Trina

When Trina first appeared as the assertive and raunchy foil on Trick Daddy’s 1998 Top Five rap single “Nann,” she held no musical ambition, yet that whirlwind verse ignited a lasting and deeply influential path. The Miamian demonstrated on her gold-certified debut Da Baddest Bitch (2000) that she could command the center stage. Four more Top 20 albums followed, spanning Diamond Princess (2002) to Amazin’ (2010) and including the number 17 pop hit “Here We Go,” establishing Trina among the most commercially successful rappers of the new millennium while opening doors for similarly bold and provocative artists such as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion. She later expanded into reality television on Love & Hip Hop: Miami and earned a sixth charting album with The One (2019). During the 2020s she collaborated with Latto, Flo Milli, and Smiles Official.

Born Katrina Laverne Taylor in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, Trina was raised by a father originally from the Dominican Republic and a mother from the Bahamas. After graduating high school in 1992 she pursued further studies aimed at a real-estate career. When friends took her to the video shoot for Luke’s “Scarred,” Trick Daddy, the featured guest on the track, invited her to supply a counterpoint on a song he was recording. Though she initially declined, Trina eventually added her verse to “Nann.” Issued as a single, the track reached number three on Billboard’s rap chart and number 62 on the Hot 100. Hesitant at first to accept a solo deal from Slip-N-Slide, she ultimately joined Trick on the label and quickly capitalized on “Nann” with Da Baddest Bitch. The album, which spawned the title track and the equally brash Hot 100 entry “Pull Over,” debuted at number 11 on the R&B/hip-hop chart and attained gold status eight months after its March 2000 release.

Trina next worked with a higher-profile roster of collaborators that included her major personal inspiration Missy Elliott, returning in 2002 with Diamond Princess. The set featured another Hot 100 single, “B R Right”—a Kanye West production carrying a Ludacris guest verse—and launched a run of full-length projects that reached the Top 20 of the Billboard 200. The star-studded and more polished Glamorest Life followed in 2005, led by the Top 20 pop hit “Here We Go,” a ballad with Kelly Rowland that also drew songwriting input from Teedra Moses.

After the less slick Still da Baddest (2008) and the more sophisticated Amazin’ (2010), Trina departed Slip-N-Slide and continued through mixtapes, EPs, occasional singles, and guest spots on tracks led by Juicy J, K. Michelle, and Run the Jewels. She gained further visibility starring alongside Trick Daddy on Love & Hip Hop: Miami, the reality series that premiered in 2018. During its four-season run she released The One in 2019 via Fast Life Entertainment and her own Rockstarr Music Group; the album included the single “BAPS” with Nicki Minaj. Shortly afterward Trina returned to the Hot 100 as featured guest on the remix of Latto’s “Bitch from da Souf,” another rapper she had inspired. Additional guest verses and headlining tracks such as “Receipts” and “Clap” (with Latto) appeared across 2021 and 2022. In 2023 she joined Flo Milli, Maiya the Don, and J.K. Mac on the single “No Love Shemix” and appeared on Smiles Official’s “So Sexy.”