You know you’re doing something right when Drake f#### with you.
Already with the cosign from one of the biggest artists in the world, CEO Trayle is here to shake up the rap game with his unique and distinct sound, relentless bars, and effortless swag. Hailing from the Bronx, New York but relocating to Atlanta, the rising star has been steadily building his fanbase, originally discovered by Gucci Mane and asked to sign with him, but then politely declined.
CEO Trayle calls himself “Big Boss C4,” just one of his 3 alter egos. Reppin’ the boss title to the fullest, he states, “C4 doesn’t like to be played with. CEO Trayle understands that this is a business, but C4 don’t care about none of that. He just likes rapping.”
Riding the momentum of his viral smash “OK Cool,” which garnered over 30 million streams and quickly became a TikTok sensation BEFORE Gunna hopped on the remix, CEO Trayle currently boasts over 1.3 monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
His newest body of work, Happy Halloween C4, clocks in at 16 tracks, with additional features from Babyface Ray and Doe Boy.
Most recently, Trayle unleashed his newest single and visual titled “Monsters.”
AllHipHop: How was it growing up in the Bronx?
That’s where I really got turnt on to rap, listening to 50 Cent. Then I moved to Alabama and that put me on to people like Gucci, Rocko, other people. When I moved to Atlanta I started listening to people like Thug. It just all mixed. I was always in Chicago though. They took a liking to me so I started going back often.
AllHipHop: Speaking of, talk about G Herbo bringing you out.
CEO Trayle: Ain’t going to lie, that s### was turnt! As soon as I walked on stage, everybody had their flashes on. I was turnt, I’m like “damn!” That’s how I know I’m turnt in the A. That was Atlanta. I was supposed to go to Chicago but some s### had come up. I came, I pulled up on him at his show out here in Atlanta. He said, “S###, you wanna come out?” I’m like, “Hell yeah, let’s do it!” That s### was turnt. Appreciate Swerve for that.
AllHipHop: How did y’all tap in?
CEO Trayle: Just from me being in and out of Chicago for a while. Molly and DooWop, they all was listening to me. DooWop, I be calling him my CEO. That’s my brother. He was listening to me a long time ago before a lot of n*ggas. He used to always tell me, “Man, we gon’ work something out. Get get something going.” It didn’t work out the way we planned it, but we still maintain a relationship. Anytime when Herb be out here in the A, or I be in LA, wherever, I can link up with him and we can kick it. That’s how it goes. Ever since then, I’ve been locked in with them.
AllHipHop: Happy Halloween C4 out now! How are you feeling?
CEO Trayle: This is my favorite tape I put out. Me, Turbo, and the other producers that’s on it — but it’s really on some s### where me and Turbo locked in and did a bunch of songs. When he heard my idea, he said “I’m with it, let’s lock in and get some beats going.” It started from us being in the studio every night, and now we got 50 songs. I said “We might as well just do this Happy Halloween together.” He said, “S###, let’s do it!” It went from there and we put it out.
AllHipHop: What does Halloween mean to you?
CEO Trayle: Halloween to me means this s### ain’t sweet. Don’t think it’s candy. Ain’t no tricks no treats.
AllHipHop: What’d you dress up as for Halloween this year?
CEO Trayle: I was one of the dead presidents. Me and Gunna, we was in LA. We went to hella Halloween parties, 4 Halloween parties. We were the dead presidents. I was high as f###! I was high as a m########### that whole night. Man, I was high as hell. I had dropped the tape and on Halloween, everyone knew who I was in LA. LA be showing that love now, and New York.
AllHipHop: How did you tap in with Gunna and all the YSL crew?
CEO Trayle: Just building relationships. People I done known from a while ago and how the dots always connect. From being in the streets to being in the studio with certain people, to being around and being somebody that’s respected outside, it’s not gonna be hard for the dots to connect for certain people. With me knowing the people that I knew and building the relationships that I had built, with Taurus and Booka and other people that be around him, it was inevitable.
Gunna a real n*gga, he’s always looking out for people on the come up. You see the way Slime looks at him? Slime looks at him like the Golden Child. Slime basically put in his head that you get rich, then you make other people rich. That’s the plan, that’s why I f### with YSL. That’s what they focus on: getting the whole family rich. Everybody’s doing their own thing. We locked in and it’s been like that ever since.
AllHipHop: When did you know you wanted Gunna on the remix?
