Trap Dickey is here to tell his story the best way he knows how—through the music. Hailing from Hartsville, South Carolina, Trap Dickey quickly became a product of his environment. At age 21, he was shot in the face as a result of a crossfire. Instead of turning to the streets, the rising star instead locked himself in the studio, pouring his heart into his rhymes while expressing his hardships through his art.

Trap Dickey describes himself as “so South Carolina.” He continues, “I’m from the Carolina’s. I’d describe myself as well-respected. A good person. I got a good personality. But fasho fasho, I’m the face of South Carolina.”

Trap Dickey recently made his mark after bodying his freestyle with On The Radar Radio in Philly. His lyricism is a testament to his resilience and strength, and his ability to preserve no matter how hard it gets. On the music tip, Trap has released a string of standout singles, including “I35”, “No Apologies,” and “Keep Forgetting” featuring Hardaway. The music video for “Blue Devils,” taken from his latest project Trap Or Die, has also been doing numbers.

AllHipHop spoke with Trap Dickey in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his background, getting shot in the face, why he started making music, having his family’s support and more.

AllHipHop: Can you paint the picture for Hartsville? Because I have no idea what it’s like.

Trap Dickey: Hartsville is very small. We talking about 7,000 people. It’s only two or three stores open after 12 o’clock. There’s only one Walmart. Everybody knows each other. Of course, we one of the most violent cities in South Carolina. Towns, Google isn’t going to show that. I’m not going to put poverty on it because it’s so small that you can’t tell. There’s some good people there, but mainly small environment though. Small environment in Hartsville, South Carolina.

AllHipHop: Growing up, when did you realize you want to do music?

Trap Dickey: At age 21. My brother was rapping, he’s way younger than me. He was rapping, so I started rapping with him to be honest. When he took off rapping, I just followed right behind him. 

AllHipHop: Is he doing this thing?

Trap Dickey: Yeah he’s doing his thing. He’s doing well.

AllHipHop: When’d you fall in love with music?

Trap Dickey: The same age. Nah, I’ma say before that. I fell in love with music at 18, 19. When I saw he was really good at it, I started studying music more and more. I like music. 

AllHipHop: What artists do you listen to?

Trap Dickey: Meek Mill. Rylo Rodriguez. Rod Wave. André 3000. Those types of guys. 

How would you describe your music?

Trap Dickey: I describe it as so South Carolina, a preacher’s grandson type stuff. I’m really preaching.

AllHipHop: You were shot in the face. How old were you?

Trap Dickey: Exactly 21. I was actually shot in a crossfire, walking into somebody’s line of fire. It wasn’t like somebody was trying to kill me. I was walking in the way of somebody, turned around and it hit me. It stayed inside. It hit me, it stayed inside my head. I had to cut it out. 

I didn’t fall. It was a big mistake. It wasn’t like I was targeted or I was running. It was, “Boom! I think I got shot. Let me look in the mirror and see the bullet wound. Aw s###, I got shot. Let me go to the hospital.” I never lost contact. To be honest, the doctors were so amazed at how I was acting. They didn’t want to call my mom, they told me to call her. They’re like, “Let your mom hear your voice so she could feel good.”

AllHipHop: I’m sure you have trauma from that?

Trap Dickey: As you can see, lazy eye. But trauma? Nah. To be honest, I was so ignorant to the situation. I kept running in the street. As soon as they told me it wasn’t a death-threatening thing as of right now, I just kept going. No surgeries, no nothing. Kept going full throttle.

AllHipHop: You started doing music after that?

Trap Dickey: Yeah. I already started recording. But after I got shot, I started taking it serious. I shot my first video, stuff like that. I started taking it serious because all the attention was on me. A lot of people can’t say they know somebody that got shot in the face. I took full advantage and took rapping full-blown.

AllHipHop: How much of your life experiences do you put in your music? 

Trap Dickey: S###, I’d say 95%. I put 95% of my lifestyle in the music. The other stuff is entertainment, but majority of my life is in the music. You can really describe me as some of the songs and some of the stuff I say in the music.

AllHipHop: Were you in the streets with music? 

Trap Dickey: Yeah, before the music I was in the streets. Before music and school, I’ll say it like that.

AllHipHop: Was it hard to leave?

Trap Dickey: Hell nah! It wasn’t hard to leave. Best thing that ever happened to me. It’s an easy way out. Think about it: you can do the same thing you want to do and it’s some Hip Hop music. Or pop music, any type of music. Just doing music, it takes you away from the streets. It’s really easy for me to leave. Easy decision.

AllHipHop: How’d you get your name?

