Trick Trick isn't the type of rapper to mince words.
Last year at this time, right before the unveiling of his Motown Records album "The People Vs," it's safe to say he was a more than a touch upset that his album was being released two days after Christmas and without what he considered much fanfare. He was pretty vocal about his displeasure with how the record label was working his album.
"They're not a good label for rap," says the Detroiter who was born Christian Mathis. "They did some real stupid stuff with my album. They had me competing with people like Mary J. Blige and Jamie Foxx. And I had very little promotion. Motown Records didn't support my record like a real record label should support a real artist. So I requested a release and got it."
The release took place in September, he says, and he has no idea how bad his album sales were. Nearly a year after its release, SoundScan reports that a disappointing 56,000 copies were sold, far less than when he was moving music independently in the mid-'90s.
"They jacked it up so bad," he says, "that I don't even want to know because I know it didn't do what I expected. So I chose to walk away."
Not that he walked away with nothing in his back pocket.
Trick Trick, a staple on the Detroit hip-hop scene since the early '90s, has already worked up a deal with G-Unit Records, the Universal Record's subsidiary for 50 Cent's signees, home to 50 and rapper Lloyd Banks. Though he's not signed yet, he says the ink should dry shortly after the new year begins and a new album should be out in early July. (Reps at G-Unit could not be reached for comment.)
He's got most of the material for the album already done, including a guest appearance from Eminem, with whom he collaborated on the 2005 hit single "Welcome to Detroit." He's also laid down tracks with 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, Ice Cube, WC, Young Jeezy, Kid Rock and has production work from Dr. Dre.
G-Unit is a fitting match, he says, because the New York-based record label knows how to work with his image: a guy from a tough upbringing who has the skills to rhyme himself away from it all.
"Out of 50 Cent's own mouth he told me: 'Trick, you're an artist that people gonna listen to because they know that what you say is real. All over the country, they respect you in the streets. So you need that priority at a label to be pushed right to sell 4 and 5 million records,' " Trick Trick says. "So to have a person like 50 Cent who did, what, 11 million, 15 million records, tell me eye to eye something like that, it helped me to know that I will be important instead of just another notch in the belt for a record label. Plus G-Unit Records is like a family. It's not just a record label."
Trick Trick's show this weekend is not just another concert.
On Sunday, he'll perform alongside Obie Trice and Paradime at a show designed to kick off the launch of a Web site that celebrates, well, groupie love. It's the kind of love -- and I'm using the word "love" loosely -- that is talked about in hip-hop and rock music and whispered about among people in the music industry.
Well, that is, up until recently. Two high- profile books -- Karrine Steffans' "Confessions from a Video Vixen" and Carmen Bryan's "It's No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, From Seduction to Scandal: A Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All" -- have come out, one from a former video vixen and another from a woman who has a kid with rapper Nas.
In the books, they talk about the sexual prowess of famous rappers and expose, from a woman's view, the hush-hush lifestyle that has been around as long as music stars -- and their fans.
The event will be hosted by radio personality Rude Jude, the guy who hurled insults at guests on "The Jenny Jones Show" back in the day.
The Web site launches in January, a project of local music manager Mike Eckstein and Jude, and will capitalize on interest in the sexual antics of famous musicians. It will feature interviews and stories from musicians and anyone else with a good story.
"This show is going to be wild," Trick Trick says. "Rude Jude is a mess. It's going to be crazy. I'm going to do everything. We're going to have fun. We're going to have a party. It's a show, so I know it's going to be a lot of people there who want to hear 'Booty Bounce' and 'Everywhere We Go We Deep,' 'Welcome to Detroit.' I got a million records now."
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