EMCEE P.O.E.T.R.E.Y.
At thirteen years old, Trey, alongside his classmates listened to a Holocaust survivor recount her story. She looked at him, rolled up her sleeve showing the number tattooed on her arm, and gave a young boy a responsibility he would carry for the rest of his life.
“You have the power—and the responsibility—to make sure this never happens again.”
Trey, now known as EMCEE P.O.E.T.R.E.Y., recalls that moment vividly: “She saw me and believed that I—a young Black boy—had not only the responsibility, but the power to make sure that injustice like that never happened again.”
That moment became a defining empowering spark that would shape the course of his life.
Trey was born and raised in Los Angeles amongst a vibrant blend of Chinese, Latino, and Black cultures. Teachers, mentors, and church leaders from many walks of life shaped his belief in loving one’s neighbor and honoring our shared humanity beyond race, creed, or nationality. But during the Righteous Conversations Project at age thirteen, those values crystallized. Hearing the survivor’s story and being entrusted with her message planted the seed of his life’s mission: to build bridges and rehumanize one another across divides.
Around that same time, Trey encountered freestyle rap at church camp. He began experimenting with storytelling through rhyme—sometimes even rapping through historical narratives. Inspired by projects like the Hamilton Mixtape before the play became a global phenomenon, he saw hip hop as a form of modern-day griot storytelling. “That’s when I realized what I wanted to be,” he says. “An emcee, a poet, a storyteller.” Rather than following the energy of radio-driven gangster rap, Trey gravitated toward artists like The Roots, Common, and Mos Def, whose music blended lyricism, social consciousness, and humanity.
That mission eventually led him to Music in Common, a nonprofit that brings together Black, White, Israeli Palestinian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities and many others through collaborative music and dialogue. After moving to Atlanta in 2020 for an internship, Trey became a full-time Program and Project Manager, designing workshops, concerts, and artist residencies that use music to bridge cultural divides.
Finding Soul Food Cypher felt like another homecoming. The circle’s spirit of peace, love, unity, and joy mirrored the values he had experienced through Music in Common. “When I first pulled up, I felt like I hit the lottery,” Trey says. The cypher not only sharpened his freestyle skills but helped him fully embrace his voice. Mentors like Anon The Griot encouraged him to lean into his identity as a poet. “Your job is to rap like you, no one else. You’re a poet.” Every time he steps into the cypher he blends unique perspectives into captivating stories with the skill and delivery of a natural poet. Trey had spent years creating spaces for others to grow in their creativity, but now through SFC Next, he finally found a laboratory for him to develop his craft and a family of artists committed to using Hip Hop to uplift their communities. Looking ahead, he envisions a lifelong journey with Soul Food Cypher, dreaming of hosting cyphers alongside his future children and using his gifts to help the organization flourish.
For EMCEE P.O.E.T.R.E.Y., every freestyle is a chance to reconnect people—to remind listeners of their shared humanity and inspire hope and peace in the moment. His name truly says it all:
“Peace On Earth Takes Reconnecting Everybody to Yourself”