CEO Trayle: I didn’t even think it was gon’ be that. But when he heard it, he’s like, “S###, I gotta put something on it. I gotta put a verse on it.” I’m like “s###, go ahead!” I’m thinking he just f##### with the song. Nah. A couple days later his engineer texted me and said, “Send me the open verse for the song.” I said “Alright, bet!” And he did that s###.
AllHipHop: What was your reaction when you heard it back?
CEO Trayle: That’s the only one I listened to. I already didn’t like the first one. I appreciate it like a m##########, but that’s not the one I thought. Not the one I expected.
AllHipHop: The original music video has almost 8 million views on Youtube!
CEO Trayle: I love it, but I didn’t think that was gonna be the one.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to get these numbers and be independent?
CEO Trayle: That s###’s crazy to even see! I just put a video out last night at 1am called “Monsters,” that s###’s at 20K views now. I’m like damn. I called Val-Manager (https://www.instagram.com/valperre_/?hl=en) and he’s like, “You surprised? You shouldn’t be.” [laughs]
AllHipHop: How was Rolling Loud in New York?
CEO Trayle: It was straight. New York was cool, it was just cold as f###.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to be performing and having your fans sing the lyrics back?
CEO Trayle: That s### is heartwarming. An old lady DM’d me the other day, she said, “Me and my husband love your song, but what’s an eight of woc?” I’m like “It’s Wockhardt, it’s a drug.” She said, “Oh, my husband told me that’s what it was. But we love you! Keep going.” I looked at her page, she’s old as hell. I’m like damn. You know, the cougars always loved me anyways. But when she hit me up, damn she’s old as hell listening to me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR0I_uJj7q_/
AllHipHop: What was your reaction when Drake DM’d you?
CEO Trayle: That was a turnt DM! I was on the jet when Drake DM’d me, so I was already turnt. Then when I got to Houston, he seen me in Houston. I seen him in the club and he dapped me up. I didn’t really think nothing of it right? He had rented out this Dave and Buster’s that night, then I seen him again. He showed hella love. He showed so much love that everybody in Dave & Buster’s was looking at me like, “Who the f### is this n*gga? Who the f### is Drake talking to?” He showed me hella love, that s### was crazy.
AllHipHop: The fact that he saw your performance at Rolling Loud..
CEO Trayle: He saw my s###. Saw the stream and watched my stream, then DM’d me and followed me.
AllHipHop: What do you make of that?
CEO Trayle: I’m a young turnt ngga. I’m youngest turnest ngga out here right now. A lot of nggas turnt, but Drake didn’t DM them after Rolling Loud. I always got that over nggas.
AllHipHop: You gotta get that Drake feature!
CEO Trayle: You already know where my mind’s at. My mind’s on them Blocboy JB m############. I gotta get a solo Drake feature. I’ma be over turnt.
AllHipHop: I saw you were with Doe Boy too. What’s your guys’ friendship?
CEO Trayle: Shoutout to Doe Boy, he one of the realest nggas out here. Because the rap industry is gay. Doe Boy if you’re watching this, you a real ngga boy. The whole FreeBandz camp, everybody over there I f### with. Them nggas real nggas. He pulled up to my video shoot and everything.
And we had crazy s### at the video, nggas felt like they were being followed. They still pulled up! He ended up being followed by my brother, they were both coming to the video shoot. It looked like they were following each other. They’re street nggas, on some street n*gga s###.
AllHipHop: Was the video shoot in Atlanta?
CEO Trayle: Yup.
AllHipHop: Do you like Atlanta?
CEO Trayle: Atlanta is cool, you gotta be tough to be out here. It’s not like LA. Atlanta isn’t like anywhere, you gotta really be somebody out here because everybody feels like their somebody. If you got something going on in Atlanta, that’s good because everybody from Atlanta feels like they’re somebody. So you gotta be somebody to move around.
AllHipHop: How would you describe your drip?
CEO Trayle: I like Rick Owens. I really like Prada. I f### with Amiri. I really like s### I look good in, that’s it. If I look good in that s###, I’m putting that s### on. I don’t care what anybody says. I just had on a trench coat, that m########### was raw as hell. That s### was burning me, but that s###’s raw. I’m tall.
AllHipHop: What do you like to do when you’re not working?
