Trae tha Truth Unearths Pimp C Audio Accusing H-Town Radio of “Reverse Payola”

Houston MC Trae Tha Truth appeared on The Morning After with Angela Yee on Shade 45 yesterday morning (September 21) to talk about his ban from H-Town’s only hip-hop radio station, 97.9 The Box. During the sit-down, the hometown hero brought along some incriminating audio from the late Pimp C that he believes can discredit the station's project manager, Terri Thomas.

In the audio an outspoken Pimp sounds upset with Thomas who, at the time, he claims was trying to strong arm him into a performance, allegedly using a call to his parole officer as a threat. “Bitch, you can't never think... You gon' ever think young Pimp gon' come somewhere for free and open up for some nigga. Man, you got me fucked all the way up,” he said in reference to Terri. “That bitch threatened to send me back to the penitentiary maybe, 'cause I told her I wouldn't open up for Baby and Wayne. Now I love Baby and Wayne but do you think UGK supposed to open up for anybody in the city of Houston?" [Listen here]

Trae leaked the audio in advance of the release of his Can’t Ban the Truth mixtape, which he hopes will lift the veil off the behind-the-scenes dealings at The Box, which Pimp C described as “reverse payola.”

“It’s an eye-opener,” Trae told XXLMag.com in reference to the Pimp C audio. “It did exactly what I thought it was gon' do. A lot of people don’t know that these situations occur or how serious it really is. When you hearing it from me, it’s one thing, but when you hearing it from Pimp that’s another thing. It shows that this ain’t a one-time thing. It’s shows that it’s something that’s been going on and needs to be brought to the attention of people so people can know what’s going on.”

Can’t Ban the Truth will also feature audio from Pimp C’s mother, as well as Trae's new song “What It Is?,” a defiant song that shows he doesn’t plan on censoring himself anytime soon, as he ends the track with the declaration, “They breaking the code, I could give a fuck who turn they back on me... it could be radio, it could be fans, it ain’t no loyalty... tell them to see me when they see me nigga. You can’t ban me!”

As previously reported, Trae is currently involved in a legal battle with The Box and its parent company Radio One, specifically general manager Doug Abernathy, program manager Terri Thomas and radio personality Nnete Inyangumia, after his music was taken out of rotation. Trae believes the ban stems from comments he made about Inyangumia, following her accusations that he was responsible for a shooting incident at last year's Trae Day event.

He filed for, but was denied a temporary injunction on the station on May 14. Since then, Trae has run into a lot of problems getting support from other Houston-based rappers. Representation from these artists were notably absent from Trae’s third annual Trae Day—an honor given to the rapper by Houston’s City Hall for his charitable works in the community. “In the industry it’s a lot of cowards,” Trae explained to Yee on The Morning After. “Niggas ain’t built to stand up like that so with that being said, I chose to sacrifice myself to jump out there and let them know, look, for the few real ones that still out there, I ain’t gon' let you handle us like that.”

Despite a lack of support Trae remains steadfast. “They ain’t responded to one comment, one blogger, to one writer, period," he says "They trying to just ignore it... I’m not gon' stop. I ain’t never been a quitter, I’ve always been a fighter.”

Can’t Ban The Truth is set for release September 28. —Brooklyne Gipson