Trae Tha Truth suffered injuries, but is doing alright after being shot early Wednesday morning (June 20) outside a strip club in Houston. He spoke on the incident for the first time with XXL.

“I'm not sure exactly what the altercation was necessarily about, but long story short, whatever transpired, they ran in my direction, so in the process of running in my direction, that kind of had everybody in the open,” Trae told XXLMag.com about the incident, which took place outside of Scores Cabaret. “So as the altercation came my way, shots were being dispersed, but since it was coming our direction, it was a crowd of people. Everybody was wrong place, wrong time.”

During the chaos, he was shot in the back, and had to be taken to the hospital. “As far as my condition, I'm in the healing process, tryin' to figure out how to get this bullet removed,” he said, adding that, all things considered, he's doing alright. “The bullet's still in my shoulder. They changing bandages now and it's still bleeding.”

According to MyFoxHouston, the Houston rapper was one of five people shot in the early morning hours on June 20—three of whom died from the gunshot wounds. Houston's KTRK TV reported that more than twenty shots were fired, and two males and one female were pronounced dead at the scene. Trae says he knew some of the fallen.

“One of 'em, most definitely, was part of the ABN family,” he continued, referncing his Assholes By Nature crew. “My brother, who got killed on Thanksgiving, Clip, his nephew was killed. And one of my peoples, an upcoming rapper from Houston, Cal Wayne, one of his people got killed, too. She was amongst the innocent bystanders. And then I was shot and somebody else was shot. It was just crazy, man.”

Almost immedately, the police wanted to speak with the rapper about what went down. “The crazy thing is, homicide took me directly from the hospital,” he said. “They weren't really thinkin' about what people was going through. It's always negativity when you come in and you somebody in my stature, so they feel like it's something extra going on, when all the while, the situation ain't have nothin' to do with what we had goin' on. We was doing a concert, leaving the club.”

Still, though he says he had nothing to do with the incident, he understands that his being a rapper will be included in all the headlines. “I watched the news out here yesterday, and people was comin' out the woodworks with all this, 'This 'cause of hip-hop,'” he lamented. “Muthafuckas don't even know the situation. I was an innocent goddam bystander. People always make shit more than what it is. That's why I haven't talk to nobody [in the media] about the shit. I had news people showing up at my doorstep.”

“I don't even entertain that negative shit," he added. "I been in the negative life so long, I'm trying to move forward. The bad things are having to watch those who were killed, who got kids, having to deal with that. That's a real fucked up thing.”

He has received an outpouring of support, he says, for which he is grateful: “At the same time, I have received a lot of support throughout the industry. Immediately. Yo Gotti called me when I was in the hospital. Trey Songz hit me. Rick Ross hit me. 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Lupe. Meek Mill. Waka. Really, 98 percent of the industry called me already and been real supportive, let me know, if I need anything [they were there]. Of course Tip been real supportive, that's my brother. A lot of people been checking on me and seeing what's needed.”

As things settle, Trae's mind and heart are focused on the loved ones of those who passed away from the shooting. “I'm not even really worried about me,” he admitted. “My heart goes out to the kids that got to deal with losing. Of course, it's always a painful thing for us to experience it, but it's even harder on a kid. My youngest son, Houston, when he got to see me for the first time afterwards, he's seeing his father with slings and bandages and blood comin' out of him. That type of stuff make kids go hysterical. They not used to it. I had to sit down and explain it to him.”

The raspy-voiced rhymer's annual Trae Day is still scheduled to go down next month. “It is on the way,” he promised of the community gathering. “One thing with me, I'm not gonna let nothin' stop me or deter me. I gotta stay focused and keep my eyes down the path I envisioned. Whatever comes, I still gotta stay focused, 'cause I gotta be here for the people.”

Stay tuned as more details become available. —Adam Fleischer (@AdamXXL)

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