Trina Talks Respect For Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, And Lack Of Camaraderie Amongst Women In Hip-Hop
In the latest episode of Drink Champs, Trina sat with hosts N.O.R.E and DJ EFN to get candid. In the jovial sitdown, the “Queen of the South” discussed her love and respect for Beyonce, ex-boyfriend and former fiancé Lil Wayne, and shared her thoughts about camaraderie (and sometimes lack thereof) amongst fellow women rappers in the Hip-Hip community.
After discussing her Verzuz with fellow rapstress Eve, her long-time music collaborator and friend Trick Daddy and his controversial comments about Queen Bey became a topic of conversation. Trina admitted that she gave him the silent treatment for weeks.
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“Don’t speak on the queen, bro,” Trina recalled saying. “I’m team queen … I’m the Bey-Hive. You don’t do that. And I didn’t speak to him for two or three weeks. We’re sitting next to each other and I have my mic and chair turned this way and I’m like this … ‘you need to apologize.'”
She added, ” Everybody has an opinion and that’s fine, but here you go. And you already know [how] I start my morning off and it’s the queen [Beyoncé] everything. How dare you? Like keep your opinions to yourself, talk amongst your friends, but don’t publicly say anything about her. Like no, we not doing that.”
During the “Quick Time With Slime” segment of the show, N.O.R.E. threw out different rappers’ names to see which one Trina would choose. When asked, “Lil Wayne or Drake?” Trina responded, “Oh, we have to take a shot (raises glass).” When the conversation segued to her relationship with Wayne, she gave her former boyfriend and ex- his flowers.
“Golly, in real life though I’m gonna go with Wayne. I’m just saying that’s [Lil Wayne] legend. In a real form, it’s gonna always be Wayne. That’s legendary, iconic, and it’s just always gonna be Wayne, Weezy F. It’s not gonna ever go no different than that. But I love Drake. So, that’s why I’ma take a shot.”
Delving deeper into her history with the New Orleans legend, Trina added, “Wayne, to me, has always been like a great person. Even just going beyond, like back in the day just from our situation and just being young. Sometimes when you’re young and in this industry, you’re just fast, and it just doesn’t work out the way you plan or think it’s gonna work out. You’re 20-something years old, you’re hot in the game. You’re making so much money all over the place, and Wayne is a real, like one of the most honest guys I’ve ever been around or met. When I say honest … like a real honest person. Like he’s not with the games, and that’s not him. That was just never the situation.”
She ended with, “I’m always going to speak highly of him. He’s a great man, he’s a smart person, he was always amazing and nice to me. Us just being friends to this day, if I hit him for anything … a song, if I say ‘hi,’ [need] a favor, it’s always ‘yes.’ It’s a respect that I’m never gonna not have for him.”
Deeper into the episode of the interview, Trina spoke about the power of women’s empowerment in Hip-Hop. Mentioning the need for more female representation in rap, the “Naan” rapstress said, “Women are a little catty, so we’re like different when it comes to getting along more than guys,” she shared.
Claiming that she can’t relate to “not getting along with others,” she told the hosts, “My mom opened a beauty salon, so I grew up around women. That’s all I saw, all day, every day, girls getting their hair done. At the hair salon, you heard it all. So, when it comes to women, I’ve always come up in that uplifting environment when it came to women.”
She added, “When you see the ‘Ladies Night’ [music] video this is what you think of female Hip Hop.” She talked about the women rap artists who were around that showed her love when she came into the industry. But in today’s Hip-Hop game, Trina pointed out, “It’s not like that.”
“This time and day, these girls are not as connected. They’re not as friendly, they don’t want to link up. It’s too much arguing. It’s too much back and forth. The jealousy is too much. ‘Oh, I’m linking up with you because your hot, and when I get to meet you in real life and know you. I’m intimidated or I’m this.'”
“I’m not like that,” she continued before bringing up her friend Missy Elliott. “I’m not intimidated by Missy. This is a genius. I’m inspired…I want to get this check. E, this is my friend. I want to watch you rise and soar…So, with these girls, you can’t make them all see that kind of vision or feel that same kind of way.”
Watch Trina’s full Drink Champs interview above.
