Tray Deee's accent...

[Unforgivable by Sean John]

Let's be honest. Tray Deee has one of the greatest accents in the history of hip-hop. On top of that, his vocabulary is surprisingly good, and the inflections he puts on his words are beyond ridiculous.

People on here say shit like... yo his raps are dope, I'm always down to check out a song when it has a Tray Deee verse on it... but they never say what they really mean - which is that they are always down to hear another Tray Deee verse, because his accent is just so damn good to listen to.

My question is - where did this accent come from? Does anyone else in SoCal talk like this? Is his accent a hybrid between a gangster SoCal accent and a gangster southern accent?

But on top of that... his rhythms are surprisingly complex and his enunciation is ridiculously precise. Add to that the incredible amount of bounce in his flow - if you put all of this together, Tray Deee is better than about 95% of rappers at using his voice as an instrument. Oh and his punchlines are pretty good usually, and sometimes just plain insane. Incredibly underrated emcee.

[Fraxxx]

You're observation is 100% correct but you gotta think more outside the box to draw the right conclusion: Tray Deee is originally from England and got an Oxford education.

And for being underrated, I guess at least people on this forum agree with you on him being a better rapper than most.

[BigNeckBone]

IMO the dopest in the game

[Unforgivable by Sean John]

You're observation is 100% correct but you gotta think more outside the box to draw the right conclusion: Tray Deee is originally from England and got an Oxford education.

And for being underrated, I guess at least people on this forum agree with you on him being a better rapper than most.

Tray Deee (born Tracy Lamar Davis on April 27, 1966 in Long Beach, California)

says wiki.

but if that is true about england.... wow that would be ridic. hahaha. so ur saying wiki is wrong? what's his real history then?? lol.

[~Styles~]

Damn.

[BigNeckBone]

You're observation is 100% correct but you gotta think more outside the box to draw the right conclusion: Tray Deee is originally from England and got an Oxford education.

And for being underrated, I guess at least people on this forum agree with you on him being a better rapper than most.

Tray Deee (born Tracy Lamar Davis on April 27, 1966 in Long Beach, California)

says wiki.

but if that is true about england.... wow that would be ridic. hahaha. so ur saying wiki is wrong? what's his real history then?? lol.

Serious ? U don't understand this is a joke ? 

[Dre-Day]

You're observation is 100% correct but you gotta think more outside the box to draw the right conclusion: Tray Deee is originally from England and got an Oxford education.

And for being underrated, I guess at least people on this forum agree with you on him being a better rapper than most.

hahaha

[West-West Y'All]

What are his origins  (Ethnicity) ? Dude is not 100% black as far as i can tell;  mother white/father black? Maybe he had a double culture of some sort, certainly above the average ghetto boy out there.

[Unforgivable by Sean John]

You're observation is 100% correct but you gotta think more outside the box to draw the right conclusion: Tray Deee is originally from England and got an Oxford education.

And for being underrated, I guess at least people on this forum agree with you on him being a better rapper than most.

Tray Deee (born Tracy Lamar Davis on April 27, 1966 in Long Beach, California)

says wiki.

but if that is true about england.... wow that would be ridic. hahaha. so ur saying wiki is wrong? what's his real history then?? lol.

Serious ? U don't understand this is a joke ? 

i assumed that it was a joke. hence my wikipedia citation.

but.... idk lol. it would be more plausible that he's like from texas or something.

[J-FUNKTION]

accent? huh?

i never considered it an "accent"..more like a unique voice that stands on its own...does snoop have an "accent" cause of his nasally type voice?

anyway...but yeah tray dee is too dope..funny thing is just last night out of nowhere i mentioned to one of my homies that its been too long and it would be dope to have some new tray dee material....

[acgrundy]

yeah it is not an accent, just a unique and very powerful voice.  He is my favorite rapper.  I would have loved a death row album from him.

[EnzoUK]

fukin rap god

[Unforgivable by Sean John]

how is it NOT an accent? he talks with that accent in addition to rapping with it. lol. everyone has an accent. his is just this ridic SoCal/Texas gangsta hybrid accent. thats the best theory i can come up with, lol.

[OG Hack Wilson]

tray dee sounds too australian to me

[bouli77]

But on top of that... his rhythms are surprisingly complex and his enunciation is ridiculously precise. Add to that the incredible amount of bounce in his flow - if you put all of this together, Tray Deee is better than about 95% of rappers at using his voice as an instrument. Oh and his punchlines are pretty good usually, and sometimes just plain insane. Incredibly underrated emcee.

I don't think it's "surprisingly" complex and "ridiculously precise". It's just complex and precise. Tray Deee's always been praised for his rhyme scheme, lyrics and enunciation. Hell, even Crooked I, one of the hypest lyricists nowadays said in interviews that he used to study Tray Deee's rhyme scheme and that he was basically his favorite spitter.

As for the accent, well a lot of westcoast cats have southern roots or come directly from the south (in the DPG only : Snoop, Daz, Nate). I do think he has a tiny bit of a southern accent, just like Snoop does. It's not that obvious but you can definitely feel it IMO. anyway it sure sounds stylish and even though he's probably the most street cat out of the DPG (maybe with Lil C Style) he is also the most articulate (along with Bad Azz IMO). No wonder they both would ghostwrite alot for Snoop.

What are his origins  (Ethnicity) ? Dude is not 100% black as far as i can tell;  mother white/father black? Maybe he had a double culture of some sort, certainly above the average ghetto boy out there.

Hmmm, I really don't think his skin color is relevant here. A lot of black people are light skinned because one of their ancesters were a mulatto, like Malcolm X, whose grandfather was white, and it doesn't mean they had a double culture at all. For all I know Tray Deee's culture is strictly Long Beach. Joined a gang at 8. Been in and out of prison since he was 14. Dude has just an ability to pick up words easily and is just clever period.

I'm a big fan of Tray Deee. His verses on G'd Up & Reality are ridiculously fine examples of what he could do at his prime. His two solo songs on the two Eastsidaz albums are also masterpieces of their own. Especially the second. He had incredibly high standards as he was rapping his ass off song in song out. However, I think his homogeinity is his demise. His verses sound sometimes too similar, and I would sometimes get bored, like after a while I always knew what a Tray Deee verse would sound like, not matter how good. That's the main difference with Crooked I. Crooked I's more versatile, he can speed it up and slow it down, and has witty punchlines.