Torae

Torae L. Carr is an American rapper who hails from the Coney Island neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, and goes by the mononym Torae professionally. He is the owner and operator of the independent record label Internal Affairs Entertainment, on which he has published a number of solo albums as well as collaborative works.

Through his work with DJ Premier and Marco Polo, Torae rose to prominence in the music industry. After putting out his first mixtape, titled Daily Conversation, in 2008, he and Polo went on to achieve success with their joint album, titled Double Barrel, which received positive reviews from music critics. In 2007, HipHopDX included him as part of the DXNext underground hip hop series they were producing. That same year, he was recognised by XXL magazine as the Chairman’s Choice. Torae has collaborated with a number of producers, including Polo and Premier, as well as Eric G., Black Milk, and Khrysis. Skyzoo and Sha Stimuli, both of whom are also from Brooklyn, have been frequent collaborators with Torae. Additionally, he has collaborated with Tash of Tha Alkaholiks, Teflon, Chaundon, Sean Price, Masta Ace, Wale, Nefew, and Talib Kweli, amongst others.

In November 2011, he presented the world with his first studio album titled For the Record. Produced by Grammy Award winner 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, Large Professor, and DJ Premier, this album also has contributions from other notable producers. The next year, he issued an EP named Off the Record, which had eight songs that were recorded while he was working on his first studio album. Barrel Brothers was the name of the album that he and fellow Brooklyn rapper Skyzoo released as a collaborative effort in May 2014.