Trick Daddy: One in 18

Trick Daddy is one of the biggest names you will find coming out of the Miami hip hop scene, or out of the South in general. That explains why he's worked with all the biggest names in the Dirty South, from Ludacris, to Cee-Lo, from Lil Jon to Outkast. But Trick Daddy isn't just known for who he hangs out and works with. He has also some big hits already of his own.

Like most rappers, it wasn't easy for Trick Daddy to get his start. If you listen to Trick Daddy tell it, most of the problems he experiences today, and most of the pain that he must still feel, is all a result of growing up in one of the most dangerous and poor areas of Miami, nicknamed the Pork N Beans project, probably because that's all the people living there could afford to eat. To make matters worse, Trick Daddy had as many as 17 other siblings, with at least 12 of them coming from different fathers. Talk about tough.

But let's not psychoanalyze the man, all right? I mean, if you listen to Trick Daddy tell it, his growing up was so bad he once had to hit his teacher in the head with a pipe just to get some attention. Are we kidding? No, he got in so much trouble for the attack that they sent him to a special school for "special" children if you know what I mean. And by 1991, he was in jail for trying to sell cocaine, then for attempted murder. Am not to harp on the whole bad breaks, tough life, theme here, but while he was in jail, Trick Daddy's brother, and five of his best buds, were all killed.

Getting Real

All of this death and destruction in his life opened Trick Daddy's eyes to the idea that there must be some other way to live, if you listen to Trick Daddy tell it. That's when he came out of jail and became the rap star initially known as Trick Daddy Dollars. He got his big break when Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew fame got to know him. You can hear Trick Daddy lyrics on the 1996 Campbell album called "Uncle Luke." The Trick Daddy song was "Scarred," which really brought attention to the young and troubled rapper.

From getting hyped on the local Miami scene, he went to getting national and regional attention. This happened when another record label exec noticed him, this time ted Lucas of Slip N Slide Records. Trick Daddy got signed, and then put out the first Trick Daddy album, called "Based on a True Story." The year was 1997. It was perfect timing, because this was right around the time that the whole Southern hip hop scene was catching fire.

Then the first single Trick Daddy song soon followed, that called "Nann Nigga." That would later come out on the second Trick Daddy record, which has the name of a URL, "www.thug.com." Was that really the name of the record or its Web site address? Both.

Since then, Trick Daddy has released at least five new records, with another in 2008. The Trick Daddy albums include the 2000 "Book of Thugs," the 2001 "Thugs Are Us," the 2002 "Thug Holiday," the 2004 "Thug Matrimony," and the 2006 "Back by Thug Demand." Notice a trend here, thug? The 2008 Trick Daddy record is "A Dedication to a Thug."

From Trick Daddy to Hip Hop Music