Da baddest

Hip-hop artist Trina recounts her rise to fame in her fast and funny, if guarded, debut. Before her breakout verse on Trick Daddy's 1998 single "Nann," Trina lived a comfortable life in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood, surrounded by friends who shielded her from the area's violent crime: "Someone with allegiances to my family was always a stone's throw away," she writes. Trina's mother instilled great confidence in her ("We were the epitome of bad bitches, so we took every opportunity to show out"), which came in handy when Miami rapper Trick Daddy asked her to guest on "Nann," and she parlayed the track's success into a record deal. Much of the account focuses on the writing and recording of Trina's debut album, Da Baddest Bitch, her label's skepticism about its follow-up, Diamond Princess, and her eventual decision to release music independently. On occasion, Trina punctuates the memoir's chatty, lighthearted tone with snippets of heavier material, including gut-wrenching descriptions of her miscarriages and breakup with Lil' Wayne. For the most part, though, this fails to pierce the author's steely exterior. It's best suited to Trina's dedicated fans. Agent: Nicki Richesin, Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner. (Oct.)

In a smart, sassy memoir, rapper Taylor recounts her experiences with fame and loss. Raised in Miami by an ambitious and caring mother, a series of supportive father figures, and a "huge family of loud talkers," Taylor found more pleasure in performing as a majorette and clubbing than in academics. After a brief stint trying to sell real estate, she realized she could make more money as a stripper. She shot to fame in 1998 by rapping a verse from a raunchily female point of view on her friend Trick Daddy's song "Nann," which led to multiple concert performances. That in turn brought a contract with Miami-based Slip-N-Slide Records, with whom she produced several albums. Then came a friendship with rapper Missy Elliot, who wrote the foreword for this memoir. Throughout Taylor's career, which reached its peak in the early 2000s, her mission was "to make music that women connect with." Her memoir reveals a clear understanding of both the ups and downs of the music business and of herself as a performer: "I love melodies and R & B, but I am not a singer by any stretch of the imagination," she writes. She is levelheaded enough to also recognize that "Trina the artist is an enhanced, performed version of who I am in real life." She gets into the highs and lows of her romantic life, including relationships with fellow rapper Lil Wayne and basketball star Kenyon Martin, and her strong ties to her extended family in Miami, including the sorrow she suffered over the death of a murdered brother and the loss of her mother to cancer. A treat for fans of the rapper and those looking for insights into the music industry. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.