Born Maurice Young in Miami, FL, the rapper originally known as Trick Daddy Dollars earned his stripes in 1996 as one of the lead rappers on Luke's "Scarred," the leadoff track from the former 2 Live Crew leader's Uncle Luke album. The song became a sizable hit among the booty crowd, and listeners were drawn to the remarkably fluid and quick flow of Trick Daddy Dollars. Among those drawn to him was Ted Lucas, a former concert promoter who signed the rapper to his newly formed Slip-n-Slide Records. The debut Trick Daddy Dollars album, Based on a True Story, came soon after, released in late 1997. The album sold well for an independent release, driven by some regional hits, but didn't impress too many people outside of the Miami area.
A year later everything changed with the release of www.thug.com (1998). Trick Daddy dropped the "Dollars" from his name and scored himself a breakout hit with "Nann Nigga," a club-banger that pitted him against a female nemesis, the then-unknown Trina. The hit spread throughout the South and even trickled out into the Midwest and Southwest, so much so that Atlantic Records took interest and signed Trick Daddy to a record deal. The first Atlantic release, Book of Thugs: Chapter AK Verse 47 (2000), fulfilled its promise, setting the stage for the rappers eventual commercial breakthrough. Driven by "Shut Up," a rowdy club hit similar to "Nann Nigga" and again featuring Trina, Book of Thugs extended Trick Daddy's reputation from coast to coast and established him as one of the Dirty South's more promising talents.
The big payoff came a year later with the release of Thugs Are Us (2001), the album that catapulted Trick Daddy alongside Ludacris and Mystikal as one of the few nationally championed Dirty South rappers; and it similarly catapulted him onto the play list of every urban radio station in America, not to mention MTV. In particular, the album boasted "I'm a Thug," Trick Daddy's biggest hit yet; and, more importantly, his most accessible. Despite his tattoos, gold grill, and overall thuggish aura, Trick Daddy earned mainstream airplay and climbed the Billboard charts. A year later he did so again with his fifth album in six years, Thug Holiday (2002), and its lead single, "In da Wind," perhaps Trick Daddy's most inventive work yet. Thug Matrimony: Married
