"GLORY": TRACEY LEE

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA | TRACEY LEE

INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK PHOTO LORI NELSON LEE

“When I first heard Rapper’s Delight in ‘79, I was immediately hooked by the culture…”

- Tracey Lee

VALIDATED: Being from Philly, what’s your earliest memory of Hip Hop culture?

TRACEY LEE: As we call ourselves in Philly, I’m a old head now. So, I grew up in the 80’s, teenage years in the 80’s, so my era was Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, Cash Money and Marvelous, Steady B, Cool C, Three Times Dope. That was my era, that’s actually when I was attempting to get a deal, shopping demo tapes for anybody that’s listening. We used to record on cassette tapes and put them in the mail, and ship them to various labels, Def Jam, Profile, Next Plateau, all that. 

So, those were my humble beginnings, I mean, of course, influenced when I first heard Rapper’s Delight in ‘79, I was immediately hooked by the culture, but going from there to listen to Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Melle Mel to be specific, because he’s a lyricist, T La Rock, LL Cool J, who I was a huge fan of, really was my first beginnings with regards to patterning myself after, then you get into Rakim and Kool G Rap, and KRS-1, and Chuck D, Public Enemy, even Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane, those were the influences. But in the scene in Philly, it was Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince, Steady B, Cool C, the people that I named before, all that. But Philly was the home of the dj’s, so really, the dj’s were in the forefront of a lot of that, but there were mc’s in Philly, too.

VALIDATED: How did you make the transition from being an artist in general to being a signed artist?

TRACEY LEE: Okay, so like I was saying, in the 80’s, I was shopping a demo, but I always told myself that if I didn’t get signed by the time I was graduating from high school, then I would just go on to college. I had a passion for sports. I played basketball, got a D2 scholarship in basketball and baseball, but that didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to, because my ego wouldn’t allow me to go D2. But still the passion was there, so I said if I didn’t get a deal, I would go to school, go to college and study communications and become a color commentator, a sports analyst, if you will. So, I decided to go to Howard University, came into DC in ‘88, majored in Communications Broadcast Journalism, and that was it. I was only at Howard a semester, and I ran into this guy named Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie. 

And so for those that don’t know who D-Dot is, not only was he in a group called “Two Kings in a Cipher”, but he later would become a part of a production team with him and Amen-Ra (Ron Lawrence), who’s also in Two Kings in a Cipher, and they would later go on to be a part of the production team at Bad Boy as part of the Hitmen, and D-Dot produced everything from “The Benjamins”, to “Where I’m From”, by Jay Z, to “Money, Power, Respect”, to “Hypnotized”. Really, they were the sound of the 90’s, especially from the mid to late 90’s. 

So he was the one that I ran into at Howard, because he went to Howard, along with Puff, along with Mark Pitts who was the cat that actually signed me, along with Marlon Wayans, Anthony Anderson, the group Shai.  So, all of these people were at Howard at the same time, but he was the guy that embraced me if you will, because I heard him spit, and I was like, “Whoa!”

And it went from me saying, “Nah, I’m not going to do this anymore.” to immediately getting the ball back, and so, that’s when I started to pick the pen back up, started writing, started creating music, me and a cat by the name of Cous-- my man Cous On Top, and Kwame Anthony, we created our own independent label called Funky Hit Records, put out a maxi single, called “Let Me Hear You Say Yeah”, put it out in a record pool in California, did pretty well, but this was all independent. 

But I kept the craft, I kept going with the craft, and so I kept my relationship with D-Dot, and then eventually, once Puff did the Bad Boy thing, and Mark was working underneath Puff, like I said, all of this is a Howard thing. Mark was also Big’s manager, so, he went from managing Big and enjoying success under Bad Boy to getting his own label under Universal called Bystorm/Universal. Well, the label was called Bystorm Entertainment, but it was up under the Universal umbrella, and then D-Dot was the one that told Mark, “Yo, you need to check out Tracey, if you’re trying to…” Even though I knew Mark, he didn’t know I got busy, but Deric was the one that was flag shipping the whole situation, and eventually, I signed my deal with Bystorm in 1996, and we went on from there.

