Tre Loaded Is Reloading Memphis Rap

Memphis rapper Tre Loaded proves that you can launch a career from a phone and still keep both feet on the ground. At 22, the East Memphis native is riding a torrent of viral momentum, five mixtapes, and more than 50 million streams as he plots the rollout of his new album.

On April 25, Tre released LOADED (Deluxe), a 19‑track expansion of last year’s breakout tape and his fifth official mixtape. The new edition adds seven records while keeping the guest list lean, with only two features across the entire set: BigXThaPlug on the “Another Whip” remix and That Mexican OT on “The Ticket.”

Bleu sat down with the rising artist in our Manhattan office to dissect the deluxe cut for cut, talk life after TikTok virality, and explore the nightly pivot from studio sessions to bedtime stories for his three‑year‑old son. Tre pulled back the curtain on his newest release, explained why Houston streams outrank Memphis’s, and outlined a personal mission to pay forward the favors that older artists once extended to him.

Tre’s journey looks familiar to anyone tracking Gen Z’s takeover of hip‑hop. In 2021, he began lacing TikTok with car‑seat freestyles. One of those off‑the‑cuff verses, later titled “Vo Flow,” eventually racked up more than six million streams.

“I really started rapping because of TikTok,” he recalls, leaning forward so the gold chain around his neck shines in the light,. “I’d post a clip, and the comments were like, ‘Bro, get in a real studio.’ That’s when I knew it was serious.”

Tre Loaded—real name Trevon Jones—spent his childhood shadowing Don Trip, his uncle and a respected figure in Memphis rap. That early proximity to the craft explains the natural flow and polish he brings to every syllable today. His calling card is a triple‑time delivery that never sacrifices musicality, a style he first stretched across the do‑it‑yourself tape Made in Memphis and sharpened on All Bout Profit before graduating to the sleek LOADED universe.

The work ethic behind those projects has left him sitting on more than seventy unreleased songs, and the stage chops he earned as direct support on BigXThaPlug’s Take Care Tour have primed him for this summer’s festival circuit. Ask him what all those milestones are building toward and he doesn’t blink.

“I’m trying to go platinum—get some gold first, then platinum,” he says, before adding the real endgame: once the plaques are on the wall, he wants “to do what somebody did for me for somebody coming up,” passing the playbook to the next kid hungry enough to run with it.

Memphis has never lacked in the music scene. Key Glock’s bullet‑proof boasts and GloRilla’s block‑party anthems are Exhibit A—but Tre Loaded is intent on bending that DNA without imitating it. He threads the city’s trademark 808 muscle through smooth hooks, steering clear of the menacing, chant‑heavy groove that defined early Three 6 Mafia. “There’s a pride that comes with saying you’re from Memphis, but you’ve got to carve out your own sound,” he says.

That stamp is all over LOADED (Deluxe), which has already logged about 9.4 million all‑time streams and is on pace to clear ten million streams less than a month after its release. “Marni Slides” fuses bright horn blasts with sub‑shaking low end and glistening keys, while “Stuck In The Dirt” coasts on a bass‑rich, finger‑snap groove that perhaps could soundtrack a ’70s Blaxploitation reel. Together, the tracks show how elastic the Bluff City template can be—shades Tre Loaded hints will deepen even further on his next projects.

Halfway through our interview, a FaceTime ringtone chirps, and Tre excuses himself as he picks up the phone to his three‑year‑old son on the line. “I love showing him what I do—when he sees me on TV, he knows, ‘That’s my dad,’” he explains after the call, the pride unmistakable.

Moments like that illustrate the tightrope he walks, balancing a rap career on the move with being a father. Since relocating out of Memphis, the shuffle has become even tougher: “Moving around, being in a whole different city now, and balancing it with my son is probably the most challenging thing,” he admits.

In an industry that tallies wins in streams, views, and sold‑out shows, the pressure is, in many ways, part of the uniform. Tre Loaded is no exception, but he wears that weight with acknowledgment and steady calm, turning the hard work into receipts he’ll one day hand his son as proof that the grind was always bigger than the numbers.

With LOADED (Deluxe) barely a month old and the stream count climbing by the hour, Tre has been zeroing in on where the new music resonates most. One market stands out: Houston. The city’s appetite for his Memphis‑meets‑Texas cadence, boosted by the BigXThaPlug remix tucked into the deluxe, has already reshaped his summer routing, turning a few Texas stops into a full swing through the state. The momentum has him treating platinum not as a wish list item but as the next box to tick.

Equally urgent is his promise to pay it forward. “I’m trying to do what somebody did for me for somebody coming up,” Tre says, recalling the early studio favors and encouragement that helped jumpstart his own run. Inspired by watching his uncle Don Trip open doors for younger talent, Tre talks about funneling future royalties back into Memphis studios and carving out space for new voices on future projects.

Tre Loaded has graduated from TikTok curiosity to a viable business model without shedding the Memphis grit that shaped him. He freestyles like a veteran and understands that hometown loyalty can coexist with global ambition. In a city famous for constant reinvention, his melodic precision may be the Bluff City’s next big mutation. “You got to be different—you can’t be sounding like everybody else,” he says, staking his claim on what comes next.