"'Nann' came from the ghetto," -"'Nann' is, 'You all don't know nobody better than me, nobody rawer than me, so what.' You know what I'm saying? I don't care who care, no one correct me. That's the way I want to say that I'm 'finna,' and I'm [fixin'] to be, you know. Instead of player-hating it's player-haters."
If a player is what you want ... holla. He is black, bald-headed and buck wild. He is the artist formally known as Trick Daddy Dollars. He is Trick Daddy.
"I put it so only thug niggas understand," "They Don't Live Long" Trick Daddy Many MC's write about the hood, their concrete jungles, their experiences growing up in their particular ghetto - that's nothing new. The key to getting listeners to want to hear it is, well, the consumer has to feel it; and that's what separates Liberty City (Miami) native Trick Daddy from the run-of-the-mill rapper.
Hailing from a city known for its brand of breakneck speed Hip-Hop, Trick is helping to change the perception of the type of music that Miami has to offer, as well establish his labelmates and himself as bona-fide MC's. If rocking up tempo beats are needed, Trick can rock them also; the track however has to be "off-the-chain." In the mean time Trick is totally focused on delivering music that has meaning.
Trick isn't a superficial studio-gangster rappers penning fables and flipping tales for the sake of making records.
When Trick raps about bustin' rounds and gun play, sexual escapades, serving time, welfare, auto theft, jugglin' weight, living in the projects, food stamps, street killings, baby-momma-drama, kickin' with the homies, contract hits, smokin' out, flossin', trafficking dope, probation etc., he's lived it!
"To me it's personal; I got to know that you feeling me some type-of-way," Trick explains, "When you have people to question you [about a particular song] and ask you, 'did that really happen to you'?; then you know they really got deep into that song."
Trick Daddy first hit the music scene as one of the lead rappers on Luke's 1996 hit "Scarred." His unique flow to this dance track and booming voice easily caught the attention of heads everywhere and had fans wondering, when was Trick's solo joint coming.
The wait for Trick's solo venture wasn't long. Former concert promoter Ted Lucas, signed Trick Daddy Dollars (Trick has since dropped "Dollars" from his name) to his newly formed Slip-N-Slide Records and soon released Trick's debut album ...Based On a True Story..., which was released (October 1997) before Los Angeles based rapper Mack 10's album of the same title.
...True Story... sold moderately surpassing 200,000 copies and contained the hits "They Don't Live Long," "Bout a Lotta Thangs" with fellow Slip-N-Slide artist Buddy Roe and "Gone with Your Bad Self" which reunited Trick with quick-verse spitting rhymer Verb, who also shared the mic on "Scarred."
Since street credibility is a viable element for many fans, Trick's personal life breathes credence and validity into his rhymes. Fans and "thugs" alike can feel his pain, understand his philosophies, comprehend his actions and relate to his turbulent experiences throughout Trick's gold certified sophomore album www.thug.com.
www.thug.com encompasses Trick's story-telling ability of life on the streets of any hood, USA and contains the nationwide hit single "Nann." This male/female confrontational song clearly exemplifies the fact that, the streets can still choose a hit with or without radio or video play. "Nann" which is the radio version to the uncut version "Nann Nigga" was blazin' the streets so strong, that Trick who already had a complete radio version of www.thug.com, (but didn't include a clean version of "Nann Nigga,") had to hit the studio to create a clean extended version in a hurry to capitalize on its popularity.
In the Hip-Hop industry it's simple; if you're hot, everybody wants to work with you and vice-versa, and Trick is no exception. Fellow MC's who appreciate Trick's authenticity, Cappadonna of Wu-Tang, Ma$e and C-Low, are lining up to team up with one of Hip-Hop's new and brightest gems.
Going gold isn't where Slide-N-Slide plans to stop with www.thug.com they are headed for platinum. Now that Trick has been featured on BET's Rap City, MTV Jams and has been interviewed by Murder Dog, XXL, the Source and Rap Pages magazine -his first full length feature story.
Success hasn't changed Trick and he continues to make music for the average brother or sister. He genuinely cares about what he does and the future can only get brighter for this lyrical street Picasso.
