Trae Tha Truth 'Goes Way Back' With DJ Kool Herc

Celebrity Favorites: Trae Tha Truth
Trae Tha Truth doesn't care about hip-hop acceptance; he has a co-sign from the inventor of hip-hop.

DJ Kool Herc is widely credited as hip-hop's originator, after using two turntables to elongate record breaks during his parties in the Bronx, New York, in the late 19070s. Herc surprised many this past Monday when he attended Trae's first headlining NYC show at SOBs in Manhattan, where he was promoting his upcoming album, Street King.

"It was amazing, man. I came into SOBs not knowing what it was gonna be like, but it was packed front to back," Trae told Mixtape Daily. "I got a lot of support from just New York City as a whole with the fans and then Kool Herc came out, Jadakiss, Styles P, French Montana, Fred the Godson, Maino."

While, some of NY's finest artists rolled out the red carpet, it was the rap pioneer's presence that stood out most for Trae. The Southern rap veteran clued us in on his relationship with Herc. "Little do they know that me and Kool Herc go back for years," the Houston rapper revealed. "I got old videos in vaults at home of just me, Kool Herc, MC Hammer and a gang of people onstage. So it goes way back with me and him."

Though revered among hard-core hip-hop circles, Trae hasn't had an easy career path. After a shooting incident following his 2009 Trae Day charity event, the rapper was criticized by a local radio disc jock at Houston's KBXX 97.9 "The Box" for the incident. After Trae responded with a dis record, his music was banned from the station. It's incidents like that that makes Herc's support special to Trae.

"He always accepted me, and plus he told me, 'Man, I don't care if they accept you in hip-hop or not, I accept you, so it is what it is, man. You're raw,' " Trae recalled. "That's my homey, man."

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