Trap Dickey: I got it from Virginia. My real name is Travis so people used to call me Trav. When I went to Virginia, a group of Mexicans started calling me Trap. Literally: “Trap, Trap, Trap.” I stuck with it and ran with it since ninth grade. When I said it, my family went with it too. “There goes Trap.” 

AllHipHop: Is Dickey your real name?

Trap Dickey: Dickey’s my last name, for sure for sure. My official name. Dickey is my government last name.

AllHipHop: What inspired your song “I-35”?

Trap Dickey: I was in bad traffic from Oklahoma to Dallas. Real bad traffic, I was stuck on I-35. I made the song on I-35. Wrote it and all that. As soon as we got to Dallas, [snaps]. Boom, it’s going up.

AllHipHop: How do you record? Do you normally freestyle or write?

Trap Dickey: Somewhat of both. I’ll go in, write half of it on my phone. After I got the vibe of what we’re doing, let’s punch in. Let’s get it.

3things you need in the studio at all times?

Trap Dickey: Water, Carmax, and a microphone. lI need that all the time. Anything else, I don’t need it.

AllHipHop: “Blue Devils” is going crazy, talk about that record.

Trap Dickey: Yeah, “Blue Devils” is going crazy!As you know, Blue Devils is a Carolina college team from North Carolina. I’m from South Carolina, but California as whole it means a lot. I freestyled it. Heard the beat, heard the sample. Felt it a little bit and wrote it out like boom boom. I didn’t think it was going to do what it did and do what it’s doing, but I’m happy.

AllHipHop: Best memory from the video shoot?

Trap Dickey: [laughs] Watching them boys do their wheelies all up in the road. Watching them have a competition with themselves, who can walk (means to pop a wheelie) their bike the longest. That was one of the best moments of the video.

AllHipHop: One thing you want people to get from your project Trap or Die?

Trap Dickey: The concept I want them to get from that is when you in the streets, you only got two options: trap or die. You gotta take it serious for what you’re doing. If you gon’ be in the streets, take it serious. I don’t want no one to be in the streets, nobody should be in the streets. But for the ones that’s in the streets, don’t play it. If that’s your plan A, take it serious. Go full throttle.

AllHipHop: How’d it feel for your On The Radar freestyle to go up?

Trap Dickey: It felt like a blessing. Just to go all the way to Philly to do it, I went to Philadelphia to do the On The Radar. I got a lot of family in Philly. My mom’s from Philly, my granddad’s from Philly and my sisters are from Philly. My grandma’s sisters is from up north. That was the whole reason of me going up north to do On The Radar, just to do something together with the family. 

AllHipHop: How do they feel about your music going crazy?

Trap Dickey: All my family, I won’t say they look at me the same. Of course they see me change, but it wasn’t like they didn’t look at me to do something before music. They’re happy I found something to do  that’s not getting me in trouble. That’s how they look at it: not getting in trouble, you doing the right thing.

AllHipHop: You donate a lot of money to your community. Can you touch on that?

Trap Dickey: I wouldn’t even call it donating; I call it giving back. I wouldn’t even look at it as donations, it’s me giving back to the hometowns and cities around me. Even the ones that is my hometown, I give away to the ones around me, just to keep their motivation going to in school. You don’t have to be in the streets to see Trap Dickey. You can go to first period and you might see Trap Dickey today. 

That’s my whole thing of doing it. Don’t give up that school, because I graduated. Folks don’t know, I graduated from high school. I want everyone to know: at least try to get the diploma. At least that. That’s all your mama or dad cared for, at least try to get the diploma. If you don’t, it’s okay. But always try that main thing for them.

AllHipHop: Best encounter you have with a fan?

Trap Dickey: He wanted me to just show up to some birthday. They didn’t want me to perform or anything, just wanted me to show up. He told me his son was a big fan of mine. Not saying race is not a bad thing, but he wasn’t the same color as me. It made me feel like okay dope, I got people different races listening to my music. When I came out, I saw the love his family gave me, it was crazy to me. I seen his grandma, his great grandma. They’re all showing me the same love it looked like they would show their family. That made me feel a lot different. 

AllHipHop: What can we expect next? 

Trap Dickey: You can expect to see me more. Not only hear me, you can expect to see me. Wherever the local places are, you might end up seeing Trap Dickey around. That’s my whole thing. I want people to understand, I’m not just rapping. I’m not just talking. You’re going to see me. I’m going to be everywhere. Even when a song starts off, they’re like “there goes Trap!” That’s the main thing I want people to understand. There I go! I’m coming.