Jail gives a man plenty of time to think. During his recent stint in jail, Troy Ave conceived a plan to sign to Top Dawg Entertainment as soon as he was released, emboldened by words of support he received from Kendrick Lamar. He shared the story in "Truth Be Told PSA," the 32-minute commentary track to his new mixtape NuPac.
According to Ave, the idea became lodged in his head after Lamar contacted him through a mutual friend. "He said something to the effect of, 'I see what you're going through, man. Send my love,'" Ave recalled. He started plotting a possible future with TDE and got in touch with his then-manager Hovain. (Ave and Hovain had a falling out; "Truth Be Told PSA" is in part a Hovain diss track.) "I said, 'Yo, put the plan in action, man. We gonna go out West when I come home and we gonna sign with TDE.'"
"I always liked what they was doing," he continued. "They kinda independent like us, but way bigger because they went and got with a major. They got shit that I like to see, like loyalty and unity, that type of shit. Cool. I give [Hovain] the whole play. Of course, he can't make that happen at all. At all. He doesn't make it happen. The whole shit just fell through."
Listen to Troy Ave's TDE story at the 14:45 mark above.