Widely regarded as the Queen of the South, Trina cemented her place in Miami’s upper echelon of rap royalty with a breakout catalog of subversive sex appeal. Beginning with 2000’s Da Baddest Bitch, Trina set the stage for sexual expression, confidently upending stereotypes and encouraging women to be the baddest bitches they can be.

“Everybody has this addiction with the South. It just took a moment for us to break the barrier, and once it did, and this record came out, it was powerful and it was huge,” Trina tells the Weekly. 

Everyone from Ludacris and Missy Elliott to Latto and Snoop Dogg have clamored to collaborate with Trina, and her reach has extended far beyond the studio. She’s a fan favorite on VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop: Miami, giving back to her community extensively through her Diamond Doll Foundation. She’s also the founder of Rockstarr Music Festival—and has a real estate license, in case you ever doubted her tenacity. (“I'm expanding my whole empire,” she says.) 

The Weekly caught up with Trina, who was scheduled to perform at the Lovers & Friends Festival on May 4 before its cancellation. Here’s what “Da Baddest” had to say about her new memoir, influencing the next generation and more. 

Your music really became the blueprint for a lot of female rappers today. When you were making Diamond Princess and Da Baddest Bitch, did you ever consider you were making something foundational for the next generation? 

At that time, honestly, I didn't think of it that way. In those moments, the songs and the lifestyle were just so surreal. It's a great feeling, just to be in a space to know that some form of inspiration has passed on to the next generation, and they could carve it out however they want to. We all come from different places, different struggles, different lifestyles. I think that's the beauty of it: the different sounds of the girls, and there's so many girls now compared to when I started. There weren't that many of us. It was like a small little cult of us, now it's a whole bunch of girls. 

February’s Rockstarr Music Festival had so many amazing women on the lineup, including Yung Miami who headlined. Why was it important for you to gather this roster of female rappers in such a public way? 

When you're coming up and you're an artist, especially new artists, you don't get to do as many festivals. Everybody is not going to make Rolling Loud and all the big festivals. There's so many girls that are so dope, that have music and there's not a lot of platforms [for them]. There's no [Yo!] MTV Raps, there's no BET 106 & Park … there's none of these things where you can really get out here and do your thing. 

I remember when I first did Rolling Loud and I was like wow, you know what? I want to do my own festival. I see so many artists that when [the lineup] comes out, they don't make the list, and I'm like why didn't they perform? Where are they? You wanna see them. This is the second year, but next year I have a whole different mindset with a list of new girls and guys, different people I want to see that are coming up in the industry to shine, and I just want to be a part of that platform…being an artist myself and knowing how important that is. 

Who inspires you now? I know you threw everybody in a tiff recently by calling Beyonce one of the best rappers. 

They get all rowdy, I don't know why! They know I'm a stan. I grew up on Beyonce. We came up around the same time. She was a little bit before me, but when it was Destiny's Child, they were on the same tours and same shows as us.  

This is an R&B icon, pop singer and now country artist. And there's so many songs that are rapping. It's still melodic, but they're rapping and she doesn't ever get categorized or get credit for being a rapper. I think that's my most crunk, pumped up time. That's when she's in her alter ego. That's when she's in her extreme beast mode. She lets it all out, then comes back and gives us beautiful ballads and romantic music. That's the inner beast in me that loves that. 

At that time, I was just fresh from the Renaissance tour. I was still magically in awe. It was an extremely powerful moment for us and our culture. It may never be done again. I think people have to just live in that, appreciate that and really understand this is a part of us. We all came in on this culture when Beyonce started out in Destiny's Child. This has now turned into Superwoman. 

Your memoir, Da Baddest, is coming out this fall. Why was now the right time to tell your story?  

I just felt like everybody always asked me that. They always ask me a lot about my history and about the business coming up, the difference from then to now and how I feel. I do a thousand interviews and keep explaining it; I'm just gonna put it in a memoir. The culture, the lifestyle, family, friends, how I got into the studio with Trick, how I switched to real estate — I just gave it all into that. I brought the new culture, I brought me starting my career, people I work with, who I adore, who I admire and who I'm inspired by. I added it all like a big story and made it into one.

Missy Elliott wrote the foreword on the book. Why was she the right person to do that?

Truthfully, she's one of my best friends that I've met in this industry and who I've learned a lot from. I'm talking about business, financial literacy, just everything. She's a very solid human, very nice person and we just became bonded. She’s a person who knows me and has been there from the beginning starting point and until now. She's been there, with me losing my mom, losing my family members. She was the perfect person to give her interpretation of how she felt about me and my whole career. That was who I trusted. 

Was there anything in this memoir people would be surprised to learn about you?

Of course. A lot of people don't really know my story. They only know certain things about the songs and how stuff was done, and how I gotta get started with Trick. But they don't really know the extreme backdrop of it. This plays it out and shows you exactly how I started. It shows the fun side. It shows my losses. It shows me just getting started on the label. It shows me growing up. It shows so much depth and the levels of myself. I just felt like I told my story. I didn't leave out the sad parts or the part that was hurtful. I put it all in there.