VALIDATED: Nice. So, you dropped the album “Many Facez” in 1997, which included the hit single, “The Theme (It’s Party Time)”. 

TRACEY LEE: Right.

VALIDATED: Basically, that stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 37 weeks.

TRACEY LEE: That’s a fact.

VALIDATED: What was your reaction to the success of the single?

TRACEY LEE: It was really overnight, man. I signed my deal in April of 1996, that record started playing before we actually released it as a single in January of ‘97, it really started bubbling in the street, and started playing on commercial radio, like in the fall of ‘96, from like October, all the way through the holidays. So, if you think about the time period, from April to October, that’s 6 months. We’re going from living in Florida and DC, to now all of a sudden living in New York with a record bubbling on the radio up and down the East Coast.

So, it really was from—not saying that I’m an overnight success, because I just told you about the grind, but that record, once it hit, it hit and it took off. It was like instantaneous, it didn’t have to be worked, if you will, none of that. But what the problem was, is that that record took off so fast that nobody actually knew who I was. They started to get to know what that record is, and what the record sounded like, but I was never really properly set up, in my opinion, as far as an artist is concerned, for people to understand and gravitate toward the artist. But I’ll never front on the success of it, like you said, we released it in January ‘97, and it stayed on the charts for 37 weeks. That’s amazing. That’s more than half the year. 

VALIDATED: So, you’ve worked with hip hop greats, including the Notorious B.I.G, what can you tell us about that experience in particular?

TRACEY LEE: Big, at that particular time, he gave me more jewels about the industry than I had heard from anybody, and this is coming from someone that is at the top of the food chain. Big in ‘96, ‘97, it don’t get no higher than that, he’s the creme de la creme. So, coming from him, it meant even more, because it just gave me a sense that this dude is giving me the game in a real way, from a real perspective, from somebody that’s there, that’s in a space that I’m attempting to be, or I’m striving to be. 

So, as we’re making this record, “Keep Your Hands High”, we were in there for about eight hours, but the value was definitely in the record, but I would say it was even more so in the conversation that we were having about the game, and what his future aspirations were, as far as him in this business.

Parlaying his status, transitioning from being an artist to being an executive, of being a mogul in this game, he already had things lined up. So, I’m just soaking it all up, man, and we’re just having a great conversation before we got busy on the mic, and then that was a whole other dimension. Now I’m definitely a pupil with regards to the game that you’re spitting, but now it becomes, we’re going to make this classic record, but we both mc’s, and I got pride in what I do, and I know you got pride in what you do, so let’s get busy, and you’re just not gonna  burn me on my record. So, it’s a friendly competition there as well, so yeah.

VALIDATED: So, your performances and appearances include BET, Rap City the Basement, BET Teen Summit, and Keenan Ivory Wayne Show. So, I’m from that era, but for those that didn’t witness it, what’s the importance of those platforms or platforms like those when it comes to the hip hop community?

TRACEY LEE: Oh man, Rap City was everything, if you listen to—for anybody that didn’t grow up in that era, if you listen to anybody that did grow up in that era, they’ll tell you, if you was on Rap City, that was a big deal. Especially if you were still in high school and all that, people ran home to go see Rap City, to tune into Rap City.

VALIDATED: I did, plenty of times. Recorded it and everything.

TRACEY LEE: Exactly, that was a big deal. And even for “The Theme” to be number one on Rap City for two weeks in a row, that was a big deal. With regards to accolades, that was like getting five mics in the source, if you was from that era, to be number one on Rap City. Teen Summit, another outlet, BET was the outlet for us, for the culture. It was either that or MTV Jams, or Yo MTV Raps, it was either one of the two. Those were the things that we looked at. Around that era, even a bit before that, there was “In Living Color”, there was that platform, if you got on there, that was a big deal. It wasn’t necessarily “Soul Train” by then, that was when things in the culture and the hip hop community started to branch off and do our own things, we had our own publications, that  catered to our culture.

So, when you start talking about, like I said, Rap City, the Teen Summits, even with the Keenan Ivory Wayan Show, it was a late night format type of thing, and it didn’t last that long, but to be affiliated and associated with a Wayan, and Keenan Ivory Wayan at that, he’s the big brother, he’s the top, he’s the one that opened up the doors, not only for his family, but really for filmmakers in LA, coming up under Eddie Murphy, coming up under the cast that came before him, he bust the door wide open, like I said, with “In Living Color”, so that was a big deal man, that was a big deal.

