On the eve of his first independent album release, rapper Trick Daddy is feeling very confident that he will continue to experience the same success as he did on a major label.
The Miami pioneer is gearing up for the release of his eighth studio release, Finally Famous, due out September 15.
The album will be the first release on Trick’s new imprint Dunk Ryder Records, which he launched after leaving his longtime recording home, Slip-N-Slide Records, in 2007.
While the move for independence seemed sudden to some fans, Trick reveals that it was a decision he had been pondering since the release of 2004’s Thug Matrimony.
The lack of promotional support behind his last Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic release, Back By Thug Demand, sealed his fate.
“You go from four videos and four singles, to two singles and videos, to one video and not even one magazine cover,” Trick explained. “Then you’re selling out at the store and your homeboy is excited. But when you sell out in stores, they ain’t got enough product. Something ain’t right. That means you missing out on money. My last album sales and marketing setup was so terrible; it got so bad that the stores wasn’t receiving the records they ordered.”
Now at the helm of his new movement, Trick is excited to deliver a collection of street tales that cover his vast experiences in and out of the Hip-Hop game, which he feels will connect with fans across the board.
“I got something for the ghettoes,” he said of Finally Famous. “I got something you can ride around and smoke to, I got a little something you can vibe and think too. I got something that’s gonna remind you who I am. I covered all the bases without the big features, without the big production, cause I got my producers and my own artists.”
The album also serves as a preview of sorts for Trick’s literary debut. Later this year, he will unveil his new autobiography, Magic City: Trials of a Native Son.
“The album is actually the soundtrack for the book,” Trick revealed. “I’m telling you from discovering my first love of music to the first time I saw somebody use cocaine. I tell you everything I ever have been arrested for, I speak about going to prison. I tell you the first time I heard the words ‘free base,’ the first crack baby I remember seeing. “You’ll get my accounts of surviving three major hurricanes [and] two riots,” he continued.
“But we’re not getting anybody indicted. I’m not violating any street codes when telling my story,” Trick promised.
Following the release of Magic City, Trick Daddy will also pen a graphic novel series titles Nann, in which he appears as a super hero defending the hood from social ills, and fighting off the fraudulent rappers trying to take over the music industry.
He is also positioning himself to become the next spokesperson for Lupus research after recently revealing that he has battled the disease for the last ten years.