Trent James

Trenton James Looney was born in Austin, Texas on August 11, 1993. known professionally as Trent James, is an American rapper, producer, song writer, record executive, and entrepreneur. Noted for his distinctive voice, producing his own instrumentals and his production style.
Beginning his musical career in 2016 by independently releasing music to YouTube|Youtube and SoundCloud|Soundcloud, Trent released his first debut Album|studio album Been Trill; He subsequently gained notoriety throughout Texas and released and EP titled Free Hec. Shortly after the release of his EP, Trent was sentenced to a 2 year prison sentence, returning from incarceration June 18, 2018. On October 14, 2018, not long after regaining his freedom, Trent released his second album Above The Water . After releasing his second album, Trent went on a two month tour throughout the United States. Following the return of his tour, Trent invested in his own studio and began making his own beats for his music. Trent released a fully self-produced album called Pay Me Extra, on July 16, 2020 featuring his first Latin / English song "Mi Vida". 
In 2020 Trent released The Price We Pay For Brighter Days, which featured the worldwide streamed singles "BAG Mafia", "Bella Tiralo".
== Early Life ==
Trenton James Looney was born on August 11, 1993 in Austin, Texas, to his American parents Courtney Skaggs and John Looney and grew up in Austin, Texas. Trent's mother and father separated shortly after his birth. He is a child of 3, who was raised mostly by his mother. He attended public schooling throughout his childhood. Trent was allegedly kidnapped by his father at the age of 10 who claimed "We were on summer vacation" and was classified Missing person|missing for over a year. The police located and tracked his father, to find Trent riding in a car with his father through San Diego|San Diego, California. The police pulled over and arrested his father resulting in Trent going to a Foster care|foster home, where he waited for his mother to receive the news and travel from Texas to remove him from the home. Trent stated "I remember my dad telling me we were going on vacation for the summer, (laughing) not really sure if I was actually kidnapped". He also mentioned "Me and my dad are still close to this day, never was hurt or harmed by the man, it did seem like vacation the whole time, I think he just improperly handled his emotions and anger towards the world and my mother." After his return to Texas with his mother, Trent got enrolled to Fulmore middle school|Fulmore Middle School, where he played on the A team for basketball as a starting point guard. He remained in public school until dropping out of Stephen F. Austin High School (Austin, Texas)|Stephen F. Austin High School in eleventh grade. Roughly one year later, he re enrolled in Del Valle High School (Travis County, Texas)|Del Valle High School, where he graduated and obtained his General Educational Development|GED, just before the birth of his first son.
== Career ==
=== 2016-2018: Early Beginnings===
in 2016, Trent released his first debut Album|studio album Been Trill, along with releasing the music video to the single "Been Trill" on YouTube|Youtube. The music video was shot at The Landing Strip, a strip club located in East Austin. During an interview Trent told a Vents magazine|Vents magazine reporter "I play a very important role in a reality most people don’t even know exists. My name gold in the streets I do what I want in the spot." Due to Trent's activity in the streets, in late 2016, he was sentenced to almost two years in a Texas prison, for large amounts of Cannabis (drug)|marijuana, where he spent his time wisely. Trent claims "I spent most of my time learning, studying, growing mentally and physically." Following his release from prison, in 2018, he released his second album Above The Water, landing him a mixtape placement for his song "For The Love of Money". His track was placed on the mixtape called TEXASSTARLIST MADE IT, along side several renown Texas hip hop artists such as Bun B, ESG (band)|ESG, Megan Thee Stallion|Meg The Stallion, Moneybagg Yo, Trae tha Truth|Trae The Truth, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Baby Bash, Lil' Flip|Lil Flip and Trapboy Freddy. On November 20, 2018, Trent was performing in Austin Texas when he was scouted by a tour management company called GMSH. The owner of the company offered Trent to open up on the tour for Cash Money Records's artist Cory Gunz. However, Cory Gunz|Corey Gunz ended up dropping from the tour leaving Trent to headline on his first national tour. The tour lasted through November and December of 2018.
=== 2019-2020: Pay Me Extra ===
In 2019 Trent released his single "Kosher" along with the music video to the song on YouTube|Youtube, he also released several singles and several music videos. In 2020 he released a collab album with Doc Sic called The Only Way. (which was released 1-17-2020). “A pain driven expression of life in the streets”. On July 16, 2020, Trent released the album Pay Me Extra. The whole album was written, recorded & produced by Trent James himself. The album featured his very first Spanish / English single "Mi Vida". In July 2020 Trent also launched his merchandise line.
=== 2021-Present: The Price We Pay For Brighter Days ===
In 2021, As Medium highlighted, Trent managed to push his streams into 180 countries across the world. He released his third self produced album Apr 16, 2021, The Price We Pay For Brighter Days. It is a 10 track album, based off the struggle and pain of certain lifestyles. The album also featured the single "Bella Tiralo", Trent's second Spanish / English song. He followed the release of the song by releasing the music video on Youtube. The video went viral throughout the latin / dance culture.
 
Category:Music
Category:Hip hop
Category:Songwriters