Trina

Origins

Trina was born Katrina Laverne Taylor on December 3, 1978, in Miami and grew up in Liberty City. She attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where she was a majorette. Rap was not her plan. In 1998 she was working toward a real estate license when Trick Daddy heard her and asked her to take a verse on his song “Nann N***a.”

Breakthrough

“Nann N***a” became the lead single from Trick Daddy’s album “www.thug.com.” It reached number 3 on the rap chart, and Trina’s blunt, comic verse made her the breakout voice of the record. She signed with Slip-n-Slide Records, which was distributed by Atlantic, and appeared again with Trick Daddy on “Shut Up” and on “Take It to da House” (2001), which reached number 50 on the Hot 100.

Key records

Her debut album, “Da Baddest B***h” (2000), took its title from her signature phrase. It reached number 33 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold. “Diamond Princess” (2002) debuted at number 14. “Glamorest Life” (2005) produced “Here We Go” with Kelly Rowland, which reached number 17 on the Hot 100 and was certified gold. “Still da Baddest” (2008) became her highest-charting album, reaching number 6 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. “Amazin’” (2010) debuted at number 13. Alongside her albums she released a long run of mixtapes and later EPs.

Later career and legacy

Trina released six studio albums, a total few female rappers of her era reached, and she stayed active with EPs and features through the 2010s. She joined the main cast of VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Miami” in 2018. XXL has called her the most consistent female rapper of all time, and Billboard placed her at number 13 on its list of the best female rappers. Her explicit, self-assured persona drew on the Miami bass tradition of 2 Live Crew but turned it around to put a woman’s voice at the center. Together with Trick Daddy she gave Slip-n-Slide and Liberty City a national profile at the turn of the 2000s, and later Miami artists often point to her as a model for staying independent-minded inside the major label system while keeping ties to the neighborhood.