tree - soul trap

Lara Johnson-Wheeler

The release of Sunday School II from Tree (aka Tremaine Johnson) emerged in dribs and drabs, songs sliced and diced into a 17-track selection available to download for free. Canny with wordplay and full of plosive gasps and yelps, Tree’s sound is built up from samples. The result however, is a genre quite unique to the 29-year old. Tree calls this genre Soul Trap and critics have hailed him as its lone pioneer. He describes his music as “the fusion of latter-day soul and modern-day rap, modern-day drums.”

Despite Kanye comparisons, Tree has been adamant about Soul Trap not being a gimmicky genre “where anyone who samples and puts an 808 drum with it would consider it Soul Trap”. The Kanye thing isn’t too surprising given their shared love for Chi City and his resurrection of songs you once heard your parents play and fully forgot- on "The King," Tree deliciously samples Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. His videos for "Devotion" and "Busters" revolve around Tree, rapping like he’s gargling with gravel, walking through a wintery Chicago. 

 Songs on the mixtape feature Danny Brown and Roc Marciano, compliments to Tree’s revered addition to Chicago’s rich history of soul. The inventiveness and ingenuity that emerges from Tree’s created Soul Trap is evident in every song, the videos are homage to Chicago and Sunday School II is definitely a major player in the medley of recent mixtapes.