By Ismael AbduSalaam
Detroit’s Trick Trick, the self-proclaimed “villain” of
Hip-Hop, made himself one of the culture’s biggest talking points this year
courtesy of one-sided feuds with Yung Berg and the gay community.
Over the summer, talkative rapper Yung Berg was mercilessly
beaten and relieved of his trademark Transformer chain mere moments after
stepping into Trick’s Plan B nightclub.
In an exclusive interview, Trick denied responsibility
for the attack while at the same time making his disdain for Berg known.
“First of all I ain’t no jack n*gga. I don’t need to
jack nann n*gga to get what I gotta get,” Trick told AllHipHop.com in August.
“Karma’s a muthaf*cka so I’m not taking no n*gga’s shit. I earn mine. I don’t
need that piece of sh*t aluminum foil chain the b*tch had on no way.”
The beating left a battered Yung Berg unable to
complete a scheduled performance for Hot 102.7’s Summer Jam.
Later, Trick admitted that it was his crew that
committed the assault. However, he insisted Berg deserved it for his alleged
disparaging comments about Trick and dark skin women.
“I saved that n*gga’s life. He would probably be dead
right now or in a coma if I hadn’t ran over there and pushed the lil homies back
so they could quit stomping this n*gga,” Trick elaborated. “You can’t be saying
‘f*ck Trick Trick’ and you don’t like dark skin women. I was gonna school the
little n*gga to the ropes of the game! If you gonna take some notes, take notes
from an OG. The lil homies got that trophy [the chain], I don’t want that sh*t.
I don’t have any problems with the little n*gga. I [just] don’t like him, and
he ain’t got to never come back to this b*tch.”
Although Yung Berg has since remained mute on the
incident, Trick Trick as recent as mid December was seen sporting the
Transformer chain at an Atlanta concert.
Three months later, Trick Trick turned his venom on an
unlikely target, the gay community.
Prior to the release of The Villain, his second studio album, Trick unexpectedly blasted
the homosexual lifestyle and barred gays from purchasing the LP.
“I’m a go on record right now with this. Homosexuals
are probably not gonna like this album,” Trick stated to AllHipHop.com in
November. “I don’t want your faggot money any goddamn way. I don’t like it
[homosexuality]. Carry that sh*t somewhere else.”
The album featured a self-titled track deriding gay
activists Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell, referencing them as “dyke
b*tches” and vowing to send a “scud missile right through their f*cking cruise
ship.”
The Detroit rapper carried his venom over to the issue
of gay adoption, stating “He goes both ways/Either way he’s gay/Ain’t no other
way to say/He’s a f*ckig faggot so I’m
lettin’ off my AK/Bust ‘em in his forehead/He ain’t worth lettin’ live/A man
and a man shouldn’t raise another man’s kids!”
Right on the heels of Proposition 8 banning gay
marriage in California, the Gay and Lesbian community was infuriated by Trick’s
unprovoked comments.
“I really can’t get past the fact that Trick Trick
calls himself that name,” stated Camilo Arenivar, founder of the alternative
LBGT site OutHipHop.com. “With all the homework he did on Rosie’s cruises and
gay adoption, he should have found out that a ‘trick’ is a word heavily used in
the gay community to describe what a gay hustler turns to make a buck.”
Trick remained defiant in spite of the mounting
criticism, refusing to succumb to what he alleges is the growing acceptance of
homosexuality in mainstream society.
“It’s just that every time that you turn on the TV,
that sissy sh*t is on,” Trick countered. “And they act like its f*cking okay.
The world is changing for the worst when sh*t like that happens.”
Despite this and the high-profile Yung Berg assault,
Trick Trick’s The Villain received
little fanfare when released and failed to crack the Billboard Top 200.
It remains to be seen in 2009 whether Trick Trick can
foster more attention to his music, or if the Detroit rapper will continue to
spark controversy for statements and actions outside of the booth.