CEO Trayle: When I’m not working, I be with my son. He’s 4. That’s what I’m doing when I’m not rapping. He be with me sometimes in the studio so he already knows what I’m finna do. He goes, “Can I go to the studio with you? Are you about to go to the office?” I’m like “yeah.” We call it the office.
AllHipHop: How’s fatherhood?
CEO Trayle: That’s why y’all know me now, because I became a daddy.
AllHipHop: What’s your son’s favorite CEO Trayle song?
CEO Trayle: He likes all my songs. He called me earlier saying he was listening to my new song, “Monsters.” He got a tablet, I bought him an iPad so he can call me any given time. He be listening to my music when I go pick him up. He’s like, “Daddy look! Daddy look!” But I can’t really look because I’m driving. He knows all my songs, he be watching and listening to everything.
AllHipHop: You ever worry about your lyrical content?
CEO Trayle: Nah, because he be telling me “Daddy you’re cursing too much!” Or he says, “Daddy you’re using bad words. You can’t use bad words Daddy.” He’s crazy.
AllHipHop: You need to get him on a song!
CEO Trayle: I got him on a song, it’s not out yet. He’s raw, he ain’t say nothing but ngga a bunch of times. He said ngga 10 times. He’s funny as a m###########. He jumped on the mic like, “I wanna rap!” I said “alright.” He rapped like, “N*gga!!” Man, he crazy. [laughs]
AllHipHop: You were shot before, do you suffer from any type of trauma?
CEO Trayle: Yup, I got PTSD. That s### bad too. I was a victim of a home invasion, somebody tried to rob me. I was 19, but how I got through it was knowing what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to rap. You gotta find a way to remain calm and push through the situation. Even if you got people around, you still gotta treat it as if you’re by yourself. You gotta still push like always, consistency is key.
AllHipHop: Talk about your decision to stay independent.
CEO Trayle: It’s not really a decision. Labels call, they’ll offer a lot of money but bad terms. I’m not really rapping for me, I’m rapping for my son, my niece and my nephew. They gotta be straight so that means I have to owe more than… you know? It has to be right for me to sign, I can’t really jump out there and sign no deal. It’d be cool for right now, the first 6 months, then on the 8th month I’m upset about s###.
AllHipHop: I interviewed PnB Rock last night, he was saying he didn’t drop an album in 2.5 years because of “label s###.” That’s crazy!
CEO Trayle: It be like that. Certain s###, and that’s my biggest concern. My biggest concern was always wanting to drop music when I want to. Because I’ll wake up and listen to an unreleased song I got, be like “oh yeah, that s### needs to go out right now.” That’s how I think, so I can’t have nobody in control of me dropping music. I need to be able to drop music when I want to. Because I drop a lot of music, I record a lot. I be wanting to drop it so everybody can hear it. I don’t want nobody stopping that s###. That’s another thing I think about, why I don’t sign a deal.
AllHipHop: How’s TikTok going?
CEO Trayle: I really did know nothing about TikTok. “Ok Cool” was already at 4 million before TikTok got a hold of it. Really, my momma told me. She said my baby sister told her that she keep hearing my song on TikTok. When I finally looked at it, it had 100K TikToks on it. Damn, this s###’s going viral! That’s when I did my No Jumper interview, he asked, “You gonna drop the remix?” I’m like, “Hell nah, I’m going viral on TikTok right now. Why would I do that?!” TikTok played a part, but “Ok Cool” already had millions of streams before it blew up on TikTok.
AllHipHop: Is your son on TikTok?
CEO Trayle: Nah, he’s a kid kid. He’s on YouTube watching videos, ABCs and all that. He doing kid s###.
AllHipHop: What’re you most excited for?
CEO Trayle: I’m most excited for what’s next. Because every time I think I know what’s going on, it happens 10 times bigger and better. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, I’m just gonna keep dropping songs and keep dropping. I just dropped a video last night. Go watch that s###, turn that up. I’ma keep dropping songs every few days.
AllHipHop: Any collabs we can expect?
CEO Trayle: I got hella collabs. I got some s### with Meek. I got some s### with Gunna. I got some s### with hella people, I don’t even know how I be poppin’ up in these studios. Me and Vory got a bunch of s###, he’s the one. I got hella songs with Baby Smoove.
AllHipHop: Any goals for yourself?
CEO Trayle: That goal is to go as crazy as I can until I can’t no more. Just keep going.