We were lucky to catch up with Trayce Chapman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Trayce, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I knew I loved rap music at the age of 10 or 11 years old. There is a song called “Damn!” by a group from Atlanta, GA called the YoungBloodz. My first attempts at writing music were writing over that beat before I even knew what an instrumental version was, so I was trying to rap over them rapping their own lyrics in the bedroom of my sisters apartment. I began battle rapping in middle school against friends and other opponents who happened to enjoy the art as much as I did. However it wasn’t until college that I decided I wanted to devote my life to this. One night out at the basketball court a friend and I were hanging out and I witnessed was a rap battle being captured on camera with a few bodies in attendance. The battle participants were a young man and a young woman, the young woman captured my attention and I approached her after the battle to tell her I thought her lyrics were dope. She responded by telling me she offered studio time for $10 an hour and $15 for a mixed track, from that day forward my life was never the same. I began spending time in the studio and developing what would become a skill that I fell in love with. This was fall of 2010. I’m still on my marathon today in the year 2026.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Trayce Chapman, I am a 33 year old hip-hop artist from Denver, Colorado. As briefed previously, I began to get into rap through a college friend whom happened to be participating in a rap battle one evening. One of the battle participants would later go on to offer me studio time for $10 an hour and $15 for a mixed record. Thus my dream was not only born but it was something I could touch, and listen to. I am proud of the levels I have made it to even when gratification wasn’t always instant. From having opened up for artists such as Da Baby, YG, Talib Kweli, Jack Harlow, A$AP Ferg, Curren$y, Jurassic 5, Larry June to name a few I consider it a blessing to have lived what I consider to be a dream of mine. It’s been a slow grind spanning over a decade and while I feel I’m still approaching my “big break” it’s refreshing to really observe what has been accomplished up to this point, especially with no major label or major funding. What sets me apart is my faith, attention to detail and work ethic. I truly believe in my heart that my story is one that is going to be told on the biggest stages and festivals in the world. The main things I want is a loyal fanbase who makes it possible to live my life completely as an artist.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my social media presence in a time where music videos (and not short form content) were king. I prided myself on working with the most talented, focused individuals I could find that were specialists at the craft. I try my best to put out content that breaks the mold of what the normal music video should look like and this has drawn others in to my art. Directors that thrived in telling a story in post (editing phase) are who I tended to gravitate towards.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Back in 2014 hip-hop legend and entrepreneur Bun-B had a concert in my hometown of Denver,Colorado curated by red-bull. Having just released my mixtape “Contraband” I saw this as a good opportunity to pass my mixtape and life’s work up to that point along to the hip-hop legend. In my attempt to pass this to Bun, he saw my repeated attempts and became agitated stopping his performance and shouting “Man cut that out! It’s some real sh** going on right now, I’m at work!”. Dejected, but not discouraged I remained at the front of the audience vibing to the tunes he rapped to the crowd. At the end of the show, Bun had his personal security guard walk up to me and extend his hand as if to say “hand me the CD”. I excitedly handed the tape over to him, feeling gleeful. I didn’t hear back from him but I thought it was a testament to my faith.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traycechapman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrayceChapman/
- Twitter: https://x.com/TrayceChapman
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrayceChapman
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/traycechapman
