The Road to Trippie Redd's Debut Album 'Life's a Trip'

Michael Lamar White IV, soon to be known to the world as Trippie Redd, is born in Canton, Ohio. His father is incarcerated when Michael is born. Michael has an older brother, who made music under the name “Dirty Redd.” (He has another, younger brother who goes by Hippie Redd—a name that bares an unsurprising similarity to Trippie's earlier nickname “Trippie Hippie.”)

Trippie’s older brother is killed in a car accident in 2014. Trippie talked to Rolling Stone about the time following the fatal accident.

“I was depressed. I didn’t have nobody,” he said. “I was on my own type shit. Music took me from a real dark place to a real bright one.” It was in the aftermath of Dirty Redd’s death that Trippie recorded his first songs.

After finishing his time at GlenOak High School, Trippie moves to Atlanta and hooks up with Kodie Shane and Lil Wop. He releases three EPs between August and November of that year.

Shortly after putting out his early EPs, Trippie releases what will become his biggest song to date, “Love Scars.” The song was famously recorded in one take. A video would drop the following June.

In June, there are reports that Trippie has signed a record deal with Strainge Entertainment (now known as TenThousand Projects). The label is affiliated with Caroline Records and run by Elliot Grainge, son of arguably the most powerful man in music, Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge.

Last summer, Quality Control head honcho Kevin “Coach K” Lee starts popping up in photos and video footage with Trippie, and very quickly becomes the budding star’s co-manager, alongside Milo Stokes.

In late November, Trippie previews a new track featuring Swae Lee and produced by Scott Storch. It’s tentatively titled “Lead the Youth,” but on its release a month later, it will be called “TR666.”

As for the use of “666,” commonly known as the Number of the Beast, in the track’s title, Trippie later explains it this way: “Six protons, six neutrons, six electrons. Melanin in black people’s skin. Why I say ‘TR666’ is that Trippie Redd is black. But Trippie Redd is also dark. I make dark music. But I’m black, so I use it as a metaphor… This is black power shit.”

The Travis Scott-featuring “Dark Knight Dummo” comes out at the end of 2017. It picks up steam and is certified platinum the following June.

The song’s name causes some controversy, as some think it is a shot at Trippie’s labelmate and frenemy 6ix9ine, who put out the similarly titled “Gummo” a few months prior.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Trippie releases a snippet of a music video for an unreleased track called “Bigger Than Satan.” The full song won’t see the light of day until late July.

Trippie continues his beef with 6ix9ine by releasing the full version “I Kill People,” a song he had teased a few weeks prior. The track features Tadoe and Chief Keef. It takes its title from a threat Tadoe made to 6ix9ine on a leaked FaceTime call.

In what may be an attempt to bring the focus back to his music rather than his behavior, Trippie releases two new tracks, “Me Likey” and “How You Feel,” more or less simultaneously.

Trippie releases “Like That,” featuring Lil Durk and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. It is, as one outlet puts it, an “upgraded” version of “Me Likey.”