VALIDATED: Nah definitely. So, you’re the first former major label hip hop artist to earn the abbreviation ESQ behind his name, what can you tell us about that?

TRACEY LEE: That was a direct result of me being in this business, me beginning to understand about the music business, because when I came in the game, it wasn’t about that, it was strictly about getting my records heard, getting my talent heard, me wanting to be on the mic and being known as the nicest in the world. So, I had no regard for the business, the acumen of the music business, the importance of understanding your contracts, and the importance of things that really is the machine behind the success of the artists. 

There are many talented artists out here, but only a few achieve the type of status that a lot of us have aspirations of achieving, and that’s because their business is on point, they got the right people in their corners, they’ve got people that they can trust—at least I would like to assume that. And if your team is not aligned, and your team is not working for the greater good of the artist, you’ll never achieve that status, you won’t even have a shot.

So, because of the trials and tribulations of the business, I felt like I needed to learn this business for myself, not only for myself, but for others that are coming up behind me, so that I can give them the type of guidance and tutelage that I don’t think that I got coming up in the game. So, that is what the drive was with regards to me going back to school. I went to law school in 2003, from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge Louisiana, got my JD in 2006, passed the bar in 2007, and I’ve been a licensed entertainment attorney since, for the last 14 years.

VALIDATED: Who are some of the clients that you’ve worked with?

TRACEY LEE: In addition to still being an artist. I don’t want that to get lost. We didn’t retire. We just added to the brand, we added to the arsenal. Oh man, it’s a nice little list, I’ve worked with Solange Knowles, worked with Kelly Rowland, worked with Young Guru, who is the engineer and DJ for Jay-Z, work with a company that represented the late great Kobe Bryant. I’ve represented Eric Roberson, Algebra Blessett, those are two huge giants in the independent market of R&B. And a couple of producers who have—or at least one producer I know that just did a track on TI’s latest work, and a featured artist also on the latest Benny The Butcher album as well.

VALIDATED: So, in 2014 you returned to music as an indie artist, under the label Lleft Entertainment, what prompted the return?

TRACEY LEE: I never stopped writing, even when I was in law school, even when we stopped working with Bystorm/Universal, I’m an MC man, so I kept the pen, I kept the pen sharp, I kept pushing the pen. I’ve got collections of songs, as a matter of fact, I put out a single that was actually funded by Marlon Wayans in 2001 called, “Ready, Willing & Able”, shot a video and all that. So, I say all that to say, I never stopped pushing the pen, it’s just that I wasn’t on a national scene anymore, I wasn’t a part of pop culture anymore. 

So, I felt like after I got out of law school, and after things had settled with me, or should I say that things were unsettled with me, with regards to me leaving from the label, and now me being in this space where, okay, I got my degree as an attorney, and things are pretty much where I want them to be but, not quite. I felt like I still had to voice certain things about my experiences in this game. 

So, that’s when I said, you know what? We’re going to put this thing out, we’re going to do it, we’re going to move independently from here on in, and we’re going to put out this album, explaining what’s been going on for the past 14 years, because that’s when I drifted off the scene. The last time people had seen me was maybe 2001, or maybe 2000. And here we are in 2014, it’s like let me put something out there to explain some things, and let me put something out to also let people know that the pen’s still sharp, and we still do this. 

So, we released “ESQ” in October of 2014, and yeah, it had the likes of Young Guru on the record, I had Joe Claire bless it with a few skits, and yeah, I’m very proud of that piece of work, and it was therapeutic as well, because I felt like I had to get some things out, get some emotions out, again, going back to the explanation aspect, and just letting people know, if anybody ever wondered where Tray was and what Tray was doing, this is what this album did. 

VALIDATED: Nice. So, as you mentioned briefly, so far, you’ve dropped three albums on the label, including your recent album, “Glory”. How do you feel you’ve grown most as an artist since going independent?

