Toppa Top 10: Ten Trini Rappers Besides Nicki Minaj

Words by Jesse Serwer and Rishi Bonneville—

Without a doubt, Saint James, Trinidad native Nicki Minaj is the most influential and accomplished Caribbean-born rapper to come along in many years. But Nicki is just one of many Trini MCs to have impacted hip-hop. With her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, hitting stores today, here’s a look at some other notable rappers of Trini extraction.

10. Bang Em Smurf

An early G-Unit affiliate, Bang Em Smurf was a key player in 2000’s Birth of G-Unit mixtape along with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Sha Manteca and Mutt-Lo. Smurf fell out with 50 after he felt G-Unit left him behind while locked up, joining forces after his incarceration with Queens rapper Domination for a 2005 collaborative album in which they dissed G-Unit. After another stint in Sing-Sing prison, Bang Em Smurf was deported to his native Trinidad, and he has been involved in developing the hip-hop scene there.

9. Theophilus London

If you think about it, Brooklyn’s Theophilus London and Queens’ Nicki Minaj have quite a bit in common. Both were born in Trinidad and raised in New York City from a young age, move easily between rapping and singing and—in some quarters at least—are just as well known for their fashion sensibilities as for their music.

8. Chip Fu

As a member of the lighthearted early ’90s rap trio Fu-Schnickens (best known for ’92’s “La Schmoove,” featuring fellow Trini Phife Dawg) Chip Fu brought forth a dancehall-influenced, high-speed chatting style that had most people assuming the half-Trini, half-Bajan MC was Jamaican. After years away from hip-hop, the East Flatbush, Brooklyn native has recently returned as a solo act, dropping straight-up dancehall tracks like “Love Mi Sensi.”

7. Poetic

Originally known as Too Poetic during his days with the short-lived Long Island group of the same name, Trinidad-born Anthony Berkeley later joined up with RZA, Prince Paul and Frukwan (of Stetsasonic fame) to form the darkly comedic rap supergroup Gravediggaz, adopting the alias “Grym Reaper” and a new, “disturbed” rhyme style. Sadly, the talented and highly underrated MC died following a battle with colon cancer in 2001.

6. Fresh Kid Ice

Founding 2 Live Crew member Chris Wong Won—perhaps you know him better by his nickname, “The China Man”—was born in Trinidad and raised in New York before finding his way to Miami, where he and 2 Live cohorts Brother Marquis, Luther Campbell and Mr. Mixx popularized the Miami Bass sound with X-rated hits like “Get It Girl,” “Pop That Coochie” and “Me So Horny.”

5. Foxy Brown

Before there was Nicki, there was Foxy. While it didn’t take long for Nicki to outgrow the shadow of New York’s original Trini bad gyal, we’re still waiting for her to pull off a hip-hop meets dancehall banger on the order of “Oh Yeah,” Foxy’s Toots-sampling, Spragga Benz-featuring classic (“I dream filthy/My moms and pops mixed it with the Trini’ rum and whiskey”) Better known these days for her legal issues then her music, Foxy last year promised to make her return with the first ever-double LP from a female rapper, Black Roses. We’re still waiting for it…

4/3/2. MF Doom/Guru/KRS-One

Although you might never know it from their lyrics, each of these legendary lyricists has a parent from Trinidad, or of Trinidadian extraction. KRS-One in particular has always repped the Caribbean, essentially inventing reggae rap with the patois toasting and dancehall interpolations on Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded (check out the nods to Super Cat in “The Bridge Is Over,” above). But you’d be forgiven if you thought it was ’cause he was Jamaican, instead of Trini.

1.  Phife Dawg

A Tribe Called Quest’s Five Footer might not be the greatest of all Trini rappers but he definitely has the best lyrical references to his Trini roots. See Trini gladiator/Anti hesitator/Shaheed push the fader/From here to Grenada (from “Oh My God”) and Brothers wanna flex—you’re not Mad Cobra/MC short and black/There ain’t no other/Trini-born black like Nia Long’s grandmother (from “Steve Biko [Stir It Up]”). Read our “Annotated Tribe Called Quest for the Unseasoned Patois Traveller” article for more on Phife and Tribe’s Caribbean flavor. 

Honorebel Mention: Mister Cee

If you’re going, “But hey, Mister Cee’s a DJ!,” you are correct but you may also need to go back and do your homework. During his days holding down the turntables for Big Daddy Kane, Cee also stepped to the mic and featured on several of Kane’s tracks, including 1990’s “Down the Line” and ’91’s “DJs Don’t Get No Credit” (above).

Honorebel Mention: Spliff Star