Topeka, Kansas artist T-Rell delivers an uplifting message “Letter to Jordan” to his son who has Down syndrome and has battled cancer. The R&B artist expresses his love and devotion to his oldest son who has shown bravery and strength in his short 13 years of life. In the DJ Vince directed music video the proud father is cheering on his son at his basketball game, supporting him at his doctor’s visits and sharing special moments together on road trips.
T-Rell explains, “I wasn’t always able to be there for my son physically when he had cancer. I had to hit the road to cover his hospital bills because the insurance wouldn’t cover his chemo treatments. I ain’t care about a hit single, I ain’t care about cars and material things, my priority was my boy’s life.”
The song follows “I Deserve,” that recently cracked the Top 40 on Urban Radio. “I Deserve” re-imagines Tank’s Hot 100 charting hit “Maybe I Deserve” from his album Force of Nature. Tank has invited T-Rell to perform the song on his tour dates and at the release event for his latest album R&B Money in Los Angeles. The “I Deserve” official music video has received close to 3 million views on YouTube. “I Deserve” and “Shhhhhh” featuring SleazyWorld Go and Bankroll Freddie will be featured on T-Rell’s next project due out in 2023.
ABOUT T-RELL:
T-Rell is one of the hottest new artists from Kansas with #1 charting albums and millions of streams on his music. The mayor of his hometown Topeka has even honored the singer, rapper, dancer and producer by proclaiming an official “T-Rell day” that recognizes all his charitable contributions to kids that is celebrated annually on May 22.
The soulful crooner experienced his first hit in 2014 with his song “My Dawg” (music video at 20M views on YouTube here), inspired by a tragic car accident that injured him that took the life of his manager and brother Chris “8-Ball” Partee. The record became an instant classic spreading throughout the southern region as people began requesting it on their local radio stations and booking T-Rell to play memorial concerts to pay tribute to their own lost loved ones. Complex Magazine wrote about the tragedy and memorial concerts here. The news reached Boosie BadAzz who jumped on an official remix and began inviting T-Rell to perform at over 30 dates of his “welcome home” tour in 2015.
As “My Dawg” grew and show requests poured in, T-Rell had to make an impossible decision to stay on tour after finding out his then 6-year-old son Jordan was diagnosed with cancer. “The biggest sacrifice I’ve ever made was to be away from my son when he had cancer,” T-Rell describes. “I wasn’t able to go to the hospital with him for treatments, I had to be on the road doing shows, because the insurance wouldn’t cover his chemo and I had to save my son’s life.” T-Rell speaks on the experience here.
The bond between the inspirational and multi-talented T-Rell and his son is documented in the Roku SM1 streaming series “Best Buddies – trailer here.” T-Rell is the producer and director of the show that follows his adventures with Jordan, who has Down syndrome, navigating life growing up in Topeka. “I’m basically showing the ups and downs of being a father to a child with disabilities and showing how beautiful they are as people. Just because he has Down syndrome doesn’t make him any different,” explains T-Rell.
On TikTok and Instagram, he produces multiple series including his “smart shopping tips,” showing people how to shop at discount retailers like Walmart and look just as good as wearing designer clothes. The series encourages fans to save money with the message, “it’s not about the clothes, but the man that’s in them.” T-Rell also makes videos surprising artists (such as Ray J and Tank) with remade versions of their hit songs.
T-Rell’s full-length projects include Get Used To Me (2016), Can’t Stop Me (2018), Get Used to Me 2 (2018) and Smile Through It (2020). He has toured with Nelly (2016) and MO3 (2018) and performed on Live Nation’s “R&B King Tour” with Jacquees (2019). Early 2021, he released his highly-anticipated project Rell Play, which hit #1 on the iTunes R&B/Soul Album Chart and #69 on the Apple Music Album Chart. That same year, he released another project, Too Big To Ignore that landed at #1 on iTunes R&B/Soul Album Chart and #53 on the Apple Music Album Chart after collecting 600,000 streams its debut week.
In 2022, his latest single “I Deserve” hit 5 million views on TikTok in just 3 days, became the 5th most added song on Urban Radio and currently has close to 3 million views on the official music video on YouTube. T-Rell has collaborated with Boosie BadAzz, Tank, Kevin Gates, Moneybagg Yo, Mozzy, Paul Wall, MO3, Juvenile, Yung Bleu, Hitmaka, Jackboy and many others.
