hogg Outlawz to several Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities.
The tour reached several hundred inmates from maximum-security facilities to the juvenile offenders at the Clements Unit in Amarillo, TX. He is also actively involved with the No More Victims Advocacy Program, which works with the M.B. Smiley High School in Northeast Houston to support children of incarcerated parents.
“It’s a blessing to be honored by the Mayor, the city and the streets,” Trae the Truth told AllHipHop.com. “It was an aggressive and meaningful statement when I said ‘I am Houston,’ but it is solidified as the truth now. The streets still have a real representative for them.”
For the past two years, he has appeared alongside fellow Houston artists including Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, and Michael “5000” Watts, to support, encourage and celebrate the program’s graduating seniors.
Trae is currently in the early stages of establishing an official non-profit organization to unify his many informal community initiatives as well. A.B.N., an acronym for A Better Neighborhood, will primarily serve children and families in need.
Immediately following the July 22 proclamation ceremony, set to take place at 2:00pm, Trae will host a six-hour block party at the Sharpstown Mall, located at 7500 Bellaire Boulevard.
From 3-9pm, the former Rap-A-Lot Records artist will treat hundreds of children and their families to food, drinks, games and rides, continuing what has become an annual tradition.
The kids, who come from the many Houston communities that have benefited from Trae’s efforts, will also be treated to free live performances by several surprise guests and Trae himself.
Following his departure from Rap-A-Lot “to pursue other options” a little over a year ago, Trae released The Diary of Tha Truth, a mixtape album which was well received by critics and fans alike.
He continues to promote the project, propelled by a radio single, “So Hot” featuring DJ Khaled, and the Slim Thug-assisted “Nothing to a Boss,” while searching for the next label he will call home.
