With the number of female rappers dwindling, one returns to show why she is “still the baddest” and what it takes to be taken seriously in a male dominated industry. MiddleChild spoke with Trina about her new album and what her fans can expect.

Trina: Hi. How are you?

MiddleChild: I’m good. And you?

Trina: I’m doing great.

MiddleChild: That’s good. So you still the baddest huh?
Trina: Still the baddest. Definitely. April 1st. It’s a major problem.

MiddleChild: So the album is dropping April 1st. What can the fans expect from Miss Trina?

Trina: Well the album is just amazing. It’s a whole lot of different varieties and variations of myself. Whatever you wanna be.You can imagine. It’s just a whole different level of me just doing me. I had a great time in the studio putting this album together. I had a lot of creative control. I just went in the studio and did whatever I felt like doing and it brought out the best in me. I got some great collaborations on the album with Rick Ross. Plies is on the album. Keyshia Cole is on the album. Missy and Pitbull. It’s amazing and I can’t wait for April 1st.

MiddleChild: Now we know you have a habit of working with strong females. You mentioned Keyshia Cole and Missy and you have worked with Kelly Rowland and Teedra Moses in the past also. Is this intentional on your part?

Trina: I just think there’s always a great message when women get together and they speak and people love that. We got beautiful people in the industry...women...their strong and I love the collaborations. I love the motivation and working with these artists. I’ve worked with almost every artist...every female that’s in the game right now and I’m very excited and blessed for that. I think it’s just always good to collaborate and get what’s on their mind off and let the world hear it.

MiddleChild: Okay and you’re taking care of business as usual. Is it hard being taken seriously as a businesswoman because of the sex appeal that you embody?

Trina: You know I don’t find it hard. It makes the job to where you have to prove more. You have so much more to prove. You have to stay focused and definitely have your head in the right direction. You have to let people know you mean business so that they won’t project or think otherwise and as long as you’re doing that I don’t think you should have no problem. So I’m good to go because I handle my business first and foremost, but it’s a constant battle of proving and a constant battle of letting people know you mean business and you’re serious about what you do.

MiddleChild: Right. So I’m wondering if there had been any mistakes on your previous projects that you have learned from that you plan to take head on this time around and make sure your new project is more successful.

Trina: I think in promoting and marketing a project there is always going to be somebody who thinks there is something someone else should have done and even being said as much as people are going to put into the project…whether it’s A&R, PR or even the artist itself, the management, the label, everybody hands down doing what they’re going to do…I just feel that as an artist it’s about you. You gotta go out there. You gotta put the mastering touch to the project. You gotta just do everything different than before. Like for myself, this is my fourth album so I know for the fourth time around I gotta give twice as much as the first two albums. You got a lot more records and everything else involved. It’s just stepping the game up and working a little bit harder. Mistakes are going to happen. Mistakes are just a part of who we are as humans so you just can’t really say when and where there is going to be a mistake. If I’ve done a show and I feel like it wasn’t as strong as the show before, I know I definitely wanna take it up the next time. Putting it all into reality form I know I can do 100% of what I do and hopefully it’s 100% better than before.

MiddleChild: Okay. Well let me tell you that I am loving the new Ozone Magazine cover that you did. You pretty much have the magazine game on lock from KING to OZONE and several others.

Trina: Yeaaaaa (laughs) It’s beautiful. Thank you.

MiddleChild: No problem. Do you feel your image has softened over the years?

Trina: I mean I just do me. I like whatever I like. I’m from Miami, the sunshine state. It’s warm. There are a lot of beautiful people. We get to wear sexy bathing suits and the dresses and not too much jackets. Everything is warm and beautiful and I feel like every year, every month, every other weekend or so I’m always changing and my image is always going to be different and sometimes on stage I may want to feel a little extra sexy and then you may see me in the mall and I may feel a little differently. I think the image for me is just what I’m feeling as I go each day.

MiddleChild: I can understand that. Now the numbers as far as female rappers are dwindling. I know we have a new era trying to come up, but as a whole the numbers are much smaller. What do you think the future holds for female rappers?

Trina: I mean the future is whatever you make it. We got female artists that’s in the game and it’s up to us as artists to grind, to get up the hustle, get in the studio, put out music, do collaborations, go on tour and work. It’s up to us. The future lies in our hands and it’s about whatever we chose to do with it. There is film. There are endorsements. It’s so many other things that we do outside of music that plays a part in the industry and it just depends on how much you wanna give. Do you feel like putting out an album this year? Who is to say how many females are going to come out this year. We just never know. I definitely think the future lies in our hands. It’s about what we put into it. It could be big. It could be small. It’s up to us.

MiddleChild: I hear you. Well I know you’re on a tight schedule, but I really do appreciate your time.

Trina: Thank you!

MiddleChild: And we definitely going to show you love and be on the lookout for the new video with Keyshia.

Trina: Ok. Thanks sweetie. Bye. I really enjoyed the interview.

MiddleChild: Me too. Have a good one.