Trunk Muzik

TREE - The 3rd Floor
(From The 3rd Floor mixtape; 2010)


The 3rd Floor has gotta be one of TREE's best songs, right? If he'd never recorded any more music after this, he'd still go down in the history books as mastering the art of Soul-Trap musik on this song. Also a good example of how percussion-free Rap can knock with motion and not linger in the air like a fart in a cold car.

Digging through TREE's YouTube page recently it seems like My Ether was his debut single as a solo artist. Peep his exquisite use of ad libs to fill the spaces during the chorus. A very good debut single which doesn't sound like anything else that dropped in 2010, albeit a very good debut single which doesn't sound like the Soul-Trap musik TREE became known for either.

TREE - My Ether
(From The 3rd Floor mixtape; 2010)


Then again, TREE's sound has always been broader than a lotta folks : Know Y was Swag-Rap with a Chicago twist; 1 Is For The Money sounded like DJ Toomp hooked up a track with the Films drum-break; Probably Nu It sounded like a game of Pong turnt Rap musik; Like Whoa sounds regionally ambiguous in a good way etc etc.

Sittin' here thinking of potential pseudonyms for TREE. So far I've got TREE AKA Branch Nubian AKA Bark The 45 King AKA Chief Leaf AKA Afrika Bambootaa AKA Log Foe.