TMG FRE$H is here to tell his story, one banger at a time. The Bay Area native recently released his new single “VLONE,” showcasing his versatility as both a singer and rapper.
The corresponding visual sees the Bay Area native dripped down in all-white, living the fast life surrounded by beautiful females.
The record arrives after the recent incident where FRE$H suffered from an unfortunate incident outside his home in Los Angeles, which ended in a significant loss.
But of course, the show must go on, and TMG FRE$H pours his heart and soul into the microphone. Growing up in Oakland gave him a sense of resilience, one that pours into his career in both music and film. To date, he’s written and directed many independent films, even planning to manage professional fighters in the near future.
AllHipHop: What part of the Bay are you from?
TMG FRE$H: I grew up in the East Bay and Berkeley area, then went to high school in Piedmont. I came to LA in 2014.
AllHipHop: Talk about your home studio in your crib, I see the purple lights!
TMG FRE$H: I like the colored lights, it adds to the atmosphere. I don’t have any equipment yet, I just moved in. I got the walls built out but I’m waiting on my equipment.
AllHipHop: When did you realize you could do music yourself?
TMG FRE$H: I felt like I wanted to try it, so I called my boy Southside up. I said “Southside, can I come record a song at your house?” He said “sure.” I went to his house and recorded my first song on 808 Mafia beats, he walked me through how to structure the hook and the verse. I ended up recording 3 songs that night. From there, I wanted to keep doing it.
A week or two later, it was All-Star weekend in LA. We’re all out at the club, the Migos were hosting a big event. I had slipped the DJ a little money to play the song I’d just recorded. He played it, we all turned up to it. That s### was live, having my song playing in the club. After that, I was really motivated to keep recording and I decided to do it for real.
AllHipHop: How did you originally meet SouthSide?
TMG FRE$H: It was through my friend Luxury Tax, that’s his boy. We’re always hanging out, always going out to the club together and kicking it. That’s my friend before I was even doing music.
AllHipHop: Who were your favorite artists growing up?
TMG FRE$H: My all-time favorite is Jay-Z for sure, both musically and Jay-Z the mogul. He’s what I aspire to be like. Being a boss all around not only for himself, but putting other people in position. That’s always been a thing I cared a lot about: trying to put other people in a position to win as well. Build an empire, go beyond an artist myself. Jay Z, Kanye, Drake, I f### with Post Malone a lot. New artists, I really like Saint JHN. I really like Kid Laroi.
AllHipHop: You on that R&B tip too?
TMG FRE$H: Yeah, I always say where R&B and rap meet at a borderline right there. That trap R&B.
AllHipHop: How does cannabis improve your life?
TMG FRE$H: I’m not a huge smoker, but I like those gummies because I can control how high I’ma get. They got the little 5mg so I know if I take one, I’ma feel this way. If I take 2, I’ll feel that way. I know exactly how high I’ma get. I like f###### with the gummies, it helps me mellow out sometimes.
AllHipHop: I’d think you’d have more control smoking.
TMG FRE$H: I don’t know how it’ll affect me since I don’t smoke much. I might hit it once or twice and end up really high because I don’t really smoke. The weed will be different levels of strengths but with the gummies, you’ll know exactly what the strength is.
AllHipHop: Does it help you creatively?
TMG FRE$H: Nah, I can’t record off of it. When I smoke, I go into my little shell.
AllHipHop: What does it mean to have “VLONE” out? I know it comes from a vulnerable place.
TMG FRE$H: It’s dope. It’s the first of many to come out this spring, this year. It’s important to put a song out that addressed what I dealt with over the past year. It’s a real introduction, this is me. I’ma let y’all a little bit into my world and things I’ve dealt with. It’s dope, it’s exciting to have it out. I think people like it, I’ve gotten a lot of positive responses from it which is always dope.
AllHipHop: Where was the video shot?
TMG FRE$H: For the video, we had to do Covid testing before. We had a Covid compliance officer on set. Somebody who‘d been around me had tested positive for Covid. I tested negative, so I couldn’t be on set. I had to direct it from home with a monitor and be on Zoom at the same time directing it from home. We had to get a double to play me, then we had to go shoot the second day with green screen. It was a different, kind of difficult experience shooting it. Overall, it’s an interesting thing to have gone through as far as advancing my skills as a director. It’s one more thing I can say I’ve done and made it through.
AllHipHop: You have Jeremih on your forthcoming project, Margiela Language. How did you guys tap in?
TMG FRE$H: I met Jeremih through this producer I was working with, BongoByTheWay. He was working on a whole project with Jeremih at the time. I had the base of the song “Top Down,” but I was really needing something to take it to that next level. We came up with the idea of seeing if Jeremih would be down to hop on It. Bongo linked us, Jerimih f##### with it. He came in, did the hook, wrote a verse. It became something dope. It’s about to be song of the summer.
AllHipHop: What’s the reality of the independent grind?
TMG FRE$H: S###, it’s a grind. You really gotta try and fail, that’s the main thing. You gotta try, you gotta fail in order to figure it out. You gotta keep pushing and keep going towards where you’re trying to go. As long as you continue to push forward, you’re never going to lose. You only lose when you stop trying. Push forward, learn from mistakes, and always trying to be better.
AllHipHop: What does TMG stand for?
TMG FRE$H: Transcend Music Group. I wanted the art to transcend being the basic thing. I wanted to transcend and be something bigger.
AllHipHop: Anything else you’d like to let the people know?
TMG FRE$H: Margiela Language coming soon. “Late Night” song and video coming soon, be on the lookout!