Senior Treshaun Brown is an electrifying athlete at Traip Academy. He is a standout soccer and basketball player who also played baseball for the Rangers and is now in his first year on the outdoor track team, where he is one of the top sprinters in the state.

His track coach, Larissa Simonds, said Brown is one of those athletes who would be successful at whatever he attempts because he puts the work in. “He has a good balance most of the time,” she said. “He can be goofing off but when he needs to work hard, he can turn that switch on.”

Brown, who plans to attend Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (where he will study criminal justice and play basketball), is also a talented rapper. His music can be found on SoundCloud and Instagram (@treshaunbrown_music).

We recently sat down with him to talk about track, his music and growing up as a young man of color in Maine.

Q:  What went into your decision to run track your senior year?

A: A lot of my friends have wanted me to do it for years now. I tried it my freshman year and I quit after the first practice, which is a big regret of mine. I was going to do it last year but due to COVID we obviously couldn’t participate.

Q: What are you learning about yourself through track?

A: It’s challenging. I’ve always been one of the fastest guys in all the sports I’ve played. So now coming into track where everyone is on the same level, or higher, than me it’s a great challenge. I love being challenged. It makes me work. It makes me think.

Q: Do you have a favorite sport?

A: I guess basketball is my favorite sport. But really it could be any of them. This is my first year in track but I really am enjoying it. I wish I had been doing it for longer. And with soccer I’ve always loved the team aspect. I’ve come up with the same group of guys ever since I was in the fourth grade

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about your music. How did you get started?

A: When I was 14, going into my freshman year, I was always into rap music, but I started writing rap music. So I would find beats on YouTube and write to that … Music means a lot to me too. I have a passion for it. I feel I’ve gotten a lot better at it. And it’s like a venting process, a way to get your emotions out. I’m not great at communicating them. Communicating them through poetry or writing is easier for me.

Q: What do you hope to do with your music?

A: I think it would be cool to pursue a career in music, but for now I think a more realistic option would be pursuing law, which I plan to do, be a lawyer, and the music would be a side gig.

Q: Who are your musical influences?

A: When I started out my influences were Drake and this rapper named Logic. They really influenced me in the beginning. Over the years my musical tastes have expanded a lot. Lately I’d say my influences are Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Denzel Curry. Those are the three guys I tend to pull from artistically. My current style can relate more toward them.

Q: When did you actually first start creating your own music?

A: The first song I ever wrote was in June of my eighth-grade year. I was listening to Logic and thought, ‘I could do this too.’ So I found some beats on YouTube and recorded it. It wasn’t very good. I recorded it on my phone. I got some equipment going into my freshman year at Traip, like a microphone, a mic stand, audio processor, stuff like that.

Q: How has it been growing up in Maine as a young person of color?

A: It’s had its up and downs., I’ve actually written about it in some of my recent music, which I haven’t released yet. But growing up it’s been odd at some points but also been kind of cool. It’s unique being one of the only people of color in the town and in the area. …  I am surrounded by a lot of white people but they tend to accept me for who I am. I haven’t had many encounters with racism or discrimination luckily. And the few students of color I’ve grown up with, we’ve formed a closer bond.

Q: Were you involved with any Black Lives Matter marches?

A: I did go to a Black Lives Matter march. I was in the car though. It was in June and because of COVID my mom and I weren’t comfortable being in the actual march. So we were in a line of cars. We started at Traip Academy, went across Memorial Bridge into Portsmouth and ended up at Portsmouth Square.

Q: Did you feel it was important to be part of it?

A: I definitely felt it was important to be part of it. My junior and senior year were the first years I’ve been really politically active, on a level where I could understand things. I have written a few politically charged songs relating to Black Lives Matter and discrimination in government in general, and I have written more introspective stuff lately. I plan to release those soon.

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