In 2009, Trae Tha Truth’s career looked like it was in serious jeopardy. After individuals opened-fire on a crowd during a festival for at-risk young people hosted by Trae (and an ensuing on-air argument after), the Houston product found himself with his music banned by local radio station KBXX 97.9. But looking at the lineup he’s secured for Street King – Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Big Boi, Rick Ross, Jadakiss included – there’s little doubt that Trae has the support of his peers, from the South and otherwise.
Trae Tha Truth quickly jumps into street talk with the album’s intro, “Strapped Up.” The Houston, Texas native’s rapid-fire flow never falters over steely Drumma Boy production. “Woke Up This Morning” follows, and it’s more of the same. Featuring similar synths and bells as the preceding cut, it’s really just a slowed-down version. Fortunately, “Inkredible (Remix)” 
switches things up nicely. A sinister, swirling sample is placed over satisfying and well-timed low-end bass. Rick Ross and Jadakiss join over the biblical beat, but Trae more than holds his own: “I’m in the hood under surveillance, buncha haters watchin / Couple choppas out for dinner, failure ain’t an option / Reclineable seats, invisible ceilings / Competition is murder, haters I’m killin / Fuck a money machine, I don’t count it, I blow it / My money conceited, it look good when I throw it / …these other niggas…they only imitation / So when I see ‘em, it’s fuck ‘em minus the penetration.”
“Gettin’ Paid” doesn’t really merit a listen, since Wiz Khalifa does his damndest to ruin it with his horrendous hook and potentially worse verse, but “I am the Streets,” featuring the Game, Rick Ross and Lloyd is a nice consolation prize. CyFyre offers an airy, mesmerizing beat that highlights the qualities of each of the emcee’s distinct voices. Yeah, Lloyd’s chorus borders on corny with its talk of hustling and haters, but it’s still silky smooth and a nice juxtaposition to Game and Trae’s gravelly deliveries.
“That’s Not Luv” adds a little chipmunk soul to the equation courtesy of StreetRunner, but remains distinctly southern. Sadly, a lazy Wayne verse, rife with lines like “Trae, you can count on me / like one-two-three” causes the track to stall. Jadakiss and particularly Scarface (eliciting memories of his outstanding verse on “This Can’t Be Life”) prove to be much more reliable contributors to the project on “Life” and “Goes Out,” respectively.
The name of the game for most of Street King is inconsistency. “Hood Shit” is laughable with the bewildering choice to use the “opera chorus” setting on the keyboard; unsurprisingly, Shawty Lo and Yung Quis do nothing to assuage that mess. On the other hand, “Street King” utilizes a nice vocal sample courtesy of Slim Thug and features some of Trae’s strongest rhymes. Fortunately, “It’s All I Know” and “Just Don’t Get It” provide some much-needed introspection. Punctuating a strong string of closing cuts is “I’m On,” featuring Big Boi, Lupe Fiasco, MDMA and Wale, which may just be the album’s gem, with Wale sounding like the emcee that loyal fans feared was left behind when he signed with MMG.
Though Trae isn’t a particularly deft lyricist, he has an adequate flow and loads of charisma to spare. Most of all, the features and often-stellar production carry Street King along for what is an uneven, but very bumpable and gritty experience.
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I only rate it that much because I think there will be enough people rating it a 1. Actually 3.5 is pretty fair.
the album is good 3.5 is good, it will get you through that wyclef and trae track was smooth 2
this is very weak however I like trae…
Restless is still his best work, bar-none.
Trae has always delivered in my book. I agree with Robbie D though, Restless remains his best work in my opinion too. Street King delivers enough for me though.
Nice album.
He needs to do Restless 2.
Sounds like he’s tryna go mainstream without switching it up. im still banging that 48 hours mixtape which better then his album which is sad, but overall trae is 1 of my fav artists bar none.
Not his best work but still very nice!
SHIT IS NOT BAD,EVEN THOUGH HE WHISPERS AND HAS A FEATURE ON EVERY SONG HE SPITS SOME REAL SHIT ON DIS BITCH.
3.5 IS A FAIR RATING
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN APPROVED BY GOOCH BURR BURRR
Tired of this typical rapper shit.
dis guys like 4 levels below Lloyd Bank’s deep ass voice lol it’s like, do u want ppl to hear u or r u tryna be Ying Yang Twins? Im on is good tho and so is the features (guessin) on dis but his voice wnt take him anywhere
Honestly, when compared to the rappers with rat-like, squealy, & nasally voices like Lil Wayne, Drake, Travis Porter, YG, Wiz Khalifa, etc., I’d rather hear someone that actually has bass in his voice like Trae. His voice isn’t nearly as annoying as those other rappers that sound like they’re gay or had their balls cut off.
Anyway, 3.5 is a solid rating for this. It’d probably be a 4 if it didn’t have so many fucking features. Posthumous albums like Pimp C’s last 2 should only have those many features. Plus, there were about 5 or more songs that I ended up skipping through, and Trae’s verses weren’t always the best on his songs. It’s still a nice release though. I just hope they gave credit for using DSF’s & L.E.$’ beat (“Stay Down” from L.E.$’ Settle for Le$) for Trae’s “Goes Out” track; otherwise that would just be fucked up.
Don’t know why Sean gets a 4 from this site, but 3.5 is a fine rating for this and Trae is a really great rapper.
Nice!!!!!!!!
The best song is IM ON ” the rest sound kinda weak and average . 3 stars nothing great .
Looking for Blazing unsigned talent. Put your money up labels.
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Dammn call your self retarted bitch or something else (comptons most wanted lol)
I’m not sure, sometimes I love this, sometimes its a bit to much. Trae dope but a street king he is and I don’t always want to be. feel me?
good album
WACK!!! SORRY TEXAS
jon connor salvation is da shit, much is better and deserves a better rating then street king
nigga told me don mess wif texas
so i fucked his bitch in my lexus
TRAE used all the guest features he could have with this one but I agree that the album sounds more like TRAE presents or a TRAE compilation. His next one should be more balanced considering he is now independent.
It’s ok. Dude just needs to step up his lyrical game some.
I WANNA GET MY DICK SUCKED BY THE WHITE BITCH ON THE RIGHT IN DAT VID CLIP, DAMN SHE GOTS SOME DSL BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
TREA LOOKS LIKE THAT GUY B, JUICE FROM HOWARD STERN
wiz khalifa faggot got aids thats why he cant gain weight and he smoke all day not even a pound
Heat!
wtf 3.5 stars for this album ? no way
maybe a 2.5 thats it . this was a weak album from him .
trea the truth is a gangster cuz he got real storys to tell, not like game for ex is gangster rapper game is studio gangster ridin other rapper dick like dre or snoop or nas
str8 to tha top
goes fed
I thought Gettin Paid was an excellent track all around, chorus included. To the author Slava, I completely disagree with you about Wiz on the chorus and also about his verse. I thought his verse was clean, his flow was on point and sounding better than ever; the ending of his verse was clever also. You must have listened through the entire song, either that or you just don’t like Wiz Khalifa. Great track.
Too many features on this album, i rather hear more solo tracks. And the wiz chorus and verse was hot.
this does have too many damn features but Trae is a goddamn HUSTLER all the features add value even though he left dat boy Z-Ro off the album!!!!!! ABN 4life bitches
Relies too much on collabs.
This album is average imo. I’ve heard better from Trae. There are a few good tracks on this album but there are to many songs that are well below average.