Why Trey? Why someone who was more visible on BET than MTV (my personal network of choice at the time) why someone who sold 40K units in his first week (if you’re a numbers person) why someone who wasn’t attached to a big name like Jay Z or wasn’t formally in a boy band or didn’t have a top ten hit on Billboard Hot 100 his first time out – why was “I Gotta Make It” blessed with such a great replay factor, to my ears?Ĭontinue reading Stuck In The Moment: Revisiting “I Gotta Make It” By Trey Songz, Ten Years Later → After Further Review Atlantic Records debut album I Gotta Make It Petersburg R&B Songbook Entertainment ten year anniversary Trey Songz Trey's Angels Troy Taylor Virginiaįirst off, congratulations to the Songbook camp, Atlantic Records, and Mr. My navy blue and electric green Sony Walkman housed all of these discs in rotation but Trey’s debut album quickly became one of three albums I played to get me through the roughest time in my life. It wasn’t until December of 2005 that I revisited Trey as an artist after becoming intrigued earlier that year my attention had been spread incredibly thin between solo efforts and debuts from the likes of Omarion, Keyshia Cole, Rihanna and Chris Brown, among others – 2005 was extremely active for R&B. It was admirable, but more importantly it was different from what everyone else was doing at the time. His first impression? A mid tempo storytelling tune about a man who needed the moral support of a woman as he fought to conquer the world by any means other than a regular 9-5.
In a time where artists like Omarion, Ne-Yo and newcomer Chris Brown were dominating the scene with snazzy choreography paired with R&B music, Trey Songz kept it pretty simple: he didn’t dance, his wardrobe wasn’t flashy, and he didn’t burst onto the scene with an uptempo or a smoldering ballad. While it opened to a lukewarm reception, IGMI would prove to be the start of something bigger, for Trey and for the fans who came along for the ride. His name was Trey Songz and he titled the project “I Gotta Make It”. He was tall, brown and skinny with cornrows and a passionate singing face made for meme gold. On July 26, 2005, the debut album of an R&B crooner hailing from Petersburg, Virginia was released.