When Alyssa Geisler was in college – about four years ago – she and her best friend Matt Wells watched the same YouTube video every night before going out. The video, called "Milwaukee," features a hip-hop song by local rapper and mentor, Montrel Wade, known to his fans as Trelly G.

"I didn't promote the song, I just posted it on YouTube and then a lot of college students found it," says Wade.

Geisler and Wells are two of the people responsible for the more than 156,000 views of the video since it posted in 2010.

"It’s still near and dear to us today," says Geisler. "Sometimes we still say lines from the song to each other like ‘if you can’t hang with the big dogs, go watch ‘That’s So Raven.’"

The 4 1/2-minute video was shot primarily on 12th Street and Keefe Avenue, where Wade was born, raised and still resides today.

The video – which Wade says was filmed at the "spur of the moment" – features imagery and residents from the North Side as well as other parts of town. Although pleased with its popularity, Wade says he wishes the video contained more footage of other parts of Milwaukee.

"Milwaukee" serves well as a pre-party anthem, but Wade originally created it because  he wanted to spread the word about life in "the 414."

"There wasn't any music out there about Milwaukee," he says.

Putting Milwaukee on the music map is important to Wade. Through his songs, he shares his experiences living on Milwaukee’s North Side without glorifying or condemning the experience.

Wade has two other videos on YouTube, "Cold" and "Take A Trip To The Mil." These songs are less celebratory, rather an honest snapshot of his life.

"Living in Milwaukee is a fun situation, but there are harder things going on, too," he says. "My music is about what I've seen growing up in Milwaukee. All the things that I’ve gone through. I wanted to, and still want to, make Milwaukee projects that represent where I’m from."

Wade says there is a lot of misunderstanding about Milwaukee in other parts of the country.

"I’ll travel somewhere and tell people I’m from Milwaukee and they’ll act surprised, ask, ‘There are black people in Milwaukee?’" he says.

In 2008, Wade started a record label called TRAC (Thought-out Reality Accompanies Creative) Music with friend and business partner, Daryl Cobbs. Cobbs also has a clothing line called Fitted Sole which often sponsors musicians, BMX riders and skateboarders.

Currently, Wade, again under the name of Trelly G, is finishing up a few new projects and will release two mix tapes – the first will be called "Milwaukee Music" and the second "Saints and Sinners."

"Milwaukee Music" will drop around Halloween and "Saints and Sinners" around Thanksgiving. Both will be available on iTunes and livemixtapes.com.

The mix tapes will serve as lead ups to his new album, "Trellwaukee," that's due out in December.

Wade, who graduated from Washington High School, started freestyling and battle rapping as a teen at parties. He started to take music more seriously about four years ago.

One of Wade’s missions is to "push people to do stuff in the city" and move beyond the same old routines.

"I love Milwaukee. That’s why I want to talk about it, promote it. People have to get out and do things, new things, we all get so stuck in our ways," he says. 

Wade, who is a father to three children ages 5, 3 and a newborn, also works as a mentor at Milwaukee Public Schools. "I help kids get back on track when they’re falling behind," he says.

Wade says he wasn’t much of a troublemaker as a kid, but he saw enough people make poor decisions that he was inspired to "stay in the lines."

Wade has big plans for the future with his music, his label and more. 

"My songs range, depending on what they’re about, but mostly I want to send out a positive vibe," he says.

Go to Trelly G’s Facebook page to stay on top of the latest.

Watch Trelly G's "Milwaukee" here: