Biography

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Trete Lo's First Meeting with Rap Music 1983-84: As a small boy I was influenced by early pioneers of rap like Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambatta & Suga Hill Gang. The first rap song I can remember hearing was at around six years old. Planet Rock by Afrika Bambatta was the best song I had ever heard. My two older cousins Tyrone & Bobby Chambers lied to me at the time and told me that it was their song. I looked up to them so much since they often performed rap songs to me that I believed them. Break dancing was the thing at that time and my cousins were the greatest in the world in my opinion. My younger cousin picked up on break dancing then and I felt a certain vibe when it came to rap.

 Trete Lo Rehearses His First Rap Song 1986-88: My Mom moved from Shreveport, Louisiana (Hollywood) to Los Angelos, California (Watts) then to Monroe, Louisiana. (Robinson Place) I moved so much that at a California school, I was held back in the First grade because I was not on the correct reading level. I don't think that anyone noticed my extraordinary memory. My mom bought me a radio that looked like a small TV that I listened to all the time. (Until my mom wouldn't buy any more batteries) I memorized a song called "I got a feeling" by a female rapper called Sweet Tee. I was in love with that song. I never saw a video and I didn't know he was really a she. She was so great that I assumed she was a man. I knew her entire song. So much that I even called myself Sweet Tee since my name was Terrell, I thought it was a great fit.

  My brother Quincy Kennedy had also written a 4 sentence rap verse that I memorized in a day. When I came to Monroe, Louisiana, it was a little small compared to Shreveport and California. I went to Caver Elementary and at the time I noticed that those kids didn't have Sweet T on the radio. At 9 years old, I rapped the real Sweet T's songs to the other kids and they loved them. For weeks they asked to hear me rap. A guy named Jesse Moorehead did the beat in "The Fat Boys" fashion for me all the time. The kids soon started complaining that I always said the same rap song. I'll admit I was afraid to write something on my own, but I was up for the challenge. I don't remember the first song but I can tell you that it felt magical.

    The First On Stage Performance 1990-91: In 5th grade, around age 11 in Monroe, Louisiana at Lakeshore Elementary, I performed on stage for the first time with two friends. I still remember Clifford Bass because we were really close but the other guy's name is soft on my memory. I did lip singing to MC Hammer's "Ring Em". It was fun. I was Hammer and the crowd loved it. We won first place! At that time I didn't have enough confidence to get on stage alone but this experience would later be my confidence booster.
    
  The Talent Show Era 1992-94: My first talent show was at Swayze Elementary. I had written a song with a beat I produced on my small keyboard. It was a slow song about a girl. I won 1st place! This was my first success at writing and producing my own song. I did a few talent shows and one of the most memorable times is when rapper Heavy D presented me with a 1st place ribbon and a copy of his record, which my mom still has to this day. My Mom still has trophies from 1992 Wossman Talent Show and 1993 Talent Show, both 1st place. I won in 1992 as a solo act and in 93 as a group.

The First Studio Experience 1990: A guy named Malcolm heard me at a Talent Show and decided to record me. I can't remember the name of the song just as I can't remember Malcolm's last name. The song was about being poor. I was told by Malcolm to write about something I knew and that's what I did. Since being broke was what I knew most about at the time, I told the story of myself from the projects to government housing.

 The First Rap Group 1990-91: By the time I was in Jr. High school, I had started a rap group. It was first at Ouachita Jr. High in Monroe, La.

 I met Shannon Miley (who we called D.T. Deep) and a school cheerleader named Terri Cena Cooper. (Terrible C) Later, when I transferred to Jefferson Jr. High, we added a group member named Lil Ray. He was a good addition because he was about 13 years old but looked like he was about age 7. At that time people were fascinated with a kid rapping. We had a strategy to do the same song in every show so the people would learn the song. It worked, I remember hearing some guys at a talent show seeing me come in backstage. "Well, we know we'll get second place because he's here." Those were his exact words. Looking back, I see that our group was well known from the shows. We made it to a Monroe Civic Center show, where I experienced the best reward any artist could expect. Our big hit was a song about a guys trying to get with girls called "It Ain't go be None of That." We did that song and the crowd was chanting the hook. They knew our song. A song that I had took part in writing with Shannon Miley. I knew then I was ready for the next level. How to get there was another story.

