The BOOST Morning Show is comin’ atcha with your boy, Trip Lee.
Now, Trip dropped his first album right out of high school back in the day. But now he’s all “glown up”, rockin’ blazers on stage. Trip was telling JBo about his experiences on tour and how he loves interacting with the fans and hearing their stories about how his music has impacted them. Trip Lee also talks about his chronic illness and how it has influenced his music, specifically on the song “Dreaming.” But be prepared for some nostalgia as Trip Lee also reveals why he still has nightmares about his old music videos from his early career.
But don’t sleep on this conversation, because Trip also spills the tea on why he still has nightmares about some of his old music videos from back in the day.
View this video with Trip Lee, and other interviews with BOOST artists videos on the BOOST Radio YouTube Channel.
JBo:
Now, you first dropped your first album right out of high school.
Trip Lee:
That’s right.
JBo:
That was in the 2000s. Fashion at the time was oversized jeans, oversized shirts.
Trip Lee:
That’s true.
JBo:
Snapbacks. Now you glow up. It’s a glow up.
Trip Lee:
That’s right.
JBo:
You wear blazers on stage now.
Trip Lee:
Hey, sometimes you got to switch it up. Yeah. Look, I was 17 when I started working on that album. I was 18 when it came out. A lot of life is happening.
JBo:
Yeah. What fashion era… Are you into fashion? What fashion era…
Trip Lee:
Yeah, I am.
JBo:
…would you want to come back?
Trip Lee:
Oh my goodness. What fashion era would I want to come back?
JBo:
Yeah. Style. What’s something that’s like, you would love that?
Trip Lee:
That’s a good question. Whatever I was wearing when I first started, I would love that to never come back, because I still have nightmares about certain music videos. You know what I’m saying?
JBo:
Oh. Is there one particular that stands out? The nightmare about certain music videos?
Trip Lee:
Oh, no. No, because then people going to look it up. Nah. You know what? There was a pretty strong throwback jersey phase when I was in high school. That’d be cool to come back. Yeah. That’d be cool.
JBo:
The Air Force Ones, lows.
Trip Lee:
I can’t wear Air Force Ones.
JBo:
Why? They hurt your feet?
Trip Lee:
Nah, because my feet are big for my height and it look like boats. It’s a thick shoe.
JBo:
You walk around like…
Trip Lee:
The sole is thick.
JBo:
That’s facts. That’s facts.
Trip Lee:
You know what I’m saying?
JBo:
No, that’s facts super thick. They’re super thick.
Trip Lee:
That’s what I’m saying.
JBo:
Yeah. You walk around be having clown shoes on your feet.
Trip Lee:
That’s right. That’s right. I got to be careful.
JBo:
Like I said, it’s a treat to see you on tour. Your set is phenomenal. What would you say is your favorite and least favorite thing about being on tour?
Trip Lee:
Yeah. My favorite things about being on tour. One would be getting to interact with fans with the music. You work hard on music, you think about how you want it to impact people, and then you get to see peoples say stuff on social, how it’s impacted them, but it’s another experience to get to see the music impact people and to get to look people in their eyes as they’re being impacted by it and get to hear stories about how it’s connected with people. I love that. Reminds you of the power of what it is that we’re doing. It can be easy to forget.
JBo:
You had said that one thing you really enjoy is hearing people’s stories. Is there a story that you’ve heard while you’ve been on this tour that’s stuck out? Or any tour, really?
Trip Lee:
The tour has just started, So it’s hard on this one, but for instance, my album, The End. has come out. There’s a song called Dreaming that so many people have said, hey, I have a different, so in that song I’m talking about the difficulty of dreaming when I have a chronic illness and there’s so much stuff that I want to do I haven’t been able to do. I feel like the Lord has built me as a dreamer and just wrestling through the difficulties of that. Many people have said, I have a different illness, but this has been life-changing for me. Or I have this particular mental illness and this has just helped me to think through how to push through. I didn’t know it would connect with people as much as it did. One interesting thing from this particular tour, actually, just today is one of the dudes, Kobe, he’s here getting some footage and stuff for us.
He told me in the green room today that he had read Rise, my book, and that it changed his life. It came to him in a particular season and it really changed his whole life. He thought about how he was living his life and helped him to follow God and he don’t know if he’d be here without that book. It’s really encouraging to me. That’s the stuff you don’t know. You don’t know. It encourages you to keep just trying to be faithful and trust God to do what he’s going to do with stuff.
JBo:
Praise God. You had mentioned you have in chronic fatigue syndrome. Would you say that makes it difficult? Maybe one of your least favorite things on the tour? Do you find yourself being exhausted more than you would be if you didn’t have that?
Trip Lee:
Of course. Yeah. It’s certainly the hardest part of every part of my life, including tour life. But one thing about tour is when I’m not feeling well, my bed is with me everywhere I go because it’s on the bus, so I can sleep all day if I need to and try to be on during showtime. There’s times that can be really tough. Sometimes it’s more manageable than other times. Yeah, that’s definitely one of the harder things. Another hard thing about being on the road, too, is also being away from my family facts. I got a wife, three kids. I miss them, love them. But that’s part of for me why it matters that I’m doing something that I’m passionate about and I’m doing it with people I love, because there’s sacrifices I’m making to be out here. I just want to make sure I’m using my time and my limited energy as well as I can.
JBo:
Amen. Because the sacrifice, it has to be worth it. Because like you said, you’re sacrificing your health, to some extent and you’re sacrificing your family.
Trip Lee:
That’s right. Yeah.
JBo:
What does faith look like in seasons that you seem like your illness is winning?
Trip Lee:
Yeah. Faith in those seasons looks like holding on to God’s promises when I can’t see how something is going to work out. Because what I’m tempted to do, and I was just saying this yesterday, it can feel like, oh, there’s this thing that I’m meant to do and this illness is an obstacle that’s keeping me from what God has for my life. When actually, the way the scripture talks about trials is that it’s the pathway towards how God is going to use us the way that he wants to. That he uses our trials to make us into the people he’s forming us into. What it takes is me really trusting the promises of God. Trials really are an x-ray that really shows you what’s going on inside. Do I really trust God? Because there’s sometimes when he’s like, I got you and I can see how he has me.
I can see it. I’m like yeah, I see this. There’s other times it’s like, I have no idea how this could possibly turn out any way but a disaster. It’s in those times when it’s like, if you really trust me, then you trust it. Sometimes I’m up to things that you can’t see and it’s easier said than done, but it’s proud of us to think, oh, if I can’t see what God is doing, he must not be up to anything, as if we have the perfect knowledge and foresight of God. It’s like, no, if I can’t see it, it must not be happening. But it’s like, no, God is bigger than me, wiser than me. Even if I can’t tell why, it pushes me to trust him even when I can’t see what’s going on.
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