Mississippi rapper Mac Tree is using music to motivate and elevate his hometown.
There’s a saying that states that strong men are forged in the fire while lesser men are privileged to light the flame. For Mississippi-born rapper Mac Tree, nothing could be closer to the truth. Born in Grenada, Mississippi, Tree was raised in the heart of the Mississippi Delta where the legacy of enslavement, sharecropping, and convict leasing still looms over the state’s head. As a youth, he played the streets, selling drugs to provide for his family until they eventually incarcerated him in one of the South’s most notorious prisons, Parchman.
After paying his debt to society, Mac got on his grind, establishing his own independent label, Minds of Billionaires, and becoming an independent juggernaut. Five years into rap and Mac is poised to become one of the game’s most influential stars. But there’s more to his story than simply savvy strategy and musical talent. His story is as rich and fulfilling as the soil he grew out of, the same soil that made him Tree.
“I’m from Mississippi. It’s important for me to claim that and open up doors and opportunities for other artists from Mississippi. We ain’t got a lot of heroes. I’m the hero, says Tree.
“Grenada has a lot of history. From the Dixie Mafia to how close we are to where Emmitt Till was killed… we are in the deep south. You can literally ride by and see the cotton fields, adds Tree.
Lodged in the middle of Mississippi’s Delta area, Grenada’s median income of $33,226 is less than the national average of $65, 712 besides the city’s poverty rate of 28.2% which rivals the national average of 12.3. It was in these dire conditions that Mac was born and raised. Raised primarily by his grandmother, Mac reflects on his childhood as “bittersweet”, reflecting on the love he received from his family despite the poverty and instability he was raised in.
”We were blessed, but we were broke, says Tree. I was going through different things. I lived with my grandmother and then my aunt while my mother struggled with drugs.”
Family instability caused Tree to have to move around, and so he spent his formative years in Grenada, admiring the hustlers who seemed to be immune to the money issues that plagued everyone else. During his 9th grade year, Tree moved to Coldwater, Mississippi, where he got his secondary education in the streets selling drugs. As a high school student, Tree became known for hustling in the streets, racking up several charges before his senior year all while his mother struggled to shake off the addictions plaguing her.
“By the time I got to Coldwater, that’s when I really started selling drugs. I started hustling and going to jail. I had my third felony by my senior year of high school. I graduated still, and then from there went to Memphis.”
Mac’s time in Memphis only built up his education, showing him to become a bigger player in a bigger market. Mac lived in South Memphis for a few years, increasing his street reputation and networking with the city’s players on the music scene. Mac’s aunt frequently encouraged Tree to rap, giving him the nickname “Jay-Z” to reference his mogul mindset, but it remained an afterthought. The allure of the streets guided his decisions and so Mac continued hustling until he was arrested at 21 and sentenced to serve nine years behind bars at Mississippi’s infamous state prison, Parchman.
Parchman Prison, in Parchman, Mississippi, is one of the South’s most infamous prisons. Created in 1901 following the end of Reconstruction, the penitentiary used the convict leasing program to facilitate the area’s development, charging black men with bogus charges of loitering and vagrancy to justify using their labor during the state’s sharecropping stage. Tree found himself incarcerated from 2007 to 2016, serving seven years at Parchman before finishing his last two at another institution.
“To be honest, when I found out I was going to Parchman, I got scared.”
Unwilling to give up, Tree spent his time behind bars focusing on his next career, which would be music. Seeing the ascent of street rap while behind bars coupled with the death of his aunt motivated Tree to take rap seriously. While behind bars, he read books and plotted a music takeover.
Creating his own label, Minds of Billionaires or M.O.B., he flipped the narrative of the word, appropriating it to reflect the desire to elevate his community to become money and business oriented.
“When I was in jail a couple of things affected me. My aunt died. She always wanted me to rap. I knew when she died I would rap. I told myself when I got out I would put the pedal to the medal.”
In 2015, Tree was released from prison. He spent the next year cleaning up his life, helping his mother get situated and stable while steadying his mind and money for his musical debut.
“I got out in 2015, but I had to get stuff together. I didn’t want to be a broke rapper. Once I bought my momma a house in 2016, I dropped my first tape, Out of the Blue, in 2017. By then I also dropped my first song with Moneybagg Yo. That’s when people knew I’d be a problem.”
The momentum he generated from the collaboration showed his immediate friend group and his city that he was serious about music and that he could do it. Out of the Blue became one of the most successful mixtapes online, generating thousands of streams on sites like Spinrilla. “I dropped it on the top of the pages. I was at the top of Spinrilla and Livemixtapes and it got a lot of comparisons and good feedback.”
Tree was focused, but noticed that he was spending money at an unsustainable rate. Feeling as if he needed to take control of the business operations of his brand, he stepped back for a minute, devoting time from 2017 to 2021 towards learning the finer points of finance and marketing. As an indie artist, Tree knew he couldn’t afford to move the way major labels did.
“I had to learn the business. When I first got in the game, I paid people to handle my business paperwork and then I said I gotta learn the business because I’m spending real money out here.”
From there, he changed his strategy, opting to flood the streets with singles while he built his base. Aside from building his brand, Tree had to make sure he kept his cash flow consistent to allow him to land the notable features he needed to increase his brand.
In the time span since he first debuted, Tree has worked with a range of artists including Money Bagg Yo, Drumma Boy on “It’s Up”, “Expensive” featuring Future, “Papi” featuring Duke Duece and T-Pain. Noticing the energy of the industry, Tree pivoted from how traditional videos were done and opted to shoot his video with Future in 3D.
“I put the industry on notice. I did the cartoon video to hit them with a different vibe. I saw everyone going one way and I went the other.”
Tapping into the demand of consumers in the Metaverse, Tree released a few singles from Out of the Blue 2 as 3D videos, including Expensive, It’s Up, and Papi.
His most recent project, I’m Not a Role Model, takes Tree’s vision even further. Spearheaded by the single and video, “Out the Mud”, Tree uses his platform to dissuade kids from following his examples in the streets.
”You don’t want to go through what I went through. I’m not a role model. Rappers really aren’t role models. But I’m probably closer to a role model than some of these people. The cartoons are for kids. I can influence them to do something different and better. Other people sugarcoat it but not me.”
Tree has experienced everything a person could experience in a lifetime, but he can’t rest until he accomplishes what he came for, which is putting Mississippi at the forefront of the music conversation.
“I’m putting my all into this, but it’s about me opening the door for Mississippi more than anything. I had to make a goal bigger than me to keep me focused. We got a lot of talent down here. We got more to talk about than violence and the music industry needs it.”
Wright World 