T-Rell built a devoted fanbase in the streets with his soulfully emotive hip-hop, garnering millions upon millions of views on his YouTube videos. Proudly standing up for his hometown of Topeka, Kansas, but with sights set on national stardom, the rapper-singer shares his new album 2 Big 2 Ignore. Doing double duty as a treat for loyal listeners and a solid entry point for new listeners, 2 Big 2 Ignore supplements the emotional anthems for which he’s known with hard-nosed street tales and bangers for the club, like the recent single “Slide” ft. Fredo Bang. With his new album, T-Rell takes aim at those who doubted him, delivering a 16-track opus that loudly announces his status as a force to be reckoned with in the midwest and beyond.
2 Big 2 Ignore is informed by two losses that weigh heavy on T-Rell’s mind. The album arrives on the seventh anniversary of the tragic car crash that changed T-Rell’s life–his manager and brother 8-Ball died, and T-Rell survived to make the street classic “My Dawg.” Rell’s popular new single “LL3” also appears on the album, a tribute to his close friend, the late rapper Mo3, which racked up over 3.5 million combined views on YouTube. Though it doesn’t shy away from the pain music that T-Rell made his name on, 2 Big 2 Ignore represents a change of direction for T-Rell, as it sees him embracing faster tempos and expanding his lyrical lens. Highlighting the importance of persevering through hard times, his music is still informed by pain and loss, but it leaves room for pleasure as well. Featuring appearances from Jackboy, Young Dro, Bigga Rankin, and more, 2 Big 2 Ignore is available everywhere via TRM / Winners Only / EMPIRE.
Along with the album, Rell shares the new video for “Fly Away,” a highlight from the project. A reflective anthem about overcoming life’s obstacles, “Fly Away” finds the artist speaking on lessons learned during his come-up, cautioning aspiring rappers to stay humble and focused even as he empathizes with their desire to escape hard times. The song features a guest spot from Jackboy, whose clipped cadences prove to be the perfect complement for Rell’s soaring vocal lines. In the video, the proud midwesterner takes a trip to the West Coast, taking a trip to San Francisco to connect with Jackboy. The video offers a tour of the city’s glamorous skyline, and the less than glamorous life lived by many in the city. Ever a man of the people, T-Rell allows many passersby he encounters to lip sync the uplifting hook.
Yesterday, T-Rell shared a mini-documentary that gives a birds-eye view of T-Rell’s life, career, and status as hometown hero in Topeka. Buoyed by T-Rell’s boisterous personality, the documentary focuses on T-Rell’s dogged determination to overcome obstacles, starting from his early life in a rough neighborhood, to the loss of his best friend and manager, to trying to make it in the industry from a small town with little infrastructure. The doc provides an inside look at how Boosie Badazz joined the “My Dawg (Remix),” explores T-Rell’s relationship with Mo3, and shows how he got an official proclamation from the City of Topeka in honor of his charitable works.
Determined to become a successful artist since he was a kid, T-Rell grew up loving rap and R&B, idolizing artists as disparate as Tyrese, Jamie Foxx, and Lil Boosie. His life changed forever after a catastrophic car accident that claimed the life of his brother and manager 8-Ball, an incident which inspired him to release “My Dawg,” a massive regional hit and trickled into the national consciousness, eventually spawning a remix with Boosie and becoming part of the standard repertoire at memorial services. Five years later, T-Rell hasn’t slowed down one bit. He released the album Rell Play earlier in 2021, and it quickly climbed to #1 on the iTunes R&B/Soul chart, #6 on the iTunes All Genres chart, and #69 on the Apple Music charts.
With 2 Big 2 Ignore, T-Rell plans to make an even bigger splash–”I’m trying to get to number one on Apple Music,” says T-Rell. “I’m trying to make Billboard charts for the first time. It wouldn’t be wise to bet against an artist with such a long history of defying odds.
Buy/Stream 2 Big 2 Ignore: https://music.empi.re/
Watch “Fly Away” ft. Jackboy: https://youtu.be/
Watch the “2 Big 2 Ignore” Mini-Doc: https://www.youtube.
© 2021, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
