ROCKFORD — Music lovers: If the coronavirus pandemic, the movement against social injustices, or everyday relationships have you feeling psychologically screwed up, here’s a song for you.
"Mental," the first single from Chicago-based artist Tre Williams, 24, known as ERT, premiered on Friday through New York-based Babygrande Records.
"It's kind of like more of a song about a lot of stuff on my mind with this (coronavirus), you know, my ex, being in sticky situations getting to this point, being broke, moving around. You know, just...there's been a lot on my ‘mental,’" said Williams.
After years of performing on stage with other artists on the label, Williams signed with Babygrande Records in November.
"They're cool people overall," he said. "And that's why I made the decision to stick with these guys, because they believe in me and I believe in them. And that's really the most important part of signing the deal."
Williams describes his music as a mixture of his stream-of-conscious lyric writing with beats and music by his record label and by his Rockford-based group of collaborators known as The Steez. On "Mental," for example, Williams collaborated with Rockford’s DJ Billi Hendrixxx, producer Swift, and other label associates.
The song is meant to help the listener cope with the psychological stress of life.
"It's like you want something that you could just ride around the summer to smoke weed to," Williams said. "But if people want to get tough with us, we can get tough, too. To be aggressive is to let that release out from the day - if you're angry about something, if you’re mad about your girl breaking up with you, you're not talking to your mom or your dad right now, your sister's pissing you off, or some(thing) like that. You could just play our music and really get away from whatever."
Williams was born in Chicago, but he has extensive ties to the Rockford area. He spent his middle school years and high school years at Eisenhower Middle School, Rockford Christian School and North Boone High School, respectively.
The Steez collaboration is so prolific together that there is enough new material for a full record, Williams said.
"Team Steez is a collective and the label is really embracing us. It's not like they're embracing me as an artist, like signing me, but they're also embracing my guys. That's why I'm forever forever grateful of that."
Established in 2001, Babygrande Records is an independent label in New York. The label has a catalog of over 3,000 albums, music videos, and online content that include Hip-Hop, Indie-Rock and electronic dance music. The label has supported the careers of new and veteran artists like Draco, The Yutes, Cap Gold, The Original Jet Life Crew, Mercy, Liam Tracy, Theafterparty, Ghasper, GZA, The Burn Unit, and Skylab 3.
Williams, Hendrixxx and the producer Swift gathered Friday at Hendrixxx’s north Rockford home, in part, to celebrate the single’s release that day. They described their working relationship with positivity intended to manifest their dreams of "making it."
Their advice to the city’s younger generation just learning how to navigate this crazy world: "No matter what, no matter what, no matter what happens, do not stop doing music," Williams said. "If you've already started picking up music, do not put it down."
LISTEN: Get to know more artists in Rockford’s creative community with the Register Star podcast, "Meet the Artist."
Scott P. Yates; syates@rrstar.com; @scottpyates
June 29, 2020 at 02:59AM
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Musician with Rockford ties releases first single under New York label - Rockford Register Star
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