Just in the past year alone, there’s been an impressive (and welcome) rise of AAPI representation in Austin’s music scene, chiefly in the sector of R&B/pop/hip-hop. And we’re not just referring to promqueen, francene rouelle, or anyone else in that mHART roster.

No, we’re talking about ttt, pronounced “Triple-T”. Vocalist-songwriter Trung Tran was born in Vietnam and raised in Houston, where the city’s distinct hip-hop character found its way into Tran’s creative course. After soaking up the narrative strategies and verbal styles of heavyweights like Travis Scott, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar, Tran first stepped out as ttt at the turn of the pandemic with a few singles leading up to his debut EP See Me Walk that November. Since then he’s kept a steady pace of releases, including the 2021 mixtape Trungo x Chief Rafif and four standalone single collaborations from last year.

That’s all been building up to ttt’s sophomore EP The Line, dropping April 11th. The first lead, “Runaway” came out at the end of February, flaunting a best-of blend between Toro y Moi and Yung Bae. And today ttt’s given us an exclusive first listen to the record’s title track, “The Line”. A sparse, processed breakbeat sets the tempo and Spanish guitar sets the tone for ttt to sprint all the way to “The Line”‘s finish with melodic raps, sung ad-libs, and overall just a great sense of youthful, modern, and urban energy.

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