One of the darkest and most depressing Southern Rap albums of 2015 came from an unlikely place.
Dorian, Mel and Jay had a big breakout moment together as The Outfit, TX following the release of their Down By The Trinity project. The Dallas trio produced something that could be seen as a depressing mix of Southern Hip Hop, slowed industrial rock and blues. Complex called Down By The Trinity “a dysmorphic mass of distorted grunge riddled with overt production techniques.”
The lyrical themes matched the moody production. No bottle popping unless it was an eighth of “Wild Turkey” to wash down the depression. Hitting licks seemed more in tune with scrambling to pay rent instead of buying a new foreign whip. Bleakness never sounded so good. Rap notables including Danny Brown and Trinidad James became fans as well.
Their follow-up mixtape Green Lights: Everythang Goin’ wrote a new playbook for the group. They relinked with influential Texas tastemaker DJ Mr. Rogers, who essentially put them on the map during their early days. Normally keeping production in-house between Dorian and Mel, they offloaded a large portion of the project’s beats to Stunt N Dozier (Bun B, E-40). The end result is a lighter album featuring slappers grounded with a slightly experimental vibe.
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They’ve previously said they make music for the working man, and that feeling couldn’t have been any clearer when HipHopDX got some time with them. We caught up with the group after they played three shows in Southern California, and they mentioned making the nearly day-long drive from Dallas without stopping.
Just like Green Lights: Everythang Goin’, they’re speeding forward despite overwhelming odds.
The Outfit, TX Talk The Controversial Cover Of Down By The Trinity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGeHUp04cFs
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HipHopDX:Green Lights: Everythang Goin’ is your sixth official studio project and first not to be solely produced in-house.
Mel: It’s the first project we outsourced most of the production. Normally it’s split between Dorian and I. We actually let Stunt N Dozier and Guerilla323 finish it off and I believe I produced one. We really had fun with this hoe man and we’re in a different space in life. We’re mashing the gas and grinding. It was like a transition. With this one, Hawk and I were adamant about picking up the pace in how we make tracks and records. When we produce everything, it takes a little longer and takes a couple of days. A studio session might only amount to one record or half a record as opposed to having bets on deck. Then, you can make three or so records. Plus, our output has been a lot for the past couple of years. So the production takes a lot out of you. Personally, I produced a majority of Down By The Trinity and Deep Ellum EP and Dorian has been innovating his sound while I’ve been doing that. It was at a point where I was kind of tired so I thought, fuck it, let’s fuck with some other producers like Stunt.
DX: Off the bat, I noticed that it’s a lot lighter than Down By The Trinity. Where did that come from?
Dorian: That’s usually how life works. Once you get the heavy off your shoulders, the next thing to come is enjoying things. Once you get that catharsis off, you’re free of that and it’s easier to enjoy where you at.
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Mel: Everything comes organically regardless of how we feel. That’s just how we feel.
DX: What was going around the time of Down By The Trinity?
JayHawk: Hell. Trying to get through the pain and trying to celebrate through it. Like New Orleans do the second line. Trying to be positive and get through some painful times.
Mel: Almost like a Baptism. Talking shit to the record seriously. Trying to bury it deep with some real life. If you’re blessed to live a long life, everyone is going to hit hard times. Some shit happened to me in my personal life that affected me on a spiritual level. My bandmates too. All three of us were going through some things. This underground rap life is like the chitlin circuit grind. It’s a very unforgiving and sometimes unrewarding grind till a certain point. So Down By The Trinity was a blues point for The Outfit, TX.
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DX: To me, Down By The Trinity was neck-and-neck with To Pimp A Butterflyfor the best cover art last year. Both featured highly racial themes. What was the influence for that?
Dorian: Pretty much all of it Mel does. Some of it stems from the music as well. The music dictates what kind of aesthetic we go for from what we feel and see.
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DX: DJ Mr. Rogers is the host of Green Lights: Everythang Goin’. He’s one of the most respected DJs out of Texas in regards to his history of breaking records.
Mel: Mr. Rogers is my big bro. I consider him a big bro of mine. I use to kick it with Rogers by myself at the clubs in like 2012. I would be with this nigga helping him carry his shit there. It wasn’t even about getting songs played because I didn’t have songs to give him. He took a liking to us early on and saw the potential in us before a lot of people. He’s a living legend.
DX: I know you get this a lot, but it seems like Dallas has these really bright moments before fading. The D.O.C. came from there, Dorrough, GS Boyz, NFL Boyz and even Justus after the Compton look. Is the scene changing?
Mel: The best way I can put it is that we have a wave with this underground culture we’re living in. Dallas is the few locales that enjoy a scene and a real live culture built around it. Last year, we had the Dallas warehouse parties and 16 Bar house parties that were insane. When people come to Dallas, you’re going to see a shit ton of local acts and a lot of them have for real talent. This isn’t anything new, it’s just that we don’t have a pipeline to the industry and spotlight on us. We don’t have any predecessors or legends before us that’s set a precedent. They have DJ Screw, Mike Jones(s), Lil Keke(s), Slim Thug(s) and the likes in Houston. You can name 10 Houston rappers right now. Atlanta, New York and L.A. have it as well.
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DX: What keeps you guys in Dallas?
Mel: We talk about it all the time as so many people try to persuade us to leave, but we see the opportunity and we want our own scene and wave. You ain’t going to see this anywhere else. 1,200 kids in an empty airplane hangar going crazy. It’s going all the way up. We travel and do shows all the time. We got the wave and other people are noticing. We don’t have any industry or infrastructure.
DX: Is infrastructure even a necessity now?
Mel: Basically, yeah because that’s the biggest thing. There is a plethora of talent and culture there in Dallas. I think everyone is looking for that next step or next phase. Because we don’t have the leadership that Houston or Atlanta have, it’s harder for us to figure out how we navigate. You have to be able to keep up with where things are going everywhere and not just in your own city. Before you can shift a paradigm you have to have a paradigm. In all these other cities, they have an infrastructure in place. Soulja Boy can come out of Atlanta’s scene and decided to say fuck it and do something else.
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DX: I first heard about you on the web through a Day & A Dream post. Has the internet become an equalizer for that?
Mel: Shit, we moved back to Dallas three years ago. We were living in Houston. We were aliens down there because we weren’t from Houston. For the longest, the internet was our home base. It was our equalizer. Recently, the state and the city is behind us in real life, but for the longest, we were on some internet shit. Our old manager asked us where were our fans. What do they look at? She would look on Soundcloud and Twitter and come up with a summary and try to assist it. It was impossible. There’s an 18-year-old white girl in North Carolina or Latino dude in California who is 38 years old.
JayHawk: You gotta know your audience. That’s how you end up learning yourself.
Mel: That’s my biggest curiosity. Who is feeling me?
