Now that R&B singers are using it to define themselves, it’s pretty safe to assume the word “thug” has lost its original meaning. In 1997, roughly a year after Tupac Shakur passed away, Trick Daddy Dollars placed his image on a food stamp and took it upon himself to try and cater to an audience clamoring for a representation of thug life. The digital era may have ushered in the EBT card in place of the food stamp, and he’s dropped the “dollars” from the end of his name, but Trick Daddy still holds himself responsible for representing the thugs of the world.

After over a decade at the house he helped build, Trick is about to introduce a new generation of Miami artists to the game via his Dunk Ryders label. The true definition of a thug remains as hard to define as it was when Tupac shouted it out for everyone to hear. If it involves parenting, community outreach, mentoring newer artists and broadening your original goals while the money keeps coming in, then it’s hard to imagine ‘Pac would be mad.

HipHopDX: As one of the first people in Hip Hop to bring the spotlight to Florida, how do you feel about the current crop of artists?
Trick Daddy: I feel like they’re representing, but my main concern is if we’ll be able to feed our kids off of it. Will we be able to pay our bills two or three years from now? That’s the only part that confuses me. But, we are representing because that’s what we do. It’s the water—I think it’s something in the water. We’ve been making music and we’ve been doing this, but now it’s at a point where they’re playing our music in various areas. They’re actually listening to what we have to say.

DX: When you say you’re worried, are you talking about just the artistic quality, or people being able to go to the next level and actually be owners?
TD: Right, with the label thing it gets kind of confusing. Don’t get it twisted because it [only] takes $150 to start a label. But, do you have artists? Do you know what you’re doing? Is you’re music sufficient enough to represent this state? I don’t think everybody should be allowed to…I don’t think everybody should be in a position where they can make music. I don’t agree with or listen to all of the music coming out of Florida. It just so happens that we’ve got a lot of big acts out here now. You got [me], Rick Ross, Trina, The Dunk Ryders, Blood Raw, Ball Greezy, Bizzle, Flo Rida, C-Ride, Ace and [DJ] Khaled are doing their thing. Plus you’ve got several other artists out of the state of Florida doing their thing now too.

It’s our time, and we need to get together and stick together. We have to stick together and represent our state and our city. We can’t let them force our hands to the point where we’re dissing each other on records or making little sneak diss records. A lot of dudes won’t even admit they’re dissing you on the sly. I’m gonna do whatever I gotta do to represent the state of Florida, even with the local acts.

I don’t know why the word local gets so much bad press. If you ain’t local, then you ain’t shit! Just ‘cause you’re from the town, now you’re supposed to be local because you’re from Miami? No, this the same shit you’ve been listening to. If you’re between the ages of 15 and 35 up to 40, then Trick raised you. With the exception of feeding and bathing you, I pretty much raised you. You can’t tell me you didn’t listen to my music. If you liked rap music before Trick, then ‘Pac raised you, because that’s who raised me. 2Pac, Scarface, Ice Cube, AZ—those people raised me, and I’ve been a music fanatic all my life. So I’ll do whatever I have to do.

DX: If you take all that into account, is there any more you can do?
TD: When I do features and shows, I charge a Florida price. If you’re from Miami then you get the Miami price, because the closer you are the cheaper the price. A lot of people are intimidated by a feature from Trick. Put it this way: I would rather somebody get on my track and represent and give me my money’s worth, as opposed to getting somebody I had high expectations of and they fumble. If I come to you and say I want to do a song with you, that means that I’m a fan, okay? What we have to remember as entertainers is that without fans we’re not shit.

Without radio we wouldn’t have big records, and without producers we wouldn’t have our sound. People have to know all this is one. I do music for my fans. I’ve kept my fans for so long because I don’t let them down. If you get Trick to feature on your song, you’ll get your money’s worth. A lot of people are intimidated and afraid of hearing, “Man you put Trick on your song. You shouldn’t have did that…that’s Trick’s song now.” You need to do your part. If I outdid you on a song, that’s what I do. I just represent for my fans. Continued on page 2 »