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Detroit's self-appointed cultural guardian, a hip-hop artist who records in Livonia, is talking tough again.
"It's a respect thing. Anywhere you go, you give people respect in their town," Trick-Trick tells Detroit poet Kahn Santori Davison in a Metro Times interview, explaining his "No Fly Zone" stance against some outside artists.
"I don't give a fuck how it's affected my reputation," he says. "It just would be wise for promoters to call me and check on the artists they trying to book before they book 'em! They goin' to fuck around and book somebody I don't want here and I'm going to tear his ass up when he gets here. . . .
"People tell me I run Detroit, and I say, no. Dan Gilbert runs Detroit, I just enforce a certain area."
Trick-Trick: "People tell me I run Detroit, and I say, no. Dan Gilbert runs Detroit, I just enforce a certain area."
His vigilante gatekeeping made national news last June when Trick led a blockade by more than 100 people outside Chene Park Amphitheater before a Summer Jamz concert by Miami rapper Rick Ross. A statement from the event promoter, The Right Productions, explained why the show didn't go on:
The band of individuals orchestrated a human blockade around the service entrance to the venue – preventing Mr. Ross and his entourage from entering the premises. A decision was made from Mr. Ross’ team the conditions were becoming threatening and posed a security risk.
In his new comments to the freelance writer, 41-year-old Trick (born as Christian Mathis) casts himself as divinely inspired -- the local urban music community's version of a pope or ayatollah, in effect:
"God made me a leader. . . . I've been built up and given strength from a higher power that has put me in this position," he says.
At Davison's Facebook page, a friend of the journalist comments under a link to his article: "Am I the only one who thinks this dude is nuts? He's got some kind of God complex?"
The colorful interview also touches on changes in Midtown and downtown, which elicits "a bit of a rant," as Davison puts it.
"Just let it be fixed! If you live in a fucked-up neighborhood, do something about it! If these muthafuckas done bought up all this property, that's because yo' ass didn't buy it first! . . .
"I salute Dan Gilbert because he believed in my city and he's putting money into it."