TRACEY LEE: Subject matter man, it’s really a natural progression, it’s a natural evolution. When I signed my deal, I was 26 years old, single, no kids, no wife, straight out of college, but yet still had a pinky toe in the street a little bit. So, my subject matter and my vocabulary and all of that is different, and this is what? 25 years ago. Hold up, we’re talking about 19… Yeah, 24 years old. So, of course, if you’re lucky enough to live as long as I have, blessed enough, should I say, things are going to change, or should I say they should change. So, at 50 man, I’m looking at things differently, I’m married now, I’ve been married last 11 years, I got two wonderful kids, six and a four year old, so my subject matter is automatically going to be different. My mind state is going to be different, but that should not take away from the skill level. I think my pen is better than ever. Just because of the fact that I kept it sharp, and I still continue to keep it sharp, but it’s just the angle that we’re coming from, the things that we’re talking about are going to be different. Hopefully, it’ll be some things not only that my peer group can relate to, but even the youngins can get some things out of it, and have it be a motivational tool, or use it as a motivation tool to continue to progress in their life as well. So, it’s all an evolution.

VALIDATED: So, in late 2020 you dropped “Glory”, what’s been the response to the project so far?

TRACEY LEE: Oh man, it’s been fantastic. I would like to say that this is my best work. I wrote this album faster than any other project that I’ve done, and I think that was based off of the fact that we are in a pandemic, if you will. Quarantining, whatever you want to call it, due to what’s going on outside, the virus, COVID and all of that, but it put certain things in perspective, and it gave me the fuel to talk about it, and even talk about it from a futuristic perspective, because I wrote it from March until May of 2020. And some of the things that I was talking about in between that time span didn’t happen until January of 2021.

When we started talking about the takeover of the Capitol, and the vaccine, and all this other stuff. These were things that I was talking about early in the year, but it was really a foresight thing, and again, because I wrote it so fast, I felt like it wasn’t—I know it wasn’t all me, it was divine intervention, it was me being a vessel, some of this stuff I can consciously say, yeah, I did that, that was well thought out by me. Even though I can’t take the credit for any of it, but if I had to say that I was really concentrating on a certain point that I was trying to make, I’ll take credit for that, but the majority of that album, man, my pen was moving by itself man, I was really a vessel, bro, I was really a vessel. Nothing but God. Because the way I wanted to put this, I also have turned this into “Glory The Manuscript”, which is also the literary version of the album, where we took these lyrics, we used to get the lyrics back in the days in the insert of the CD, or the insert of the album, but we don’t get that anymore, because we’re in the digital space, but what I decided to do is take these lyrics and put them in a form where it’s tangible, where you can touch it. Not only give you lyrics to the album, but then also give you the insights, where my mind was for each particular song, along with photography that goes along with it, to action and even more, but yeah, that all really stemmed from when we started writing this album, because there were some things that needed to be said about how we were living, and the space that we’re living in. Again, I think hands down, this is my best work, it has to be.

VALIDATED: You worked with one producer on the entire project?

TRACEY LEE: Ojizz , absolutely, brother from Baltimore, he’s the illest and I keep saying it, man, and people are going to say, “Ah Tray, you’re being bias dah, dah, dah.” but I’m telling you, this dude is special, this guy’s special. OJizz man. Remember that name. He produced actually my last two albums, this “Glory” album, and I put out another album in 2019 called “Expect The Unexpected”, and he did everything from top to bottom, but the beauty of it is, if you listen to both albums, they sound completely different, completely different from each other.

VALIDATED: Because he’s diverse.

TRACEY LEE: Yeah, you would swear there was more than one producer, even within both of these albums, you would swear that it was more than one producer producing the records, but that’s just how dope he is. So, remember OJizz man.

VALIDATED: So, I’ve listened to the album from start to finish a few times, and you tackle real topics as you mentioned like COVID-19 and police brutality. What pushes you to use your voice to wake up listeners?

