For decades, women, especially Black women have been stripped from the opportunity of being open about their sexual pleasures. Stereotypes like the Jezebel have plagued African-American women, shaming and over-sexualizing them.
LISTEN NOW: How Trina flipped the script on stereotypes of Black women in rap - All Songs Considered
It was taboo for Black women to be open about their desires and what they wanted from a man, but defying the odds, Miami rap legend and the baddest b**** Trina changed the game.
In a new episode of NPR’s Louder Than a Riot, they sat down with the OG Bad B**** herself to explore how her career single-handedly birthed a generations of bad b****es and deconstructed the shame women felt about pursuing pleasure.
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Taking it back to 1998, Miami rapper Trick Daddy has a song called “Nann,” but there was something missing. He wanted the song to be combative and had the perfect person in mind.
Both Trina and Trick Daddy recall the day that Trick called Trina into the studio and asked her to lay down a verse. “And what am I supposed to say?” she remembers asking him to which he responded, “just be you, cuss me out.”
In the summer of 1998, “Nann” was the lead single on Trick’s album www.thug.com.
“You don't know nann h** , uh-uh, don' been the places I been, who can spend the grands that I spend, f*** 'bout five or six best friends,” Trina raps in “Nann.”
Her verses on this song not only launched her rap career but it birthed a generation of women not afraid to flex their sexual prowess. At the time she didn’t understand the impact she made on the culture when this hit the streets, but when she had to perform it for the first time, that's when she learned.
She remembered being at Trick Daddy’s birthday party and they told her she had to perform her part on stage, her stage fright had her frozen in her tracks and her friends had to physically push her on stage.
“My eyes was closed,” she said, but while she stood there eyes closed and frozen the women in the crowd rapped her part word for word and at the top of their lungs. They eliminated her stage fright and helped her realize she was liberating these women through her music.
Now, Trina had already shook the table with her verses on “Nann,” but she really changed the game with her 2000 debut album, Da Baddest B****.
She wasn’t only telling the girls to go out and be open about their freakiness but she was giving them the game too! “I’m representin’ for the b****es, all eyes on your riches,” she rapped.
She challenged the double standard that it’s okay for men to boast about their sexual encounters but not women. No, Trina is going to let you know that she’s going to have her pleasure and also get paid.
However, she didn’t want to only be know for "p***y music," she wanted to be able to turn that side on and off, so that she could be nasty when she felt like it. Even when she would get pushback from record executives trying to push her in the direction of only nasty music, she stood firm on only making music that she wanted to, “nobodies gonna’ force me to do nothing I don’t want to do,” she said.
In 2002, she released her sophomore album, Diamond Princess, stepping away from her baddest b**** era, she wanted to remove herself from Trick’s shadow and pour more into herself. But this is where Trina and Trick began to bump heads.
To this day, Trick will admit that he doesn’t like Diamond Princess and thinks Trina shouldn’t have created it. Stepping outside of his shadow, Trina escaped the ride or die trope, where Black women are expected to stick it out with a man through it all, good and bad. And with Trick feeling like he “made” Trina and even referring to himself as Jesus Christ, you can only imagine how betrayed he initially felt.
While they do still have that brotherly/sisterly bond, Trina wants to set the record straight that Trick did not make her. “You gave me the platform to do what I do… I did ‘Nann’ for you on one album, I’m six albums later,” she said.
Giving her her flowers, the episode closed with Atlanta native and rapper, Latto who considers Trina to be one of her rap idols. “She believed in me when no one else did… I love Trina to death, nobody ever ever gone speak on Trina ill in my presence,” Latto said.
Trina’s influence has been undeniable. Latto admits that she has had a huge impact on her music and you see it also spanning across artists like Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj and so many more. To hear more about the career of Trina, listen to the full episode above.
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