  Trete Lo's Learning Years 1992-94: My name was changed from DJ Stable Tee to Trete Lo. Stable Tee was because I was in control and Trete Lo was once Trete Locc from gang banging in Shreveport. Once I stopped gang banging, it became Trete Lo. I vowed to keep three different styles of rap (That's where the Tre came in at.) The Te came from my birth name Terrell. I was getting into all type of trouble. Fighting and one of my best friends was the biggest drug dealer in Jr. High. I was kicked out of school and told by the principal that I needed to make a decision. Get a G.E.D. or be pushed up to the 10th grade instead of 9th grade so I'd have a chance to graduate.

 Trete Lo's Education From the Streets and College 1995-96: I knew that rap music was what I wanted to do so I chose G.E.D. I left Monroe, Louisiana and lost all of my friends. I gained new friends in Shreveport, Louisiana. My brothers were all there and so was trouble. I got into selling drugs and robbing while I was pursuing my career in rap. My older cousin Tyrone was released from prison and he went by the name of Killa G. We started a group together called A.G.S.U. Another Ghetto Set Up. We sounded really good together and had some success. We recorded one song together called 211 Murder Seat, before drugs got the best of our group. I tried to get my act together by attending Southern University of Shreveport and it did help. In my spare time, I still managed to dabble in a few criminal activities.

(This is around the time when I had my first spiritual awakening.) Details on the novel page.

Trete Lo Get's Into Grambling State University 1996-99: At Grambling State University, I was more into hands on learning than actually graduating. As a freshman, I took up work with the radio station. I was an announcer for K.G.R.M. I mainly got the Saturday evenings. My sophmore year, I worked for the television station. I even had a big part in Grambling's first sitcom called G.I.A.  Junior year I worked for the Grambling newspaper. I also started a small business through a company called SMC (a wholesaling company. I did ok with it, enough to move off campus and pay my own bills. I guess I had too much freedom because I ended up on academic probation. I was only supposed to sit out one semester, but that changed once I got back to Shreveport.

Trete Lo's First Break 1995-96: Around this time I started doing drops (2 min rap intro) for radio DJs in Shreveport, Grambling & Monroe, Louisiana. This gave me favor with in demand DJ's. Jabber Jaws, DJ Ron and DJ Darrell all took a liking to my radio drops and in return gave me a chance to come to the radio station and sit in when some of my favorite rappers came to the studio. I met Eightball & MJG during an on air interview. Eight Ball told me a lot of encouraging words. I wanted to be signed and he genuinely wanted to help me. He was honest and told me that he was not the one with the record label, but he could help me if I came to Texas. He gave a me a business card and told me to get a demo together and call when I get to Texas. I'll never forget before he left, about twenty guys stood outside the radio station asking to rap for him. He announced that he only had time for one and that I could rap for him. I'll never forget that.

  Almost the same instance happened with UGK. I talked a while in the radio station with Bun B.  Pimp C was focused on the interview and Bun B was interested in me. He gave me motivation and also told me to come to Texas with a demo. At this time, I had two great connections in Texas. Looking back, I see that I wasn't ready. If I had gotten into the industry at the time, I probably would have destroyed myself with drugs and women. I was still tied up in the street life with selling marijuana and gang banging. Through it all, the dream inside of me kept me sane. I was somewhat focused on learning about the business. I took broadcasting seriously. My knowledge expanded in media and by the grace of God, negativity started to fall away.

Trete Lo's First Album: I was recording my demo for my trip to Houston, Texas in Grambling's radio station. One day a guy named Marcus Lee (M. Lee) happen to over hear what I was doing. He was impressed and told me about a guy named Travis Kelly that had just started a record label and was looking for artist. Travis was into Real Estate and owned a car audio shop in Ruston, Louisiana named Synquest Sound. His business partner in the venture was Richie Rich. He was a black man with a construction company in Ruston, La. I never knew his real name because that's what we all called him. I thought that their offer to record, instead of moving to Houston would be better. It would enable me to continue school. Looking back, I now understand they were two guys with money. They wanted to help. I didn't have the marketing expertise in music. I got a lot of buzz in North Louisiana and even got a mention in Murder Dog Magazine for my efforts. I still thank those guys today. I also still know Travis Kelly. I learned a lot from that experience.  I'll never forget those two guys believing in me enough to invest their money. That Album was called Unorthodox.    

