You might not know MC TREE, and he doesn’t mind one bit. The 38-year-old ‘Soul Trap’ creator and Chicago native has created a sustainable brand with his music over the last decade completely on his own terms. That continued this weekend with the release of his Soul Trap album.

With over two decades in the rap game, Tree has seen and done almost all of it. The Chicago native broke onto the national scene in 2013 with Sunday School, a 15-track project that featured his unique soul trap sound. An eclectic barrage of fast-paced drums balanced by distorted soul samples was forward-thinking enough for MTV to pay attention and Pitchfork to extend an invitation to perform that following summer.

The thing is, Tree doesn’t exactly enjoy being onstage, hates it. Therefore what would be an enormous win for any musician was a near anxiety attack for Tree. Since then he’s settled into his own lane, opting to release albums intermittently via streaming services and letting the work speak for itself. Its music done on his terms, for him and his fans and no one else.

“I don’t want to perform at Pitchfork, I don’t want to perform at Lollapalooza - those are things that are self-evident. When you get older, your body, your mind - you’ll tell yourself what to do even when somebody else is telling you to do other things,” Tree said, recalling the decision to stop performing as much. “And it's because you find other things in this life that make you happy.

At a time and in a city where Chance The Rapper is a household name, Tree’s name isn’t the first example brought up when the idea of independence in music arises. But few have done it as well or effectively as Tree. Nearing 40, he’s flipped album sales and streams into investments that keep life comfortable for him and his kids: Mason (14) and AJ (7) while working for himself. He spends his time enjoying life, tinkering with new projects, and traveling the world. And, when the time seems right: he drops new music.

The latest album in the soul trap is a collection of tracks he’d had stored away for years, curated for this purpose. Regardless of when they were created, much of his work follows a simple premise: honesty. There’s no flaunting jewelry or boasting about impossibilities. Instead, Tree keeps it real, most often narrating whatever’s going on in his own life over self-production. Soul Trap once again greets us with the elements that have made Tree the king of the subgenre.

Old enough to have plenty of stories and wise enough to know how to tell them correctly and honestly; Tree is a reflection of experience and his surroundings.

“The song ‘How Dem Kidz Doin’ - that was a song that I wrote one weekend when I was getting into it with my kid’s mom and we weren’t seeing eye to eye and maybe she made me feel a type of way about parenting with her,” explained Tree. “ So I wrote that song during that time in my life when we were having problems. I put together a great playlist and it just came out the way it did.”

The project as a whole carries forward the patented sound that bears its namesake. Fluttering samples, occasional piano breaks, and thumping basslines that can turn on a dime; all with Tree’s unmistakably raspy voice setting the pace. His 2019 album, We Grown Now featured some steps outside his usual production, but here he settles right back into what he’s good at. Allegedly the album was inspired by what was described as people on the internet who might have forgotten who the proprietor of Soul Trap is. The talent throughout is palpable from production to execution, leading Tree to bet on himself as he evolves.

To be quite honest, there is no science behind Soul Trap. It’s moreso just me being me. Me expressing myself musically and as time goes on I feel like I become a better artist. I don’t mind being vulnerable as I get older,” said Tree. “I’m not really a rapper, I don’t consider myself a rapper. A rapper rhymes rat with cat and clock with stop and me, I just kind of be honest with what's going on with me in my life and be upfront with it. ”

“I am not a rapper” is a statement often used by artists for perceived clout or respect that are very obviously rappers. The thinking here is that being a rapper is somehow less than and by removing you’re better. But again, Tree isn’t posturing for anyone and it makes sense.

For the better part of a decade, he’s been developing and tinkering with his ongoing auditory project. Soul Trap is a lot of things: a connecting of generations, a mashup of genres with deep roots in Chicago, and one of the most imitated styles there is (Bryson Tiller). But no one can achieve the dramatic balancing act the sound requires quite like Tree. Pitched-up horns underlined by rolling trap drums packaged over wobbling soul samples is the general blueprint. Before his voice decides to sing or rap on a track, the production he assembles can stand on its own.

“I don’t consider myself amongst my peers. I’m not in it for the same reasons other people are. I’m not making music to live out my alter ego or to be rich and famous or to fuck a bunch of groupies or to get all this supposed wealth that comes with the business,” explained Tree. “With me, I’m just telling the story of my life.”

Tree knows regardless of how many stages he stands on, his influence is felt. He’s made a concerted effort to remind folks who invented Soul Trap, and does so again on the album bearing the style on the track “Scared of Airplanes”.

“Realest n**gas want that soul from me/then they sound like me/then they stole from me" Tree raps in a tone that's reminiscent of a friend relaying a shitty day at the bar. It's simple and real: two things sorely missing from the world today.

The goal of a career in rap has varied in the genre’s fifth decade. With the rise of streaming and alternative ways to profit from one’s music, the idea of ‘making it’ is as fractured as ever. For some, it’s the money, cars, and clothes, for others it's honestly just being able to do what they love. Tree relates to the latter. 

He’s been able to use his art to create a comfortable life for him and his family without being beholden to labels or release schedules. Basically, he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. And what more could you really ask for?

“Me putting out music the way I put out music, it's all about me and how I feel. It took me two weeks and now the album’s coming out,” Tree said. “No I don’t plan on doing any shows, no I’m not going to do a press run or push to all the blogs and whatever. I just do it for my fanbase and I do it because my music still matters and people still tell me that and I’m not pressured to achieve any success.“