Perhaps the coolest thing to happen at the 20th Anniversary Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards on July 7 was Wrex winning Album of the Year. It’s the first time a rap artist took the top award and long overdue. The old saying “it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy” was never truer. Wrex is one of Fort Worth’s best, chillest and most inclusive rappers. His shows often attract talented friends jumping on stage and rattling off rhymes. Wrex will take you to church rap-style. A dozen years ago, I could barely name one artist other than Jay Z and Snoop Dogg. I love rap now. I can’t believe, as a writer, it took me so long to appreciate a genre so word-friendly, thought-centric, and artistically genuine. I particularly appreciate our local artists. Fort Worth is becoming home base to an incredibly talented hip hop scene. I don’t care if you grew up on Johnny Cash and George Jones like me — rap is three chords and the truth but sometimes only one chord or no chords. Just truth. Wrex and I sing his original song “UnPlug!” that was included on our FW Weekly compilation CD Frequencies, Vol. 9. I write a chorus to mash with Wrex’s song, and we make rap music history on Toast & Jam! — Jeff Prince