Being one of 20 brothers and sisters Trick learned at an early age that you have to push your self to the front of the line if you want to make it. One of the first things he did was develop a strong sense of self. "I knew I was raw but I didn't know I was this raw. This album is better than anything that is out there now." He recently said.
Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records says, "Trick is remarkably talented, confident and eager to work. All of his boasting is backed up by what he lays down in the studio."
He was featured on Luke's single Scarred and appeared in the video. He signed with Slip-N-Slide Records, has contributed to the label's compilation 1990 Until... appeared on label mate, Tre+6's album, Tech Life and released his first project - Based on A True Story. "That album only used 17 of the million songs I have so I was ready to come with www.thug.com," Trick says.
On this album Trick teams up with label mates Tre+6, Society, J.A.B.A.N., and J-Shin. The first single from this album is "Change my life" and it features Tre+6. The video was done by the infamous Lionel C. Martin and it is visually orgasmic. The screen is filled with scenes that tell a story of changing life. The second video and single is "Nann nigga", feturing Trina, this video is a good example of Florida club life y'all!
Based on A True Story was Trick's life story, thus far and www.thug.com continues the story and looks toward the future. They say 'a thug is a thug is a thug.' The year 2000 may change the century but there will also be thugs, hence, the album cut ' for the thugs. " Other cuts include living in a world with Society and the chorus was arranged by the legendary Betty Wright. In back in the days Trick explains how life is constantly changing, everything from AIDS to hair styles contributes to the future. hold on with J-Shin's spectacular voice is exceptional.
Make no mistake about it, Trick Daddy is no soft ass- his lyrics are razor sharp and once you "logon" to www.thug.com Trick Daddy will take control of your air space and "log.off" is not an option...
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Bass Music has been the big thing in Miami for years. What made you take a different road?
It's a lotta reasons. What's goin on in society is better explained slowed down. It's more than just Rap, it's poetry, and it's better explained slowed down. All of it has meaning, so it's hard to express it doin Bass Music.
Your music can appeal to people anywhere in the country, while Bass Music, a lot of people don't listen to it out here.
Yeah, and I can understand that too. I don't want anybody to think that Miami artists only can do Bass Music.
What kinda music were you listening to when you were growing up?
I was listening to Ice Cube, Scarface, 2Pac, UGK, some Outkast, Goodie Mob, some JT Money, Poison Clan...
How did you get into that music?
I was raised up in projects, in Liberty City, so that's the only thing I adapted to. Anything else didn't make sense to me. If I wasn't goin through it then I wasn't understandin it. When I heard Cube Scarface and them, I could relate to that.
Are there a lot of rappers doing Gangsta shit down there?
Yeah it's a lotta rappers doin Gangsta shit, but it's hard to get exposure-it's hard to get video play, it's hard to get radio play. If you're comin from Miami they think it's Bass shit, so they don't wanna hear the shit. They never get a chance, but I work with a lotta them down here. There's a lotta potential. Hopefully, if my album does as good as I expect it to do I can open up the doors for a lotta them. We also have a lotta artists on my label now, rappers and R & B artists, we're all workin together and we're gonna make sure that we're gonna give you an album that from intro to outro you don't have to fast-forward.
You own the label Slip-N-Slide or someone else?
Someone else-Ted Lucas is the CEO. At first I was workin with Luke-I never signed nothing, I just did some things with Luke. Then I knew some people, they had their little company, so I was just like let's hook up, let's just be real and take our time and get the bread together. Now it's workin.
What other artists are signed to Slip-N-Slide?
Society, he's from New York. We got Tre+6 and J.A.B.A.N., J-Shin, Buddy Roe and we just signed Lost Tribe. They all on my album, and they'll be comin out with something soon. Everything comin offa Slip-N-Slide, you're gonna be able to vibe to it on all levels.
All the artists are different from the Bass we're used to hearin from Miami?
A lot different. A lotta people when they're first gettin started, they're tryin to get deals, they're goin through trials and searches, tryin to get management and all, they base their career on other people who they look up to. Before they realize they be soundin like them and that's not nothing that's ear-catchin. When you sound different, when you got your own sound and all your songs ain't
What's goin on in society is better explained slowed down. All of it has meaning, so it's hard to express it doin Bass Music. I don't want anybody to think that Miami artists only can do Bass Music. it's a lotta rappers doin Gangsta shit, but it's hard to get exposure-it's hard to get video play, it's hard to get radio play. If you're comin from Miami they think it's Bass shit, so they don't wanna hear the shit.
soundin exactly alike, people appreciate that. People might fall for imitations for a little while, but after awhile all your fans'll fall off.