TRACEY LEE: I just think that there is not enough balance out there, especially from a pop culture and commercial aspect. So, it’s filling a void, if you will, but let me be fair, I think if people do their research, there’s a lot of mc’s out here that’s really talking about some things, but I just think the audience is not doing their due diligence, and doing the research, and I get it, the older you get there’s more responsibility. It’s not like when you were teenagers and all that, when you was up on this and up on that. So, I understand, I get it, we’ve all got lives, but at the same time, I’m a person that loves music. So, if somebody that I trust makes a recommendation, I’m going to definitely get up on it. But even without that recommendation, I’m still just on my downtime, just scanning through things. Getting on some of these DSPs, and seeing what’s out there. Getting with a few of my dj friends and asking them, “Yo, what are you playing now?” Get with other mc’s, like, “Who else are you listening to?” Then do my research from there.

So, with “Glory”, I thought I need to fill a void, but then right when it was happening, I felt like people were still or just locked into what was going on on IG, which was a beautiful thing, with regards to what the dj’s were doing, and what black music was doing, and keeping us afloat in a time that we didn’t know what the hell was going on, none of us, because it was all brand new. So, I felt like, okay, let me seize this opportunity to really, not just fill a void, but to report what was going on, but then also make people understand that there’s light at the end of the tunnel, like we will get through this. Be an encouraging word, not dwell on all the bad things that are going on out there, it’s like with the song called “Freedom”, that’s getting to the light. With the song called “Saved”,  that’s getting to the light.

After we went through the darkness, and that’s what the album did, took you from darkness and led you to the light, “Rejoice”, “We Good”, these are the titles. And it was done by design. Me and OJizz formatted this album from top to bottom musically, before I even wrote a word. And then when I wrote it, I wrote it 1 through 12. It wasn’t like one song in number 1, then we did “Sheesh” at 12, and then we did  “Saved” at 7. Nah, I wrote “Dominion”, which is number 1, then I wrote “Glory”, number 2 , then I wrote “Old Me”, number 3, and I wrote it like a story. Just so we can tell this story, to guide us from the darkness to the light.

VALIDATED: And that’s a fitting title too, “Glory”, I was going to ask you what made you choose that, but now I see.

TRACEY LEE: Yeah, absolutely, good, bad, up, down, indifferent, that came from a personal space, because of my life. My life is just like everybody else’s life, you’ve got your good, your bad, you’ve got the turbulent time, but I’m still here. So, each and every time I go through anything, whether it’s celebratory, or whether it’s something dark or dismal, I still yell glory, because I still have faith. I’m going through these things for something. I’ve just got to withstand whatever it is, if it’s on the down side, withstand what it is to get to why I’m going through this. So, I’m still going to yell glory regardless, and of course, we’re going to yell glory, when we’re celebrating, too.

VALIDATED: True. So, what’s your favorite record off the album and why?

TRACEY LEE: Ohhh, why you got to ask me that? Lol Honestly, man, I don’t know, it depends on the day, it really does, man.

VALIDATED: I was going to ask you if it changes.

TRACEY LEE: Yeah, it really depends, like today was probably “We Good”, today. I was just talking about this on my IG, “We Good” and “Freedom” are the records that I listen to most when I first get up in the morning, because it gives me a kind of boost and energy that I need to get through the day. When I look at my kids, I say we good, man. When I open up the fridge, I say we good. When I can get up and exercise, talk with you, we’re good. I mean, I don’t have any complaints. Like, the mortgage is paid, we good. Everything is good, man. No health problems, none of that, mental state is straight, we’re good. “Freedom” just represents things that—it’s about my people, It’s about us as black people in America. Like, that’s ultimately what we have been screaming since we’ve been here. Not only physical freedom, financial freedom, mental freedom. So, that’s a reoccurring theme every day that I get up, that’s what we are striving to, you know, like when you start talking about generational wealth, that’s freedom. When we start talking about, again, mental health, that’s freedom. 

So, when you start talking about getting out of the way, or not being the victims of police brutality, that’s freedom. Being able to voice the things that we want to, that’s freedom, so that’s the common theme every day that I get up. But again, it depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like the old me, like don’t test me, because there are people out here that want to test you. So, as much as I don’t want to, I don’t want to go back to how I used to be, but you keep pressing the button, you see what I’m saying? “Dominion” is taking control of you and your surroundings, that’s another common theme for me. So, man, that’s a hard question, bro. I plead the fifth.

VALIDATED: As you mentioned, you recently dropped the book, “Glory The Manuscript”, as a companion to the album, and you told us why you did it, so, what’s been the response to that, how are people taking to it?

