The DMV area was one that was long overlooked in hip-hop through its first 30 or so years, but in the early 2010s, it rose in prominence and has been climbing ever since thanks to the efforts of rappers like Wale, IDK, Rico Nasty, and Shy Glizzy. However, one of Washington DC’s foremost pioneers had been missing out on the region’s boom.
Fat Trel, who first broke out in 2012 thanks to his Nightmare On E Street mixtape, spent much of the latter half of the 2010s in prison due to a string of arrests and possession of a weapon. Now, he’s out and looking to restart his career in earnest with the mixtape Nightmare On E Street 2. He details his impending comeback in a new mini-documentary titled The Road To Nightmare On E Street 2.
Trel was initially locked up in 2016 for using counterfeit currency and driving while intoxicated. In 2018, though, he was arrested for possession of a so-called “ghost gun” and sentenced in 2021 to two years and six months in federal prison (he was released later that year thanks to time served). After a probation violation in December, he served out another 11 months before being released in November.
The documentary details Trel’s love for music and recommitment to the art form as he works to stay out of trouble and enjoy the fruits of his labor as DC, Maryland, and Virginia finally start to see more popularity. Trel’s peers like Shy Glizzy and Wale appear in the doc, as he recounts his rise to stardom and expresses his hopes for the future.
Watch The Road To Nightmare On E Street 2 above.
Fat Trel is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.