When somebody blows up like Jay Z or Master P, then everybody starts soundin like them.
Exactly, they wanna do records like them, they wanna sound like them. I been suggested to do some remixes and thangs, but I ain't too much into the remixes. If I was to get an artist to feature on a song I would like to create a new song to do. There are artists I'm interested in dealin with. I'm interested in doin music with Scarface and Jay-Z, a lotta different people. I can get on any typa level with my music. I have a lotta music that I stored, but I don't usually save it. I wouldn't wanna come out with something I already done did because time changes and I wanna change with time and be ahead of time. A lotta people get an artist on they album and a lotta times that works, that sells records. But your true fans are gonna remember puttin in the record and havin to listen to this man.
Your first album, Based On A True Story, was real tight. How did it do?
It did decent, but a lotta people never heard it. Now that this new album is doin pretty good, they're startin to buy the old album. The new album's doin excellent. I think last week it was 31 on Billboard R & B, this week it's #7. And we was 124 on the top 200 chart. It keeps goin up.
I wonder what made you become a Rap artist instead of anything else?
There was nothing else for me to do. See I'm always gonna be a thug and that right there comes with a problem. Maybe it's bad and maybe it's good, it don't matter-that's the life I chose. I'm not a robber, I can't rob, I can't sell drugs, I can't do this cause of my temper, my attitude. That'll get a lotta people hurt, so I ended up in prison at a young age. Even in prison I entertained. There's a lotta talent inside the penitentiaries that people don't know about-lots of football players, basketball players and musicians in there, so we entertain each other. You learn too and I did a lotta writing. I never really took it serious until I did my first record. People was like you sound different, you sound good, so I went from there. Now it take nothing for me to do a song, the only thing is I wanna make sure that every song has a meanin to it, that it's something that I really feel. I don't wanna just do a song, like do a song talkin about "say no to drugs" just to get the crossover crowd to buy it. I ain't that type, I'll wait my turn.
How old are you now? You must have been real young when you went to prison.
I'm 23 now. I got locked up on my 15th birthday. I was caught up in a whole lotta wild stuff.
Can you explain what was going on?
I was incarcerated first for a lotta drug trafficking charges and some other charges. Me and a couple of my dogs, we hung with older niggaz in this life. All we had was each other too. We needed bread, plus we liked the nice things. The older niggaz was rollin, so we wanted to roll. It was all good at first, then something happened. It was a situation where somebody fell asleep and we was pulled over. I don't know if it was a set up, or if what they said was actually in the car-I didn't see it-but they charged us with a lotta cocaine, lotta guns and money. Bein that I was young, knowin I couldn't beat the charges, they was scaring me, comin at me, tellin me you're gonna get this much time. The first thing they came with I said I'll take that, knowin the time that I had I could get back out and still have my life.
How long did you spend in prison?
A little over a year, I got off on some probation, and I violated it the same day I got out. I went back for 3 years.
I ended up in prison at a young age. I'm 23 now. I got locked up on my 15th birthday. I was caught up in a whole lotta wild stuff. Even in prison I entertained. There's a lotta talent inside the penitentiaries that people don't know about-lots of football players, basketball players and musicians in there, so we entertain each other.
Where did you do your time, in Florida?
Yeah, in Florida prison. It's like this: you're only allowed $30 a week. Then your phone calls only last 15 minutes, then the phone hangs up. You can't use 3-way. It's even harder now, I got out in '95 in January. You can get a package in the mail, you can get a pair of shoes, but they can't cost more than 35 dollars. Where can you find a nice pair of shoes for $35? Then they go through your mail, they read your letters, they look at your pictures. It's crazy, man, that shit's wild. Then if you don't know nobody on the street or your from a town where a lotta people ain't from then you're single, cause everybody in prison in cliques by territories like. So the bigger cities-Jacksonville, Miami, St. Pete-a lotta those guys are lucky. But at the same time, Miami, any prisoners come from Miami, are probably the ones got better time than any. A lotta other cities like Harrisburg, they're gonna give you the max. A lotta those cats real young, so they not never gettin nothing. It's real wild, so you can imagine what goes on.
