Houston rapper Trae, aka Trae tha Truth, prides himself on telling it like it is.

He's known for his honesty about the streets, where his friends and family have been dying and going to jail for years. But his music has heart: He just finished playing a series of concerts for Texas inmates that he calls Hopefest and said he considers himself a role model for kids.

On his 2007 album Life Goes On, which made Billboard's top 20 R&B/Hip-Hop albums, he muses on Gittin' High: "I take it slow and live it one day at a time / And blow my thoughts out with this pen, instead of dro to ease a nigga mind / That ain't no knock on gettin' high homie / But I choose to live my life and kick it sober / checkin niggas who get fly homie."

Trae, born Frazier Thompson in 1980, recently ended a contract with Houston-based Rap-A-Lot Records and now considers himself a "free agent," working on several upcoming projects including a mix tape, a new album and a movie while on tour across the South this summer.

Born and raised in southwest Houston, Trae said he's always been interested in music but started focusing intensely on rap in 1998 after serving jail time for aggravated robbery. He's produced numerous solo and compilation albums and mix tapes since then.

He performs Saturday night at Tonix (part of The Lounge in College Station) along with Young Muhammad, P.O.B. and DJ Hella Yella. He'll also make an in-store appearance at Hastings in Bryan at 5 p.m. Saturday

"Nobody can tell you 'bout pain the way I can tell you 'bout pain," he raps on his 2007 album. It's that anguish, Trae said in a recent interview with Spotlight, that has been the source of his soul-searching lyrics.

Where do you get inspiration for the things you write about?

Most of my music is based on my life. Whatever situations I'm going through -- that's what I write about. ... You know I got my brother doing three life sentences ... and watching a lot of people get killed. I've been through all of it. I've seen everything. There ain't nothing really I haven't seen, I don't think.

How'd you get where you are today?

You know anything you do you supposed to try and be the best at it. So as years went by, I mean, it all came together. You know, I hustled until I couldn't hustle no more, which means my only means of living was I was gonna make this rapping work. That's what it came to. And I'm still hustling right now with the rapping because I don't know where I'm going, and ain't gonna stop until I can't do it no more. I'm going to keep going up the hill to dominate everything, I mean, because I represent the streets. And if I'm the one who put the streets on my back, or the city of Houston on my back, I can't let them down or myself, so I gotta keep going.

It sounds like you have a cause. Do you see yourself as a social activist?

Yeah, to an extent, but my cause is to be here for the streets through thick and thin, bad or worse. A lot of the kids are attracted to me because I'm kind of giving them guidance, letting them know what's going on with the streets.

What kind of guidance do you think your music offers to them?

I just let them know a lot of stuff I've been through, so it kind of prepares them to either go through it or prepares them to know what not to do. Statistics show that if you're moving too fast, you'll end up dead or in jail. Which I can say in my own case, that's what I was doing. I was actually moving too fast. I almost really messed myself up. Now I got to take my time and pay for some of my actions. ... Sometimes [kids] have nobody to be there for them, nobody they can reach out and talk to.

So you think rap music helps to keep people from repeating those same mistakes?

Yes, in both ways. It can make you repeat or it can make you not repeat. See, some people put the wrong feeling with their music -- they're out here tripping with themselves. My music is reality. It's probably as real as it's gonna get. It's not gonna tell you the cute way, it's not gonna tell you the pretty way. ... It just is what it is. That's why they call me Tha Truth, Trae the Truth. I do a lot of stuff on the streets. Like, I'm the first person to ever get inside the Texas prisons to do concerts.

How did you come up with that idea?

You know, when my brother got locked up, I always had to deal with the Texas Department of Corrections system. I wanted to take part. You know there's a lot of people in there who don't have families or anybody who's concerned about them. So I choose to be one of the people who are concerned. You know you got people in there who've got so much time they feel there's nothing left to live for. So we've got to give them the hope because, at the end of the day, God is concerned with their lives.

How did you convince them to let you go in there and perform?

I don't think it was us who convinced them. I know it was God. That's just something you know in your heart.

Is God a big part of your music?

God's a big part of just life itself, period. I mean he's way more on another scale than to say he's part of my music. But he's a part of everything I do. And the reason I'm saying that is he knows my heart, and he knows everything I do, so he's most definitely a part of everything that I do.

What do you think sets you apart from other Houston rappers?

The fact that people say I am Houston, the city of Houston is me because I perfectly represent it. So I'm cool with that.

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