22-year-old Torey Smith is constantly on the verge of being out of control. In his words, he’s your local trap star, a goon, a gangster. He’s always turnt up. He’s no-holds-barred and, depending on what mood you catch him in, you’ll get the good or the really bad. You never know because he does and says what he wants.

“That’s what I used to be,” says Loudiene, the reinvention of Torey Smith. “Now that I do this music, Loudiene took over. I’m trying to be a businessman and conduct myself better.”

While Smith has been rapping in some capacity all his life, the real start of any semblance of a rap career began as Loudiene last year. Off the strength of three songs released in the last five months, Loudiene has exploded onto the Dallas hip-hop scene and quickly made a name for himself among Dallas’ youth. He’s become a regular at local shows and has garnered a following that rivals that of any well-established act in the city. The attraction is undeniable. Loudiene is a character the city has never seen before.

When you hear him rap the first thing you’ll recognize is his Cajun accent, which he developed growing up in New Orleans. The accent is accompanied by a deep, raspy voice that’s haunting at times but all the while hypnotizing. When you see him, you can’t help but believe that he’s ready to pop off at any moment. His face is covered in tattoos as well as his neck, arms and even the palms of his hands. He wears a natural scowl and has a mischievous smile. He’s the closest reincarnation of hip-hop legend Ol’ Dirty Bastard you'll find and carries the aura and charisma of a rock star. He is the total package.

It’s not just his voice and look that have garnered all the attention, though. It’s the authenticity of the content of his music that makes him so appealing. Like Master P, Gucci Mane and Freddie Gibbs before him, just to name a few, Loudiene raps from experience. He doesn't present the typical glorified fantasy of street life, either. It’s an honest account of his recent past.

On “Pop a Bar” and “Jugg,” Loudiene isn’t shy about letting us in on his reckless drug use, how he’s lived or how he acquired the two Rolexes and diamond rings he regularly wears.

“I ain’t trying to tell every kid in the world that I want you to go jugg ya mama, but if you ain’t got shit and you don’t know no other way to get it and you ain’t go no job, go jugg somebody. I did it,” Loudiene says about his street life.

He talks about how long he’s been in the game. He feels twice his age because of all the things he’s been through. He’s trying to build a new reality, though, and so far it’s coming to fruition faster than he’d imagined.

Just last month he found himself in the hotel room of rap star Waka Flocka Flame with fellow local rapper Young Street. Loudiene took full advantage of the opportunity and played a couple tracks for him. By the time Flocka heard the line “These diamonds all off a jugg” in the first hook of the track, he was sold. During the drive from Dallas to Fort Worth for a show Flocka headlined that night, he listened to “Jugg” at least seven times in a row, according to Loudiene, who was in the car. Now the two are in negotiations for a possible deal.

That was the moment Loudiene first saw the real opportunities he has in front of him and it became the catalyst for his reinvention as a businessman.
“I replaced my trapping with my rapping and my aggression with my rapping,” Loudiene says. “But I’m a beast. You can’t tame a beast unless some money involved. That’s where this music comes from.”

Remembering to be professional is still a struggle for Loudiene. He still has moments when he is tempted to go off on people, but now he has Lil Pooh to keep him in check and organized. Lil Pooh could be described as Loudiene’s manager, but the relationship is actually much deeper than that. It’s a kinship of sorts. They relate to each other like brothers but Pooh helps guide Loudiene's career. It’s no coincidence that they met in August, right before Loudiene's ascension began, either.

With a little guidance he’s working toward something greater, but it’s not just about money. Money is just paper, as he puts it, a byproduct of the streets. Now he wants success. He wants business money — investor money.

“We’ve been through so much,” Loudiene says about his family. “My mama, who ain’t never had shit, is gonna get everything and I’m gonna be happy. I just want them all to be good.”

Loudiene isn’t concerned about himself anymore. He’s lived harder than most people ever will. Everything he does is for the family. He remembers the struggles he and his family faced when they had nothing in New Orleans. Then Hurricane Katrina forced the family to relocate to Georgia, Baton Rouge, Houston and finally McKinney, where the family has been for the past seven years.

Loudiene is working on his first mixtape and he wants to keep the momentum he's built going, but he's also not in a rush. He wants the end result to be good and he’s already put out enough material to hold his fans over for a bit.  “I’m a hoodlum just like everyone else so I want to hear that ratchet shit,” he says. “If I can’t really jam to it then why would I want y’all to listen to it?”

In the meantime, and in true entrepreneurial fashion, he and Lil Pooh are putting together a show for January 28 at The Door dubbed Juggfest, which he will headline along with several other performers to be announced. In a short amount of time, Loudiene has laid the groundwork for a serious takeover. He’s set his eyes on going global, and as easily as he's broken out in the Dallas rap scene, that goal doesn't seem far-fetched.

“Two of the richest ni**as in the music game is from New Orleans: Birdman and Master P,” he says. “Loudiene is next. They think I’m joking.”