Trick Daddy

Origins

Trick Daddy was born Maurice Samuel Young on September 27, 1974, at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He grew up in the Liberty Square public housing project in Liberty City, known locally as the Pork-N-Beans, where his mother, Pearl Brockington, raised him alongside ten siblings. He first drew attention with a guest appearance on Luther Campbell’s 1996 track “Scarred,” which put him in front of the Miami audience that had grown up on bass music.

Breakthrough

Ted Lucas signed him to Slip-n-Slide Records, which released his debut album, “Based on a True Story,” in 1997 through Warlock. The follow-up, “www.thug.com” (1998), reached number 30 on the Billboard 200 and went gold. Its single “Nann N***a,” a back-and-forth with a then-unknown Trina, reached number 3 on the rap chart and number 62 on the Hot 100 and launched her career as well as his.

Key records

Slip-n-Slide moved its distribution to Atlantic for “Book of Thugs: Chapter AK Verse 47” (2000), which reached number 26 and went gold. “Thugs Are Us” (2001) reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, carried by “Take It to da House,” a party record with Trina and the SNS Express that reached number 50 on the Hot 100, and “I’m a Thug,” which reached number 8 on the R&B chart. “Thug Holiday” (2002) reached number 6 and went gold. His biggest album, “Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets” (2004), reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the R&B albums chart and went platinum. Its single “Let’s Go,” with Lil Jon and Twista, reached number 7 on the Hot 100 and went gold, and “Sugar (Gimme Some)” with Cee Lo Green, Ludacris and Lil’ Kim reached number 20.

Later career and legacy

“Back by Thug Demand” (2006) was his last album for Slip-n-Slide and Atlantic. He then released “Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug” (2009) on his own Dunk Ryders label through Fontana, which reached number 34. He started a podcast in 2017 and joined the cast of VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Miami” in 2018. Trick Daddy, Trina and Slip-n-Slide gave Miami a street rap identity separate from the bass records of the 1980s, and his run of albums between 1998 and 2004 made Liberty City a regular subject in Southern rap.