When it comes to female artists in hip-hop, you constantly hear about Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and more recently Nicki Minaj. While they all have had their moments of immense prosperity and fame, none rival the overall career of a certain southern belle. With over a decade of respectable sales, spotlight stealing features, and support of a loyal diehard fanbase, Trina is without doubt the rap game’s most consistent and respected femme fatale. Currently working on her sixth studio album, she decided to not to keep her fans waiting with the release of her first street album, Diamonds Are Forever.
We are excited about this mixtape. What made you decide to release another street album?
I was working on the mixtape for awhile, actually. I called it like a prelude, a mini-CD, cause I did all original tracks. It just started out with me just wanting to go in the studio and just do original records. I’ve done a lot of remixes, I just wanted to a lot of original music for more of an album feel. I just got a lot more attuned to it and it just became a process like I was working on an album and I thought it was a great piece of art. I’m getting a lot of great feedback from it and it’s just so refreshing. The music is refreshing, the songs, it’s just a lot of different direction.
I didn’t really have a zone when I was recording the mixtape, it was more like what was I feeling, what did I want to hear when I’m in the club. When I go, when I’m working and I hear certain new records and it’s the club anthem – I was thinking of that. I was thinking of doing the sensitive record for women, of course… I was thinking of so many different things, all original, and that’s just how it came about.
Did you work with any particular producers on this project?
Yes, I worked with Yani. I worked with Madlock. I worked with Snatch-and-Grab, and a couple others.
When it comes to your selection process, how do you decide which tracks you’re going to use for your mixtape?
I think it’s more of just continuing to listen to it and once I walk away from the studio and have it for a few days – just the reaction I feel. I’ll know if I get a record and I’m loving it cause I’m really excited about it. Opposed to if I got a copy last night and I’m like, “Hmmm maybe this is cool but I’m gonna do something different.”
That’s kind of how I decide. If I’m around a few people, I’ll let my friends listen so it’s an outside ear as opposed to what I’ve been hearing or the engineer. Sometimes you’re all in the studio and hear the same thing, but once somebody else fresh comes along and what they hear is a different vibe so I like to do that.
Your mixtape has been well received, especially your singles with T. Pain and Rick Ross. You’ve had a long career in the music business. How did that affect your decisions about song placement on this mixtape?
You know, it was really just all about what I wanted to do. I was creating records and I was thinking about different types of records. And the record “Ghetto,” which featured T. Pain, was different for me because I’d never done a record like that. At first I was a little skeptical and I was thinking what can I do that would be like a little value shock. It would be something that’s unexpected. And when I did it, I was thinking, “The record’s done now, what can I do for the hook?” I tried like three different things and I thought it was cool, but when I thought about T. Pain and his voice cause he’s from the hood, and the whole vibe of picking it being a rapper, that’s how he came about to be on that particular record. Working with Ross, that’s like my family. I am always thinking when I’m in the studio that I just want to do a record with Ross. I always coming out with something that’s different, something that’s clever, that’s kind of like the male versus female thing. When I think of doing records with Ross that’s kind of the mindset I go with.
I have two records, “Can I” featuring Mya, and “No More” featuring K. Michelle, which are more girly records. That’s more of the melodic, relationship, my matureness – just being in a situation and just feeling like getting inside your feelings. I was thinking of just voices. I’ve worked with so many people in the industry. It’s just a great thing to look back at the records I’ve done. When I’m coming to do new records, I’m like “Who’s voice do I like? Who’s voice is soft, who’s crunchy? Who’s has the powerful voice?” I just go into those zones, and like that’s how I chose the artist I actually want to put on the record.
For over a decade, in the beginning, you have managed to avoid major frays and beefs and stuff. What advice would you offer new, aspiring recording artists coming into the game?
For me, it’s just consistency and just determination. You know, the game is very shady. You can have a hot record today and then no hot records for a couple years. So it’s all about knowing what you want to do and continuing to try hard at it. I put out five albums and just to be consistent for a decade, it’s a lot of hard work. It’s not easy. It’s more than just putting out a record or you see a video.
It’s a lot of time, traveling and performing. I perform the majority of the year, and for most people that don’t know that or probably don’t get see me perform in bigger places, they probably have no idea. It’s about a constant grind, the constant working, constantly reinventing yourself and coming back out with records that people feel. It’s about staying attached to the fans. That’s the thing that I would say. You have to continue to be focused and know what you want to do. Just be humble and know that it’s a grind. It’s not an easy job. It’s not as good as it looks on television. There’s a lot more work you have to put it into it, especially to stay in it as long as I’ve stayed in it. It’s been a lot of great times and there’s been a lot of not-so-great moment. I always look at a situation as if the good outweighs the bad, then I always go with that. And that’s how I remain to stay level-headed.
