It’s a testament to consistency, and hard work, and just never giving up when obstacles come your way,” he says. I Can’t Go Outside is the first project Tres has crafted without a performance in mind, and knowing live shows are out of the question for a while, he decided to leave his longtime apartment and purchase his first home - a major milestone, especially considering the struggles of his past. “I’m just showing myself really bored and not having anything to do, so I put a leaf on my face.” I wanted to learn how to do the Rubik’s Cube,” he details. At first, boredom was a main source of inspiration - especially for the groovy lead single “ Skate Depot” and the project’s cover art, which sees Tres’s face peeking through a giant banana leaf. Channel Tres immediately got to work on I Can’t Go Outside, a seven-track set inspired by quarantine and the anxiety, loneliness, and global chaos he’s endured during it. After years of constant touring (and picking up fans like Elton John along the way), the musician found himself stuck inside just like the rest of us. By the time his debut single “ Controller” dropped in 2018, Channel Tres was already primed for success.įast forward to 2020. after college, began working as a touring DJ, and quickly found himself creating music in rooms with Kehlani, Duckwrth, Wale, and more. Feeling marginalized by his environment, he fled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to study music at Oral Roberts University, working night shifts at Chick-fil-A to stay afloat. By his late teens, Tres was left unhoused and reliant on welfare. Raised by his grandparents, Tres left high school early after his grandfather’s death to take care of his grandmother, who later passed as well. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the musician born Sheldon Young immersed himself in the music of his church choir at a young age, later learning the drums and taking dance classes at one point, he even joined a krumping group. “It’s really easy sometimes when you’re doing music, or maybe any job, to ignore different problems you have because you could just fly somewhere and forget about it, but during this time I haven’t been able to ignore anything. In the absence of touring, which has always been the main driver of his creative process, Tres has been forced to take a closer look at his surroundings. “This is kind of the first time I’ve been able to sit down for this long and not be on a plane or going somewhere else,” the 29-year-old tells MTV News over a phone call, mere hours before his project dropped on December 10. In fact, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he’d never really taken a break. Instead, he’s on his sixth hour in the studio, already working on his next project, for which he says this one is “just the precursor.” It’s that mighty work ethic and a dedication to honing his craft that have taken Tres all over the world - on tour with Robyn and Childish Gambino - as an independent artist with just a couple of EPs under his belt. On the evening ahead of the release of his third EP, I Can’t Go Outside, you’d think Compton hip-house musician and producer Channel Tres would be getting ready to celebrate.
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