Trinity: DIY Chicago Style
Posted by Justin Boland on May 01, 2012 | 0 Comments
More Chicago talent this week: a motivated and talented young rapper named Trinity has been quietly building a name for quality. She is living the DIY hustle like a full-time job and learning every aspect of the industry available. This was a dope interview and I hope you can catch some of this energy. There are cats working this hard all around the country right now: hustle different. Here’s how Trinity makes it happen…
AH: How do you keep your promo game organized when you run so much of it yourself? What are the tools you use to stay on top of business every day?
Trinity: Twitter, Email and Facebook are what I live by and in that order. My goal is to do one promotional task daily that I did not do the day before. I keep my fan-base, friends and family members updated on everything I do musically because I feel it helps to generate interest. It’s important for people to see what I’m doing because it sparks their interest to tune into my movement. To stay organized I print a physical calendar and check it daily. Since the middle of 2011 my shows and features have picked up significantly and I don’t want to miss any opportunities.
AH: Do you have any advice for female rappers on how to sidestep the bullshit? You’ve got a lot of co-signs strictly on the basis of your lyrics & flow — how did you build the Trinity brand?
Trinity: The best advice that I would have for female Mc’s is to never mix business with play. Once a relationship becomes too personal with a male counterpart you pretty much lose the business side of things. And you definitely want your reputation to be one of a serious artist. Also, as females we must demand respect. I’ve ran into numerous guys in the business who feel just because I’m a female my knowledge is inadequate and they can talk down to me because they may have had greater success. I’m never overly demanding but I do expect a mutual respect.
I recall a producer that approached me a couple of years ago to work on some records together. The first conversation went really well and after that he turned into a real jerk. I remember him asking “Do you know who I am? Google me!†Lol. Needless to say I couldn’t take it. Maybe last year I saw this same guy on 106th and park as a freestyle Friday judge and he eventually went on to win a Grammy for working on a track with a well known Atlanta rapper. I’m not sure if my decision was good or bad from a business perspective. I hear he has a reputation for using up and coming artists. So it feels right but if it was truly smart, I’ll never know.
I feel that I’ve been able to build my brand by not expecting any handouts. I really want to build my own career so that if I ever have an opportunity to operate as an artist on a larger scale I’m very capable of running my own career for the most part. Furthermore, I feel like my colleagues do respect my rap skills. I work hard to be a dope artist with dope ideas and dope marketing. Plus I just want to be the best. If you ask me to get on a track with you, my goal is to make sure I’m better than you on the track, HA! I want your fans to pause and say wait, who is she?
AH: Do you think there’s a clear “road map” for Chicago artists to make it, or do Chicago artists still have to create their own success?
Trinity: I feel that every artist has to create their own success. I do feel that it’s harder for Chicago artist to get national attention in comparison to other “big’ cities. For our city to be considered a large market in other areas of entertainment, I don’t understand why we don’t have a solid music industry here. Unfortunately the advice from those Chicago artist who have gotten major label deals or established a national indie buzz, is that you must leave our city in order to do so. I have taken this advice as a must do for my personal career. I have yet to begin to actively perform outside of my state but the offers have started to roll in. It saddens me to say but I will indeed leave my city to pursue my success. It’s crazy to me how that when most Chicago artist began to buzz in our city, it’s as a result of other cities backing them.
AH: What cities are reaching out? Who has the biggest demand for actual hip hop these days?
Trinity: I feel like the demand for Hip Hop is shifting over to the West coast. I’ve received performance offers in Arizona and Miami more recently. The Miami offer was for an ol’ school females Mc’s showcase that’s only open for up and coming female Mc’s. I’m not sure how that fell through this month (March) but hopefully I’ll be there for the next show. I was offered1 of 4 performance slots and expressed my interest but about a week or so later I seen flyers for the same event with more well known up and coming artists on it.
I’ve been getting beats sent to me and blog posts more so from the West Coast than the Midwest or East. Overall, I feel like there’s more dope and thorough artists coming out of the West. Artists that are actually good song writers, good performers and have depth. I feel that’s what my music reflects so perhaps that’s why bloggers and producers there have noticed me.
AH: If you had an unlimited budget, what’s the first position you’d hire for? What do you want to outsource the most?
Trinity: In a perfect world, the first thing I would do is a hire an established road manager. I read a lot of the advice offered by other more established artist and a common key to success is performance exposure. I’ve been working at becoming a better performer in terms of paying attention to what songs work, relating to the crowd and keeping my energy up. Presently, I’m looking forward to performing in other cities and around the world. I can’t wait until I began to travel and I’m able to see how crowds outside of my city respond to my music. The shows are immediate feedback, which I love. I’m the type of person that can even appreciate negative feedback because it’s better than nothing.
AH: Who are the artists you look up to, in terms of music business and smart career moves?
Trinity: Two artists that I really look up to for their career moves from a business perspective are Missy Elliot and more recently Nicki Minaj. I love how Missy established herself in the behind the scenes part of the industry. She produces and writes for other artists. And further more than that she has a very huge hand in the direction of her music and image. I definitely want to write for other rap and singing artists, when given the opportunity. And I definitely and purposely control the direction of my marketing, videos, song engineering and anything else in relation to my music. I recently released a video entitled ‘Odds and Evens’ in which I developed my own video treatment. This video has been my most notable work to date and the video directors told me that I was the first artist to ever come to them with my own ideas.
I really look up to Nicki Minaj for being bold enough to take on the variety of endeavors that she has, unrelated to Hip Hop. The culture is very critical of cross over main stream success. She has received a lot of backlash recently for transitioning into more of pop music and endorsements. At the end of the day what girl could pass up a chance to have their own nail polish line? Not me! Lol In the words of Jay-Z “Go further…If not, then why bother?â€
AH: Are there any books you’d recommend to new artists?
Trinity: I would recommend Donald Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business.
AH: What helps you stay focused & keep the faith when times get hard?
Trinity: Honestly, the only thing that really keeps me on top of my music are my fans. I swear it seems like every time I’m ready to give in to the hardships of the business side of music someone texts, tweets or approaches and tells me how they appreciate a piece of my work. The business part of music can be very frustrating. But I love writing and using it as a tool to express myself. I love performing because the energy from people is an addictive feeling, better than the best kush. It’s hard watching others that seem to have no real passion for music as an art surpass you. But I’ll remain steadfast in hopes that I’ll be able to do music forever.