Are you looking to expand your endeavors in the entertainment industry outside of music?
Yes, actually I am. I’m trying to do some different stuff for television, maybe a show or some movies. I’m actually working on a movie now. It’s a small part but I’m excited about it. I want to do more in front of the camera opposed to like TV stuff. I think that’s just the next step for more. Music is like part of me but it’s time to evolve and do more things, so that’s my next focus. I’m actually into that right now.
There’s a lot of female artists that came out when you first began who are not necessarily as successful as they would like to be right now. How did you maintain your relevance to today’s audience?
It’s like I say: It’s just about the grind. I work. As artists, your record comes out and you go on tour or go do performances, you do shows and travel and you do so many different things – you have to continue to do that. I work when the album first comes out, I work when the album’s not out anymore, and I work until I work on a new album. I don’t really have that much down time in between. When I’m not working, it’s really the little amount of time I have until I recreate and think of what’s next. Like, oh, I’m about to go back in the studio. I’m about to start working again. And in the midst of that, I’m continuing to perform and continuing to do shows so I stay attached to the fans.
I think that’s what has kept me so relevant because I never stop. I’ve never like taken a three or four year hiatus. I continue to put out albums and work in music and remixes to stay afloat in the industry. I think that’s what you have to do in order to keep the relevancy as long as I have. You know, when you take off a long time period, people they kind of forget or they move on and so when you come back out with something it’s like, “oh!” But for me, I never take a break. I just constantly need to work.
Looking back at your discography, what would you consider your defining album?
I would have to say the last album, Amazing. Just because I had a little bit more control with it and I was about to reach out to producers, I’d never had a chance to work with and I wanted to try different things.I got to work with a lot of great artists and it was just more personal to me. That’s the reason why doing this mixtape, I made the songs original, because it was a personal thing as opposed to just doing remixes of other people’s music.
So the “Amazing” album, it was just more close to my heart and I got to do more of what I wanted to do, as opposed to somebody trying to create what they think I should do 0r saying, “Hey we want you to make this record” or “Hey we want you do to this.” I just kind of went into the zone and locked myself into the studio, and I just did what I wanted to do. I reached out to artists that I wanted to work with and that how I made it happen. I think that’s the most defining album to me.
Throughout your career you have avoided several pitfalls that other artists have fallen into. Which such a long career, how did you manage to avoid those situations? Not only as an artist, but as an African-American woman in general.
I stay away from a lot of different stuff. I look at my career as my job and it’s like a 24 hour job. I work, and when I’m not working I kind of stay grounded to all the people that know me outside of music and everything else that I do.
The person that they know, they’ve been knowing all along. I stay close to my circle of people, my good friends, and people that keep me level-headed. People that I have that tight-knit to where it keeps me away from a lot of drama and a lot of bad situations because the industry is such a huge magnet. It has it’s ups and downs and it can pressure you. I think you really have to be a beast to be in it, especially as long as I have.
You have to really keep your head on straight because there’s a lot of temptation. There’s a lot of times you could be ticked off and things go wrong and you act out of character. I’m not a perfect person: I have my downfalls, I have my crazy moments, and I get angry. I go through things like any other person that’s in the industry, but I just try to avoid trouble as much as I possibly can. I don’t care for it. I don’t like it. I just think that I work to hard to jeopardize what I have. I just really want to entertain.
What do you consider the goal of the mixtape? Instead of dropping another studio album, why did you choose the mixtape route this time?
I’m always performing. I do a lot of performances, a lot of stuff in clubs and stuff like that. It’s the streets and raw. I’m able to be expressive. I’m able to be sexy, provocative, whatever I feel. I know the majority of it isn’t for the radio, it’s just for the streets. It’s my real thoughts of what I feel and what I’m feeling in the moment. If I’m in a great mood or if I’m feeling, it’s just a moment. And for an album it’s a little more monitored.
Before I started my sixth studio album, I just wanted to put out music that the streets can relate to. I just went in the studio and had a blast. I got producers that were hungry, that understood what I wanted and wanted to do great records and that was different. I’m just really excited about the mixtape. It’s something I’ve never done before so that took me back to the very beginning when I was in the studio for my first album. I was very excited, very amped to meet the producers to see what record I was going to do. Doing this, it kind of got me in the same zone. I thought I could be as free as I possibly can, and that’s what I did. It got me geared up towards the sixth album, ’cause now I feel like I can go out of range, I can do different things, I can do music stuff I probably haven’t done on the previous five albums. That’s how I wanted it to lead up unto the sixth album.