Did you have a hard time while in prison?
The only hard time I had was bein that I was young, cause I was young and I didn't never listen. Older cats, they got through it real smooth. The main problem you have is dealin with the officers, some of them don't wanna see you get out. Some of them envy that you're from Miami-Miami we got the gold in our mouth and we got the different slang words, we got the different cars, we like all this different shit-they envy us for all this. They like, you in prison and you got al this...I'm workin every day as a correctional officer stayin in this ol country-ass town. Some of them be cool too, but when you break it down they against you so none of them never gonna be your friends.
They're Black or White?
The Black ones probably are the worst, cause I expect the worst from the White ones. A lotta them grow up in them redneck towns where their whole families corrections officers. You might be in a situation where the colonel is the daddy and the lieutenant is the son, sister is the mail lady, so you really ain't got no win. He can beat you down, kick your teeth out your mouth, ain't nothing you can do about it. There were a lot of other people rapping in there when you were in prison?
Yeah, a lotta people. A couple people got out also and they're tryin to pursue their careers too. I even do prison shows, perform at the prisons now.
Before you went to prison you were rapping?
I started rappin when I was in the county jail. A lotta them went to jail real young. Everybody 17 and younger are on this floor with you-the ages range between 12 and 17-it's like wide open and there's no typa superveillance, so if you got anything better than this man he might say he wanna take your food or your shoes or he might wanna take your phone time. A lotta that had something to do with it. A lotta them didn't even know how much time they had. I used to read their letters for 'em, I used to write letters for 'em, let 'em talk to girls on the phone. I always knew a lotta people bein in the business I was dealin with, so I introduced a lotta people, I'd call people for 'em on the 3-way. After a while they'd be like, man you can write letters good. Then I started writin, started writin songs. I'd used to be beatin on the mirror and beatin on the glass or the sill. People'd be askin me to rap for them, sometimes I'd be rappin all night.
All the raps you wrote in jail, you kept them in a book?
I'd write 'em on paper or on envelopes, napkins, whatever I had with me at the time when I was writin. I still have most of them.
Did you use any of them on your first album?
I used "Based On A True Story...", the first song on the album, the one about my brother.
On the first album you went by the name Trick Daddy Dollar, why did you change it?
The name is the same, we just dropped the Dollar to make it more simple for people to pronounce.
How did your name come about, Trick Daddy Dollar?
It's a long story. My mom and daddy wasn't actually goin together-he had somebody else. They was messin around and she was with this thing where "you gettin this, then I gotta get something...." So I tell people that my mama was trickin my daddy for a couple dollars. That's where I get that from.
Who did you grow up with?
I grew up with my mama, but right before all this prison thing I could no longer stay with my mama because of some other charges that I caught in school. They was like, if you gonna be wild in the school then you got to go live with your daddy cause your mama can't live in the projects if you ain't in school, cause they had kicked me outta school. I was 12.
You stayed with your mom until you were 12?
Yeah and from then on I was basically by myself. I did whatever I wanted to do. It got to a point where when I was 13 for 6-8 months I didn't even live at my daddy's house. I was wherever.
You have brother and sisters?
Yeah, my mom has 11 children and my daddy has about 16 children now.
They're different from you?
Most of 'em. Well, my mom's kids, they thugged out. And all my daddy's kids, they in prison, but the other ones, they'll be alright.
What do your parents think about your Rap career right now?
I don't tell my mama a lot, she doesn't really know bout it. I wanna surprise her, just buy her a house and a car and surprise her. She sometimes gets upset, cause we don't have a family-the older kids don't come back for holidays, don't come by and chill no more. I'm tellin her I'm tryin to make it where she can be straight where we can chill then. Nobody gonna take care of my brothers and them but me, so I got to make a way for that now.
You have a lot of younger brothers and sisters?
Yeah, I got a lot, 9 younger from my mama and probably 6 younger from my daddy.
They know you're rapping? They like your shit?
