As a native of Port Arthur, Texas, Southern rapper Bun B has spoken in great detail on the word “trill,” both its origins and use in today’s pop culture. And as part of Houston wordsmith Killa Kyleon’s new video blog, “T.R.I.L.L, The Definition,” Bun shared his thoughts on the use of the word “trill” in popular culture.
Bun first criticized those who haven’t bothered to look into the history of the word before applauding Killa Kyleon for being an artist who went out of his way to make connections with those in Port Arthur, a city he dubbed “the original land of the trill.”
“A lot of dudes don’t really do that or even try to do that,” Bun B said. “They just jump on it and feel like it’s some kind of new little fad or something. And that ain’t what it’s about. You know what I’m saying? But you got a cat like Killa Kyleon who I’ve known for a long time. A young cat that I watched grow as an artist, as a lyricist, and as a man who has been to Port Arthur several times. Performed in Port Arthur. Know people in Port Arthur. And really been to the original land of the trill and see how the trill cats represent. Then when he say he want to do something that represent trill I respect that.”
Prior to giving props to Kyleon, Bun spoke briefly on those who are incarcerated or lost their lives over the word “trill” when people today have taken a more fashionable approach to the word.
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“Trill wasn’t about t-shirts and hats or none of that fly shit,” he said. “It was about being a real cat. About representing and holding your people down. You know what I’m saying? I think a lot of people are just using it fashionably right now. Cause it’s a cool word and it’s a new word and they don’t really know about it. But it’s a lot of people they died, they locked up, you know what I’m saying? People got shot. A lot of real shit happened behind that word.”
Last year, Bun B went into further detail on the origins of the word “trill” while speaking with Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky during Noisey’s Back & Forth segment. Bun revealed that the word first originated in the penitentiary and was a way for residents of Port Arthur to separate themselves from those in the rival city of Beaumont.
“The trill shit started in the penitentiary, so the homie [Spoon] when he came home he started using the word,” the former UGK rapper said last October. “So, that word got associated with the Westside of P.A. [Port Arthur] with that scene. And then it just became something that niggas would hear their older brothers and shit saying and shit like that. And we ain’t even know. When I was in high school we were saying it, but we didn’t really understand it. We used to have a rivalry with the town next to us. P.A. used to get into it with Beaumont. So, that was our way of separating ourselves from Beaumont dudes…At the same time, the Northside of Houston and the Southside of Houston had beef, but because we wasn’t from Houston we could go to the South and the Northside and do our thing. And that’s how the terminology spread.”
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