Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
“I’m Coming,” a slow, soft, soulful track, is a song about the possibility of redemption through love and is at the same time a foray by Native American rapper Wreckless_ into R&B.
Wreckless_, the artist name for Dakota Soldier, was written for a friend during a time when Wreckless_ was going through rehab from a period of street life and drugs in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
“That was for a girl that I really liked,” he said. “She’s always been there for me.”
This was after his baby-mama left him, “I kind of like fell apart” and fell into life on the street, which involved drugs and jail.
“And I met Fay,” he said. “She’s a really good girl. She goes to church, and she is always praying for me. She was always there for me.”
He wanted more than friendship and tried to turn the friendship into something deeper, but she didn’t want to. Eventually, he said, he fell deeply into a street life of drugs and crime, and they drifted out of contact.
“She just couldn’t do it anymore. “They usually don’t, the good ones. They won’t stick around for that stuff.”
After a year, though, he entered rehab and got clean, and one day he found a friend request from her. That is when he wrote “I’m Coming” for her.
“We started talking again, and that’s when I wrote that song. I sent it to her and she messaged me back immediately. She loved it.”
Walking down this path to a dead-end road
All exits passed, there’s no where left to go
I wanna change for you,
I want to turn around
And that is when, about a year ago, Wreckless_ got back into music. He put an underground mixtape out on social media, and it “did pretty good,” so, he decided to take the best few songs he had ready and put them out.
“I’m Coming” is one of the latest.
“They all went crazy for that one,” he said. “I played it for my counselor at rehab and she started crying. It was a good song, and I wanted to get it out there.”
Wreckless_, who comes from Cherokee and Cheyenne stock, is now 32 and has been making music since he was 16. In between relationships since then, he would “go back to the streets for a while.”
Tahlequah, pronounced TAL (rhymes with “hal”)-ih-kwah, a city of a little more than 16,000 in eastern Oklahoma, is the capital of the Cherokee Nation and the seat of Cherokee County.
“It’s a small city-town,” he said, “but we got problems with drugs. They’re bad, like methamphetamine and they have homegrown gangs there.”
Wreckless_ and his friends at one time formed a group called GMC.
“That was the name we came up with. We’d sell drugs and make music. I was pretty popular.”
During that time, the music he made was primarily hip-hop and rap.
“That was, like I said, when I was into drugs.”
Last year, he went back into rehab and music and started taking it seriously.
“I’m Coming” got the attention of Dubbo, an Austin hip-hop star of Babygrande Records, and he and Wreckless_ collaborated on some songs.
“He really liked my music, and he told me what to do if I wanted to take it serious. You know, you got to promote, and invest in yourself, and my music career has taken off.”
Dakota has turned his life “all the way around.” From the days when his family wanted him to leave Tahlequah, he has gotten sober and is now a student at Rogers State University in Claremore.
“I got friends in prison, and in their letters they were saying, ‘You got to get out of there, bro. You gonna end up in here.’”
“So, I took off and I went to rehab in Miami.” After a brief relapse, he got straight again early this year.
His goal is to make music his full-time career. He is working on an album, The Millennials, Volume 1, with 15 tracks, planned for a 2025 release.
His music is primarily rap. He does trap beats, hip-hop, and country, emo and punk rap, and now R&B.
“I like all genres,” he said. “I can do it all.”
Connect to Wreckless on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
“I’m Coming,” Spotify
Linktree
Website
Spotify
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Share
Advertisement
While most high school students are figuring out homework and what to do with their free time, one rising hip-hop and rap artist out of Mississippi is busy making music on his terms. At 17, RAA Trey (born Alvin Peyton III) is showing up for his future self in a big way with the recent release of the new single, “Song of Da Year,” earlier in November. The track provides a preview of what to expect on his upcoming album 1OF1, featuring 14 songs that will drop this December.
RAA Trey, whose name is an acronym for “Respect Above All,” learned early on growing up in a family of entrepreneurs about putting in the work to make your vision a reality. He was only in seventh grade when he started his label, Take Money Records and Entertainment, which he still runs today, and began building a home studio to pursue his dream. The same drive and confidence remain, carrying over to his new work.
“Song of Da Year gives off a championship feel to it,” says RAA Trey. “I’m just letting everybody know to respect me as soon as I come in this game because when I’m coming, this is going to be over the top. That’s why it’s called Song of Da Year. Respect this.” Aware that his home state may not have a music scene such as other parts of the south like Memphis or Atlanta, RAA Trey shares he follows his own sound and whatever he feels at the moment.
Mixed and mastered by Shane Thomson with lyrics by RAA Trey, who writes all of his music, “Song of Da Year” features powerful lyrics of assurance with one particular part paying tribute to his mother: my momma worry / I told my momma she ain't gotta worry / evea' since I was young, you been nervous / I promise I'm gon' make it with these verses.”
As for performing, RAA Trey is a natural performer, gracing several stages, including a show to thousands featuring rapper a well known rapper from Louisiana, among other events over the years. Fans can expect to see him even more in the months ahead, as he plans to tour, expand his fan base and launch merchandise.
With “Song of Da Year,” RAA Trey, is manifesting, making his mark—and he hasn’t even graduate yet. Those who want to learn more and listen to his latest music can follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Share
Advertisement