TRACEY LEE: Oh, man, the thing is I’ve done pre-orders since Black Friday, because we’ve changed printers twice, just because the first printer that we went with didn’t give us the quality, and shout out to my publishing company, not my publishing company, but the publisher that I went with, Nelson Publishing. When I brought the idea to them, they was like, “Oh, this is a great idea.” but I was just thinking, yo, this is going to be a book of rhymes, I just want people to be able to see, like be able to read what I’m writing here, because I think it’s special. 

They were like, “Okay, if you’re going to do that, it can’t just be just a book of rhymes, we’re going to take it up a notch.” So it really got down to, okay, they’re going to read the rhymes, but we really need some insight on why you went there with these particular songs. So, they forced me to write journals about each song, and then it was like now we’re going to capture it visually with some photography. So, we went out and recruited some of the best photographers that I know, including Young Guru, who is not only nice on a mixing board, and nice with the turntables, but he also has an eye for photography, as well as OJizz, who I told you produced the record, but he’s also nice with the photography, and my man Mark Samuel, who’s nice with the photography.

So, they submitted some work that we wanted to put in there, and we made this book more than just a book of rhymes, we made it an experience, down to the weight of the pages, down to the way the cover feels, down to the way that the sleeve feels around the book. We wanted to make sure that once the buyer got it into their hands, that they felt quality, because it’s not just something that you can read, but it’s also a piece of art, is something, it’s a coffee table book. So, you can put it on your coffee table in the middle of your room, and even if you never crack the book open, it’s one of them things where you just don’t want everybody to put their hands on, “Hey, don’t touch that, man. Hey, look, man, that’s a part of the décor.” So, for the people that have ordered it, they haven’t even gotten in yet, I’ve just gotten on live with my copy that I’ve had to make edits from, and pushed it from there, but their anxious to get their hands on it, and that’s a good thing, that’s a great thing.

So, I’m hoping once the people get it in their hands, that it will be received like I think they will be, because they’ll definitely be impressed with the quality that we’re presenting. Then when you start getting down to the lyrical content, and start breaking down these lyrics, like I want to break them down, and I’m more excited about once you get it, and you read it, I want to hear what your interpretations are, so that we can compare notes, and I can tell you from the author’s perspective what mine was, but you may be able to give me some insight on how it can be interpreted. It’s kind of like the Bible, like the Quran, so yeah, I’m excited about that.

VALIDATED: You also taught business of music to aspiring artists at Coppin State University, what was it like going from being a student yourself, to being a teacher, and did you see a lot of yourself in the students?

TRACEY LEE: It’s fulfilling man, and that’s one of the reasons why I went back to school. Again, like I said before, it’s not only to learn it for myself, but also to teach others that’s coming up under me. It all falls back to this book, and goes back to even law school, it’s like, that’s what I want to be, I want to be an educator. I guess riding out the rest of my years, I want to be able to teach on a university level. I’ll teach the kids too, I mean, the younger kids as well, but I want to be an educator, that’s my goal. I just recently applied for a position at Drexel University in Philly. I’ve talked to the administrators at Howard University and even the president, about teaching a course there, but I see a lot of things with the students at Coppin State University, I saw a lot of things in them that I saw in myself.

There are certain students that have an aspiration to dig deeper into the music industry, and then there’s certain students that just like, “Nah, I just need the credit.” Then there’s certain students that are on the in between, but what I think I can provide is a sense of he’s been there, done that, based off of my resume, and it’ll get me in certain spaces with these kids mentally, that the average teacher can’t. When you start talking about, “Damn, you did songs with Big? How was that?” Now we have conversations. “Damn, you met Tupac? How was that?” If we get into the conversation. “Oh, you got records with Kanye? How was that? Is he still the same? When did he change?”

So now we start having an engaging conversation, it gives me an opportunity to not only build with you on a personal level, but it also gives me an opportunity to educate. So, it’s definitely fulfilling, man, and I do it with my kids all the time, but it’s like giving—that’s why we do this, right? We do it to be able to give back, to be able to teach and school the youngins. And it’s also the ability to learn from the youngins  too, to get into that space where we can have these kinds of conversations where we learn from each other. So, that’s more fulfilling than anything man, and I think that’s just my position as we continue to live life, this is where we are.

