Tray Chaney Tray Chaney
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TRAY CHANEY TRAY CHANEY 6 CHAPTER 7 I meet Tray Chaney on a Sunday night in the He is present in our conversation, but a part of [OL^H`P[KPK¹OL[LSSZTL¸;OL[Y\[OPZ0^HZU»[ BeTray – a story of his life in Forestville and his 0OHK[VYLL]HS\H[LT`SPML¹ consisting of Chaney rapping center-frame, deserted lounge of the Yotel on 57th Street OPTPZLUNHNLKLSZL^OLYLSPRLHWYPaLÄNO[LY prepared for that kind of fame. I didn’t know L_WLYPLUJLZVUThe Wire – often selling copies 0UOLNV[HJHSSMYVT+VU*V_[OH[^V\SK Q\_[HWVZLK^P[OMVV[HNLVMOPT[LUKPUN[VOPZ and 10th Avenue in Manhattan. It’s February, running through combinations on the night what to do with it. Once it ended, it ended, and out of the trunk of his car. change his career. They were old friends, and young son: zipping up his jacket, pouring him so the massive terrace is closed, and we’re before a title bout. I thought: my identity is kind of messed up now, *V_OHKHML^T\ZPJWYVQLJ[ZOL^HZ^VYRPUN a bowl of cereal. consigned to the bar, which is decorated with you know? I hadn’t come into myself. I didn’t “It’s all about getting out there and getting in on. ¸>LZOV[[OPZ]PKLVV\[VMV\YV^UWVJRL[Z¹ the chintzy futurism of a nightclub on Star Tomorrow he will appear on BET’s 106 & know what else to do. WLVWSL»ZMHJLZ¹ OL ZH`Z ¸,]LU PM `V\»YL UV[ he says. “We did this on our own. I took Trek: irregularly shaped molded plastic panels Park, a daily video countdown show and the NL[[PUN^VYR`V\NL[V\[[OLYL¹ “It’s hard for actors to transition into the music my career into my own hands. And for it to tile the ceiling above us, a beaded orange and channel’s top-rated program. He has heard ¸0U[OLTPKZ[VM[OH[UPUL[VÄ]L[OV\NO0^HZ NHTL¹*OHUL`HKTP[Z¸(UK0KLJPKLK[OH[PM blow up the way it did is one of the greatest purple curtain snakes across the room, and somewhere that as many as 20 million people still working at my dream. The whole time I was When the job at Howrey ended he moved to I’m going to be in the hip hop game, I’ve got L_WLYPLUJLZVMT`SPML0[^HZU»[WSHUULKSPRL [OL SPNO[PUN Ä_[\YLZ ZSV^S` JVU]\SZL [OYV\NO might be watching. building a fan base. I wrote a book, I wrote ([SHU[HHUKH\KP[PVULKMVYÄSTYVSLZL]LU[\HSS` to be saying something. The Wire was such a [OH[¹ endless navigations of the color wheel. Chaney music, and things started happening. People IVVRPUN H WHY[ PU H ÄST JHSSLK Masterminds, reality check for people – one of those shows and I settle on small leather cubes around a “You know, I was on The WireMVYÄ]L`LHYZ started responding. It was like a reality check: partially on the basis of the director’s familiarity where we gave you the reality of life that people The idea that making his musical debut to the shin-high plastic table. HUK0UL]LYNV[HJHSS[VILVU),;¹OLZH`Z I’ve got all this talent, I come from one of the with his work on HBO. ignored. So if I was going to make music, why world with a potentially controversial message “Right now I’m just trying to get my head biggest shows of all time, I just need to take UV[NP]LWLVWSL[OH[ZHTLYLHSP[`&¹ could be risky doesn’t seem to faze Chaney at I’d spoken with him on the phone a few days HYV\UK[OLPKLHVMTPSSPVUWLVWSL¹ HZOV[¹ “That kind of opened my eyes. He liked my all. earlier, so I’d had a chance to get over the work, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I start using *V_HUK*OHUL`LUSPZ[LKKPYLJ[VY3HTHY;`SLY surreal idea of sitting down with Poot from 106 & Park is doing a special episode Chaney grew up in Forestville, Maryland, just that?’ I’ve got a resume. After that I got MVY[OL¸-H[OLYOVVK¹]PKLVHSVUN^P[OHWHPY “The way I see it is, I’m not trying to criticize The Wire. Being one of those people who’ve dedicated to parenting, and Chaney will be minutes from downtown Washington, D.C., but another job on a movie called Streets. I re- of guest stars: Tray’s father, Sam Chaney Jr., fathers who aren’t there for their kids. I’m just watched the entire show more than once, WYVTV[PUN OPZ UL^ ZPUNSL ¸-H[OLYOVVK¹ H unlike his Baltimore doppelganger he had the introduced my book because all of a sudden I HUK OPZ Ä]L`LHYVSK ZVU 4HSHJOP ;OL ]PKLV [Y`PUN[VILHUPUZWPYH[PVU¹ I’d tripped out when I got a voicemail from spry hip-hop ode to paternal