Yeah, they love my shit. My mama cheerin "thugged out", the baby's cheerin.
On your first album you had the picture with you on the foodstamp, what was that about?
Because other states didn't have foodstamps when Florida had foodstamps. A lotta them had the coupons and the cards, we had the paper money that you could actually spend. They had it where these girls who didn't even need foodstamp, they was workin jobs, they could save these foodstamps for years and they could sell 'em. Other places couldn't do that. Foodstamps was used to gamble. You could buy anything with foodstamps. Foodstamps played a big part in everything in Florida.
The foodstamps represent your life in the projects, what you've been through.
Right, that make it more real, that let you know I been there, I'm still there actually.
On your records you have a whole different sound in the production with your vocals up front, which I really like. I can hear what you're rapping.
And my voice is heavy, it carries. Even when I'm talkin to you, I can raise my voice to high pitched, deep. When I express myself that's what I do, go up and down, up and down. I hate listenin to music where you don't even know what its sayin yourself-you can say just what you like, but you can't hear out what he's sayin.
When you listen to the old Blues records practically all you hear is the voice.
That was just like one or two instruments in there with vocals. That's what I like to do, keep my vocals heard.
Who's idea was it to produce your vocals up front like that?
We all work together. The whole company really gets together-we do our own mixes. I do the songs fast, but it takes a lot outta me. I get dead drunk and I get high and I rip 'em. When I get through this song, I'm gonna be too drunk to do another one. I'll be no good till tomorrow.
You listen to a lot of music?
Yeah, I love music. I make my DJ get everybody's new shit. I've got a mixed tape, I take 2 songs offa every album, put it on my mixed CD and I ride like that. Everybody be like, you listen to your own shit. I'm like, I'm tired of that shit!
You could be the first Gangsta type rappers to break through from Florida.
You might say that. JT Money from Poison Clan, he's been doin it for a while. There are a lot more than me though, they're doin it. Hopin they'll get listened to more now, hopin I can open the doors there.
Is Bass Music still big down there?
Bass Music could never die. It's turnin more into high-tempo Hip Hop now cause you need club music. Clubbin is about the only thing you can do out here. Bass Music could never die. Everybody just love that down here.
What are the earliest memories that you remember growing up?
The best time in my life was growin up in the projects. My worst times was in the projects too, but my best time was always there too. All you had to deal with was your family and friends. Everybody else didn't exist to you in the projects. You could walk through the whole projects with no shoes on cause those is your projects. That's your area there. You went to school, you dressed according to where you lived and who you hung with.
You had a good time growing up?
It was hard, but down here you need that. We ate good. It was more neckbones and rice than it was collard greens and chicken. You get to eat that shit on holidays. More hotdogs than anything.
It's pretty hot down there?
It's real hot, a lotta barbecue stands and ice cream trucks and stuff like that. Jet skis and rollerblades.
Where you grew up it was mostly Black kids?
Only Black kids. It was called the Pork & Bean Projects.
You still go down that way?
Yeah, I was over there last night.
What do the people you grew up with think of you now?
A lot of them are proud of me. A handful of 'em got beef, but it don't matter cause haters ain't gonna make it nowhere-where they be don't count.
Was there any one incident in your life that made you take a turn?
I got in trouble in prison. My brother was livin an extra fast life. It was a lotta gang wars goin on down here. You probably see a lot of it on America's Most Wanted-half of it ain't true, cause a nigga'll tell 'em anything to get outta trouble, and that's how it's set up. It was like at the time I was supposed to get out I didn't get out and like a month later my brother ended up gettin shot and killed. That was what really woke me up. I know for a fact either I would've been back in prison never to return to the streets or dead, or both.
He was your brother on your mom or dad's side?
My dad's. He was older than me, his name was Hollywood.
Why did he get shot?
I don't know. No tellin. Listen to the first CD and the second CD, listen to both of them from beginning to the end, and you will basically know about me. I still don't know what happened. I hear a lotta things, but if someone says this man killed him dead that means you had to have been there.
That incident played a major role in your life?
Yeah, a major role. That had a lot to do with it.
Do you miss that old life?
I don't miss it, cause I was lucky to shake that shit. I feel real lucky. I like what I'm doin now.
