The biggest misconception about Trippie Redd, according to Trippie Redd
With a name like Trippie Redd, people are probably going to make assumptions about you.
But all isn’t as it seems for the Ohio artist. His breakthrough mixtape, A Love Letter to You, earned him attention from the likes of Playboi Carti, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Verte. He’s also been repeatedly praised for his distinct sound that combines fierce energy with melodic hooks. In a short time, the rapper/singer has reached impressive musical heights.
What’s the misconception about Trippie Redd then?
In an interview with Billboard back in 2017, Trippie shared that “It’s not what it looks like […] People just be trying to judge books by its cover and I can understand. I’m a funny-looking motherfucker, I got shit going on, I got red hair, I got tats on my face, you feel me? I got a bunch of 14s tatted on me”.
For the ‘Love Scars’ rapper, it’s his appearance that causes confusion. The 26-year-old’s hair, tattoos, and general aesthetic mean people make snap judgments about him, and miss some of the deeper stuff beneath.
“All this shit got meaning”, he explained. “I ain’t doing all this for nothing. I’m a human at the end of the day, like I really do this. I ain’t ass. I can rap, for real. I can sing for real”.
It seems then, that Trippie Redd feels undervalued in the music industry. Looking like a trap artist shouldn’t mean being confined to the trap box – the guy has talent that extends beyond that.
What gets to him most, however, is being called a mumble rapper. The term became popular in the early 2010s and refers to artists who heavily use autotune and repetitive and indistinct lyrics in their songs.
“That’s what they misinterpret me for, like I’m a mumble rapper or something”, Trippie Redd told Billboard.
It’s understandable why he takes issues with the label. Trippie Redd has been said to record entire tracks in one take, and his music abilities are diverse. Being called a ‘mumble rapper’ is a discredit to his versatility.
He recorded ‘Love Scars’ in one take in a dark studio in Columbus with producers Harold and Elliot Trent. Speaking about the experience, Trippie recalled that “I couldn’t really see nobody, so it was vibe and I one-take the whole song. I didn’t write none of that shit.”
Trippie also thinks his SoundCloud reputation is a misconception. ‘Love Scars’ has over 16 million plays on the platform, which resulted in Noisey calling him “SoundCloud Frank Sinatra”. Yet Trippie points out that his streaming numbers are consistent across all platforms: “Why it gotta be SoundCloud? […] It’s just the image, like I said. People judge a book by its cover and shit and now, all of a sudden, I’m a SoundCloud guy”.
There are definitely a few misconceptions that Trippie wants to clean up – from not being just a tatted artist, to not being a mumble rapper, to not being a SoundCloud guy. At the root of it all, is Trippie telling us that he’s not style over substance.
He’s not considering a new marketing approach, though. For him, his music will do the talking.
“One thing I’m not going to do is change up anything. Like, I’m always gonna be me. I’m not gonna compromise, change shit, I’m gonna be the same n****. Y’all either gonna like it or not”.