One of the top three women rappers that I respect the utmost and love is Mia X, Mama Mia was the number one of all time. The next two were Lil Kim and Foxy Brown. I loved their music for the same reason I loved ‘Pac—it was believable. So, I wanted to create something that all women could get on her level. That’s where “Da Baddest Bitch” comes from.

DX: Were you performing that role with anyone else on the label. There was a lot of talent under the Slip-N-Slide umbrella?
TD: Slip-N-Slide had a lot of artists J-Shin, The Lost Tribe, Society, Trina, Money Mark & CO, Don Yute—and I don’t want to insult anybody by forgetting them. We were all a family, but the head of our household let us stray off and separate. If you live in my house—my car is my house, my clothes, my company and my home—all that is my house. The number one rule in my house is that all of us get along. All of us are equal. If you don’t run your house that way, you don’t have control of nothing and they won’t respect you as a parent.

DX: Let’s talk about the new house you’ve built. You have a joint venture with Cash Money for your Dunk Ryders label, right?
TD: I’ve got a joint venture with Cash Money for the first group off of my new label. I don’t want everybody to think I’m signed to Cash Money. If they get that money right, then I will be screaming, “Cash Money!” As of right now, it’s Dunk Ryders till I die. I have investors now and I have a business partner. I have rich friends that believe in Trick and know that I am out of my situation at Slip-N-Slide. My friends are willing to sacrifice their time, money and music to keep this Miami shit going for a long, long time.

DX: Can you explain how you and Cash Money came together to make it happen?
TD: I’ve always respected Cash Money. They started out around the same time as No Limit and Slip-N-Slide. We were the labels, along with J. Prince over at Rap-A-Lot. He motivated me so much, ‘cause he was putting out so many groups. And I never knew how much money J. Prince made, but I knew how much notoriety he had. They respected him so much at BET and MTV and these magazines because he was such a gutter nigga. I always wanted to be that nigga.

DX: So when we hear Dunk Ryders does that consist of Gold Ru$h, Fella, Iceberg, Bad Guy and Baby Girl?
TD: No. The Dunk Ryders are Iceberg, Fella and my little brother Soup who’s incarcerated right now. He’s doing a federal sentence ‘cause some old snitch ass nigga set him up behind some petty shit that they should’ve went to prison for. Instead of going in for the rest of their life, they set up my little brother. Bad Guy is one of my artists, Gold Ru$h is one of my artists and a producer who’s also on my label.

DX: How long has this been in the works?
TD: Dunk Ryders Records? About the last two years. I just got the studio gutted out and we doing everything right. We ain’t on that flashy shit. The dress code is all black, so it ain’t no sense coming around with no reds, blues or pinks. You do that shit when you’re with your family.

DX: The word on the street is that you’re headed to Def Jam? Are you at least leaning that way?
TD: I’ve got a lot of respect for Def Jam. Def Jam put out a lot of artists and they’ve had a lot of success in the music game. I’m leaning toward putting my shit out on my own. I want my masters. I want my ringtone money. I want my publishing. I want to be able to feature and do what I want to do. I’ve been in the game long enough.

As far as one of my artists signed to my label, it’s a strong possibility that one of them could have a deal through Def Jam—whatever I think is better for them. It’s very important that people know my artists' opinions has a lot to do with the decisions I make. I’m not the type of person who will do you any kind of way once I’ve got paperwork on you. I want you to be happy and content with it. If it doesn’t work, I want you to say, “We fucked up.” If it does work remember we did it together, God damn it.

DX: Obviously there will be something coming in the next few weeks about your status and this Finally Famous album. What can you tell us right now?
TD: My fans will be impressed. On [Back By Thug Demand] I did a lot of samples that I couldn’t get clearance with. I ain’t going for that sucka shit no more. I’m not into sending somebody my record and getting them to feature on it only to find that their manager or label doesn’t want to clear them. They want to hold you up telling you not to release it until a certain date. I’m not fucking with nobody like that anymore. It’s basically the same Trick album. I’ve got something for the club, something for the women and everything is strictly for the thugs. You’ll have to listen to it. Continued on page 4 »