{"id":27422,"date":"2024-04-25T05:30:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27422"},"modified":"2024-04-09T14:26:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:26:21","slug":"traumas-tribute-to-trax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/25\/traumas-tribute-to-trax\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma\u2019s Tribute to Trax"},"content":{"rendered":"

The life and legacy of trailblazing Bay Area rapper and producer Traxamillion<\/a> was honored with a gala fundraiser in February. And now one of Trax\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9s \u2013 part of the organizing team for that event \u2013 is releasing his latest recording, one that was made with the rap icon\u2019s help before his passing in 2022.<\/p>\n

Like his mentor Trax, Trauma Fresh came up in the 408, inspired by the rap style hyphy but with a sound all his own. With a prolific recording career that goes back to 2018 or earlier, Trauma has released a string of singles, EP and albums; the latter includes 2018\u2019s Out on Bail<\/i>, SilverBack<\/i> from 2020, 2021\u2019s Crime Spree<\/i> and 2022\u2019s Against all Odds 3<\/i>. Last year Trauma Fresh released a seven-song album, Me vs. Everybody<\/i>. A spotlight track on that set was \u201cBad Son,\u201d a collaboration with Traxamillion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Trauma explains that the original recording of \u201cBad Son\u201d was originally part of a larger project that sadly went unfinished. \u201cWe were working on an album [together], but my first single with him came out when Trax was still alive,\u201d Trauma says. \u201cTrax worked with several artists; he\u2019d take them under his wing and work on a project.\u201d And while the two had plans to complete an album, now Trauma has completed a new version of \u201cBad Son\u201d \u2013 using the original recording as a foundation \u2013 as a way of honoring and paying tribute to his mentor.<\/p>\n

Playing a part in the recent fundraiser \u2013 with proceeds going toward support of research on nasopharyngeal cancer, the affliction that struck down Traxamillion at age 42 \u2013 is another way that Trauma Fresh honored Trax. The gala \u201cwas great,\u201d he says. \u201cIt felt like a Who\u2019s Who in the city, almost like a San Jose GRAMMYS. There were all kinds of celebrities that Trax had collaborated with. It was great seeing everybody; a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the new version of \u201cBad Son\u201d is Trauma\u2019s way of keeping that going. Traxamillion\u2019s way of working made an indelible impression on his prot\u00e9g\u00e9. \u201cTrax was very mysterious,\u201d he says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t talk; he just showed you.\u201d Trauma says that in the studio, Traxamillion would withhold praise until he felt it was truly earned. He recalls making multiple attempts at getting a freestyle rap just right. \u201cHe\u2019d seen it all a million times, so not much impressed him.\u201d But finally Trauma turned in a top-notch performance. \u201cAnd Trax liked<\/i> it,\u201d he says with pride.<\/p>\n

As proud as Trauma Fresh remains of the original mix of \u201cBad Son,\u201d he admits that that recording could have benefited from more time to get it the way he and Trax truly wanted it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first song with Trax \u2013 where it all really started \u2013 was \u2018What About You,\u2019\u201d Trauma says. \u201cIt changed my life forever. At that point I was just a punk kid from San Jose. After that, I got signed to a record label; I was on TV, on the radio.\u201d The original cut of \u201cBad Son\u201d was the result of their next recording session together. \u201cThey always say that the sequel is never as good as the first one,\u201d Trauma says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t on the same level as \u2018What About You.\u2019\u201d He came out of the project feeling that he and Trax had unfinished business.<\/p>\n

But with Traxamillion gone, Trauma was on his own. \u201cAnd then I was like, \u2018You know what? Let\u2019s do a remix!\u2019 We had never done that before.\u201d Right around that time, Trauma heard one of Traxamillion\u2019s earlier productions, and it sparked further development of his idea. \u201cThe song that came on was a Bay Area remix, so I thought, \u2018What if I do that?\u2019\u201d Trauma says that one of Trax\u2019s strengths was his ability to \u201cget the right guys and put them together on a track.\u201d So he decided to follow in his mentor\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not as big as Trax,\u201d Trauma readily admits. \u201cBut I decided, \u2018Let me try to get this<\/i> guy, and this<\/i> guy.\u2019\u201d He was surprised and pleased at the response he got. Keeping the same hook from the original recording of \u201cBad Son,\u201d Trauma says that he added new verses from \u201csome famous Bay Area rap stars, some real pioneers.\u201d The roster on the new track includes San Quinn, \u201cbasically the king of San Francisco,\u201d Trauma says. \u201cWe have Mr. Fab from Oakland, and we have Coolio da Unda Dogg from Vallejo, who was a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Mac Dre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trauma \u2013 who\u2019s already hard at work on another project that will drop in June \u2013 says that his updated and revised cut of \u201cBad Son\u201d was created with a goal of representing all parts of the Bay Area. \u201cBecause that’s what Trax would have done,\u201d he says. \u201cHe wanted to get everybody<\/i> involved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The life and legacy of trailblazing Bay Area rapper and producer Traxamillion was honored with a gala fundraiser in February. And now one of Trax\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9s \u2013 part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,41,49],"tags":[5407,5406],"class_list":["post-27422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hip-hop","category-interview","category-new-release","tag-trauma-fresh","tag-traxamillion","cat-36-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27424,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27422\/revisions\/27424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}