Trete Lo Starts the First Poetry and Short Story Magazine in North Louisiana "More Than Words": 2000-2002
  I had a desire to be in a magazine. I was inspired by a gentleman I worked with at the Gramblinite (Grambling State University's newspaper). He had his own music magazine called Groove Line Magazine. I decided to start my own magazine called More Than Words  Then,  I started my own independent record label called Mo Words Entertainment. The magazine was a success, I found joy in helping others with their dream of being published authors. It was also a great thing for me financially. I was making around $2000 monthly in advertising alone and the sales of the magazine was growing. I was just happy being in the magazine. That was enough for me. A young radio DJ named Daddy Ro would invite me to open mic poetry shows. This is where I found most of my writers. The market in Shreveport had showed promise that it would support print media. Daddy Ro launched AMPS Magazine (African American People Succeeded) and about 90% of my customers advertised with AMPS. Even I liked  AMPS! It was then that I realized that I wasn't passionate about magazine publishing. I liked hip hop and writing. That was my knitch. I ended the magazine. I learned a lesson that I'll never forget. You must be passionate about what you do in order to be successful.

Trete Lo's Second Album 2003-05: Under my own label Mo Words Entertainment, I started putting out independent projects. My first success and failure alike was recording a single called Neighborhood Dance. It started catching on real fast from Daddy Ro playing it on his radio show. I had a regional hit, but didn't quite know how to handle it correctly. I started doing some shows but I had not finished recording the album. Back then, I didn't realize you needed to have the album completed before releasing any songs. It was like shooting myself in the foot. People liked the song, but I had no product in the stores. Finally with the help of Adrian Carter,  I got the album ready. I was still in a lack of understanding in the music industry. I just went on to sell albums on the streets with no distributors. I also did a compilation called Underground South Connection that featured a ton of rappers in North Louisiana. It was bootlegged heavily and again I gained fame in the city but not large sums of money. I was tired of having limited success so I started to read more about the industry in 2005.

Trete Lo Gets Serious in Houston, TX and Becomes Da Author Trete Lo 2005: I studied upon branding and marketing strategies. I also started a DVD magazine called Urban Message. I changed the name of the company to Underground South Connection and had a plan to change rap. I decided to write short films on things like domestic violence to drug abuse. The first short film was called Love Drove Me Crazy and people loved it! Through meeting a Houston TV Host, D. Solo, I ending up getting the late legendary rapper Pimp C, Lil Boosie, and others like DJ Showtime, along with Dougie D. Comedian Katt Williams interviewed on my show along with Comedian Ali, Spanky Hayes, and Lil O from Screwed Up Click. It was a success. People loved my message.  I filmed it all over the country, from New York to Atlanta. I moved thousands of units. I ended up moving to Houston and moved thousands more. I quit working for others in 2008 and focused on Underground South Connection. In 2007, I published my first street fiction novel called Dead Soul, The Realest Story That Ever Lived  It was then that I changed my name to Da Author Trete Lo. Things began to take off. People were starting to take notice in what I was doing. My music and DVD's became intriguing to others. My products enabled me to take care of my family. It seemed as if people just recognized the consistency and supported me!

Da Author Trete Lo Gains an Underground Buzz 2005-10: My first national exposure was May 25, 2005 when I talked about Rapper Cameron's new video of the day on 106th & Park (3.5 million viewers). I appeared on regional television shows like Fox Rich Show.  I also appeared in newspapers like The Shreveport Sun, The Shreveport Times, Music Scene, and Murder Dog Magazine. Also, a continuing success is one of my websites launched to interview celebrities. http://www.undergroundsouthconnection.com

Da Author Trete Lo's Statement: Everyday when I go out, people say to me, "I've seen you before or I know you from somewhere." Sometimes I say, " Urban Message DVD", and they say, "Yeah, I saw a DVD!" I now know how an artist can blow up after so long. It takes a ton of hard work and determination. Now I'm at the stage where so many people know me or have heard of my movement. The funny thing is that since I've sold so many products direct, people don't realize how many people know me. I guess the next challenge is getting most of my fans to support something of mine at the same time. This challenge will be met in 2010!