Tre Woods

TRE WOODS
Tawrence Smith (D.B.A.) Tre Woods was born on August 4th 1980 in Stuttgart Germany. The son of two Us Army soldiers, He lived in Germany until his parents Both retired in 1986 and moved to Huntsville Alabama. Growing up in the Eighties Rap and hiphop music had not fully broken into America’s mainstream yet. Some of his favorite artist during that time included Micheal Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Aerosmith, and Guns and Roses. Later that year he had his first experience with rap music Via Run DMC’s cover of Aerosmith’s 1977 hit Walk this way. After listing to more of Run DMC’s music rap then became his first love.
During the early 90’s In Tre Woods hometown of Huntsville Al there was no one dominate particular region of music. “At that time I was getting expose to everyone who was hot in there region. “I listen to people like E-40, Wu Tang, Outkast, and Ghetto Boys, Too Short, Cool G Rap, Poison Clan. Pretty much anybody making noise on a national level. Me and my partners was riding to them”.
1994 was a crazy year all across the country and it was no different In Tre’s neighborhood. Involved in the Gang Culture that was rapidly spreading throughout the United States, along with the typical crimes that go along with running the street, Tre found Himself deeply involved in the criminal lifestyle. One of Tre’s mentors (Nick “Scarfoze” Porter) had moved down from New York to live with his grandmother. Scarfoze had been rapping with Mileek from Ra group “Illegal” and also with B-Legit from Sickwitit Records of West Coast fame. He noticed Tre had a voice made for rapping and began teaching him how to rap. “Those days were the most important Tre says. I learned about song structure 16 Bars, How to open and close a verse. Scarfoze was from the East Coast so he was very big on wordplay, metaphors and similes. The greatest thing he taught me was to never just rap. Always relay a message to the audience. And every now and then throw your name up in there and let them know that’s it’s you they are listening too”. This tutelage continued until late 99 when Scarfoze was sentenced to prison for 8 ½ years in New Jersey. Shortly after his mentor’s incarceration Tre went out into the city on his own to pursue his music dream but was quickly deterred by his lifestyle and peers to concentrate more on the streets than music.
Feeling at the time that there was no real future for him in music or the streets he signed up for Job Corp. In January off 2000 he left for Morgan field Kentucky and 5 months later received his GED in the program. He returned in June of 2000 back to his neighborhood and tried to fall back into the same things which caused him to leave but he had realized that he was done with his old ways and wanted more out of life. So In October of 2000 he followed his parent’s footsteps and joined the military to escape the way he was living which was a one way road to destruction.
While in the military Tre has seen a large part of the world. Living in Germany Five years he has visited other countries in Europe most people will live their whole lives and not be able to see such a France, Spain, Dubai, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Africa, while also serving three tours in the Iraq War.
In mid 2008 after the completion of his third tour in Iraq he had come back home to Alabama to visit his friends and family. He wasn’t the only one enjoying a homecoming. His friend and mentor Scarfoze had just returned as well from doing his prison sentence. Scarfoze was eager to get back and start working on his rap career. Tre explained to Scarfoze that he had no longer been pursue music and had concentrating on being a soldier. Scarfoze encouraged Tre to join him in the studio and they recorded a song together. “That experience of being back in the studio is the spark that re-ignited the flame”. Shortly after Scarfoze wound up back in prison. Despite that fact Tre Continued recording song after song until he was finished with his first Mixtape entitled “The Heart of the Dirty.”

In Jan 2010 Tre decided that it was now or never in regards to actively pursuing his dream. With the right tools in place his began to seek knowledge of the business by attending music conferences and seeking guidance from established artist within the Alabama rap community. One of these artists led him to the RW record pool in Birmingham Al where he met his publicist Maria Dockery. Through the direction of Maria’s company “The Prent Firm llc” Tre performed at countless open mics and showcases throughout the southeast region, as well as involving himself with “ BAMA HIP HOP NETWORK” a tour of historical black colleges performing football stadiums around the larger part of the southern united states. In doing so Tre furthered promotional I.Q while honing his stage presence and developing relationships with individuals in different markets. In September 2010 h