responsibility, fortune of a strong family network to help him was popping up on people’s radar, and I knew has an indie appeal, with much of the run time Chaney a few nights before: and its accompanying video. It will be a ÄUKKPYLJ[PVULHYS`PUOPZSPML coming-out party for Chaney and Firedrop “Yo, Gavin, what’s up. It’s Tray Chaney, Poot 9LJVYKZ[OLYLJVYKSHILSOLMVYTLK^P[O*V_ “My family is what inspired me to want to do from The Wire. I want to invite you to be my Their operation is fully grassroots, and thus far this. We would have big parties, and I always guest at BET’s 106 and ParkUL_[4VUKH`¹ the song has spread through word of mouth had to perform for everyone. No ifs, ands or and social networking, the buzz building buts, if there was a party, Tray was going to Even in his 30’s, a decade after the premiere of from a combination of the accessibility of the KHUJL¹ HBO’s groundbreaking drama about crime and message and the curiosity factor of a former punishment in the wastelands of Baltimore, Wire ensemble man making a play for post- /L^VUH[HSLU[ZOV^H[[OLHNLVMZP_HUKOPZ Chaney looks not far removed from the cocky, Wire recognition. uncle James started entering him in contests, VD-prone Poot Carr: sly, charming enough to eventually getting him an audition at the famous own a room even though he’s never in danger One of the few street-level characters to Apollo Theater. of being the tallest person in it. HWWLHY PU HSS Ä]L ZLHZVUZ VM [OL ZOV^ Chaney’s run was longer than most, but “We went to New York, competed on the His wife and a handful of other women occupy when it was over he faced many of the same Apollo, and I won. We went back three more a table not far from us, while his son, Malachi, struggles as his cast-mates. There were times and I kept winning, so we decided to go WSH`Z]PKLVNHTLZVUHULHYI`ZVMH+VU*V_ no agents knocking down his door, and for it. I traveled with my uncle all over – L.A., the sole member of the one-man professional Hollywood – with its notorious paucity of roles everywhere, all of it on our own dime. Just entourage Chaney’s brought from Maryland, for young black actors – did not come calling. O\Z[SPUNKVPUN^OH[L]LY^LOHK[VKV¹ brings me a glass of Hennessy. Chaney took a job in the mailroom at Howrey, [OL UV^KLM\UJ[ >HZOPUN[VU +* SH^ ÄYT Chaney’s approach to life after The Wire was We talk about New York for a little while, and where he worked for four years. LX\HSS` NYHZZYVV[Z /L YLSLHZLK TP_ [HWLZ a mutual friend in Baltimore, and before long I online. He booked speaking engagements begin to get the sense that Chaney is nervous. “No one was prepared for the show to kick off in support of his book, The Truth You Can’t 8 CHAPTER 9 A half hour before call, the producer, Terry, minutes later the show begins. in a triptych before the monitor, watching I will hear him use this line several times over slacks, buy a bottle of hair gel. I practice my comes in and gives him the rundown: he will through their cell phone cameras and worrying [OLUL_[ML^KH`ZIV[OWYP]H[LS`HUKVUHPYHUK ¸(IZVS\[LS`¹*OHUL`HNYLLZ¸-VYYLHS¹ winning agent-smile in the mirror and rehearse have nine and a half minutes, including the We gather around the monitor as hosts Rocsi that the Trip disaster will affect the main event, each time it sounds more like an artful dodge a few vaguely credible lines in case I’m pressed. time it takes to play the video, and does he Diaz and Terrence Jenkins come out to wild though it turns out to be a blessing: when the – even Chaney’s positive message bears an We’re all silent for a moment as he looks 0Z[VWH[;14H__VUT`^H`[V),;HUK[Y` know what he’s going to say? They talk about applause from the audience, and immediately show resumes, it is obvious the audience is implicit criticism, and history has shown that across the room at Malachi, scaling the back on a few ten-dollar ties before deciding I’d be the iTunes bump, and she urges him to “hit strike meaningful poses as they introduce cheerfully relieved to see Chaney come out THRPUN[OVZLJYP[PJPZTZL_WSPJP[PZKHUNLYV\ZS` of a modish brown leather couch with his better served spending the money on whiskey. [OH[;^P[[LYHJJV\U[¹ today’s special episode – “Young, Single and with his high-wattage grin and Jean-Michel impolitic.