VALIDATED: Definitely. So, as far as the album “Glory” is concerned, what is it that you want the fans to take away from it?

TRACEY LEE: Number one, first and foremost, on the surface, it’s a dope album, but more importantly, just to be encouraged man, just to stay positive. It’s just too much negativity, it’s too much “Oh, I can’t.” It’s too much, “It’s never going to happen.”, “Woe is me.” Nah, man, and  to move as a collective, as much as we can. I know we’re not a monolith, I know everybody has their own thoughts and ideas, but I think everybody’s end game is the same. It’s how you get there that’s the difference, and that’s fine. But as long as we communicate and understand, this is your end game, I mean, this is our end game, but you want to go that way, I want to go this way, okay, cool, how can I help you out? How can I facilitate that? How can you help me out? If we can’t work together, we can definitely still help each other. So, these are the underlying messages, and meanings behind a lot of these records.

If we move in one accord, you will understand the power of the people, and I don’t mean again, everybody with the same idea, same ideology, but moving in one accord, meaning we’re all trying to accomplish, at the end of the day, the same thing, then help one another achieve that, and if you’re not going to help, don’t be discouraging…

VALIDATED: Don’t get in the way.

TRACEY LEE: Yeah, don’t get in the way and don’t be discouraging to the other person, that’s not productive, that’s counterproductive.

VALIDATED: No, I definitely agree with that. So, what can the fans expect from you for the remainder of 2021?

TRACEY LEE: Oh, man, we going to keep giving you “Glory”, at least to the end of the year. I’ve got a plan for the end of “Glory”. I can’t reveal that yet. I’m still from an inception perspective, from a foundational perspective, I’m still doing some calculations, if you will. But we’re still going to roll out “Glory” man, we still got a lot of people that haven’t heard the album yet, if you haven’t heard the album yet, it’s on every streaming platform. If you want to own the album, you can come to TraceyLeeMusic.com. We still got the book that nobody has read yet, but you will get your opportunity to read that book if you come and order at TraceyLeeMusic.com. We’ve still got the video album that we’re working on right now. I’ve got the green screen back here, we’ve already shot the video for Dominion, but once we put the video album together, and then you start now, you’re not only going to get the audio experience, not only get the literary experience, but now you’re going to get the visual experience, that put everything together, that tie everything into a nice little bow, then you’ll get the full experience of “Glory”.

But we’re going to keep rolling it out until the end of the year, and then after that, we start working on something new. Like I said, I’m just developing these ideas, but it’s all about “Glory” right now. Glory on every streaming platform, and every DSP, the book, “Glory The Manuscript” on TraceyLeeMusic.com, and stay tuned for the video coming soon, the videos, the video album.

VALIDATED: Where can the fans follow you on social media?

TRACEY LEE: You can go to IG @Tracyleeesq, Twitter @TrayLee, and I wish I could give you my Tik-Tok, but we’re not there yet, but we’re coming, because I had to figure it out, but I think I figured it out, but yeah, come to IG, come to Clubhouse too if you on Clubhouse, come on in there, man, we’ll be talking about some good things in there as well, but yeah, that’s it. 

Oh, and I’ve got to keep stressing it, everything Tracey Lee, you can go to TraceyLeeMusic.com. Oh, and then another thing, Patreon. Patreon is a platform that we use for the Tracey Lee diehard if you will, for the Tracey Lee super fan, I don’t like using super fan, but for anybody that’s been not only just a day one, but really supports the things that we’ve been doing over the last few years. You can go to Patreon, PATREON.com/traceyleemusic, where you get behind the scenes, and you get content that we don’t put on IG, that we don’t put on Twitter, that we don’t put on these social media platforms. You get exclusives, you get interviews, you get music that is not anywhere else as well. I promise that’s it, that’s all I got.

VALIDATED: Nice, any last words for the listeners?

TRACEY LEE: Yeah man, just keep doing what you all doing man, remain positive, remain as humble as possible, keep God first, and just keep family first as well, and just keep pushing on whatever you’re doing, stay encouraged, be encouraged, and continue to support, and I appreciate y’all, absolutely.