You can’t talk about West Coast rap without mentioning Compton. The hardened city streets are home to some of hip-hop’s greatest, from N.W.A. to Kendrick Lamar. Channel Tres, one of LA’s most buzzed-about talents, has everything it takes to join that roster. But first, he’s redefining the boundaries of modern-day dance music.
A seasoned beatmaker at his essence, Channel Tres has worked with Kehlani, SG Lewis and Tyler, the Creator, and toured with Thundercat. The musical polymath rose to fame with 2018’s “Controller,” a splendid union of techno and house, richly layered and accentuated by Tres’ deep baritone. He has since expanded his portfolio, marrying heady, Afrofuturistic and often hypnotic beats with West Coast G-funk flair.
Tres will spin a DJ set at Fergusons Downtown’s Freak the Beat party on October 28, with future funk producer Yung Bae headlining on October 29.
Tres doesn’t pass through Las Vegas very often, but when he does, he says it feels something like a homecoming. “When I was in college, my family, my mom and my grandma moved out there,” he says. “Every time I go, it’s like a family reunion. Everybody comes out.”
College also proved pivotal for the 31-year-old artist in another way: It’s when he first discovered house music. “It was something I could relate to,” he says. “Being a producer, I’m making trap beats, R&B, but when I started making dance music, it really stuck with me. It felt fun. I don’t want to say effortless, but it felt natural.”
The rapper, singer and producer studied such artists as Kanye West, Marvin Gaye, Pharrell, George Clinton and Prince to master his craft. The result is a catalog of prismatic grooves so texturally rich, you can almost touch them. And the race to experiment further is always on.
For instance, “Show Me Some Love,” a song Tres recorded with Chicago DJ Honey Dijon, demonstrates his playful side. “I tried to write it from the perspective of if I was a drag queen,” he says, “so I started doing all these funny voices, and I just got into it. It was a really fun track to just become another personality.”
The artist recently reunited with his roots on this year’s Refresh, an emotive instrumental beat tape he self-produced to get through a rough patch on last year’s tour. “I didn’t want to let those emotions die with me,” he says. “I wanted them to be released, and maybe something good would come out of it.”
It’s possible we’ll hear a few cuts off Refresh at Tres’ Fergusons set. Or perhaps we’ll get a sneak peek at his debut LP Real Cultural Sh*t, scheduled for December.
“It was something I was mumbling in the studio, because I was excited about a certain track I was making,” he says of the album title. “I was like, ‘This is real cultural sh*t. This is about me. This is about where I’m from.’ It’s what’s real to me at the time. Like right now, real cultural sh*t is playing Uno after a show every night.”
FREAK THE BEAT Ft. Channel Tres, Yung Bae & more, October 28-29, 7 p.m., $35-$50, Fergusons Downtown, freakthebeat.com.
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