Nicholaus Joseph Williams (born September 24, 1987), better known by his stage name Trinidad James (often stylized as Trinidad Jame$), is a Trinidadian-American rapper. In 2012, he signed a recording contract with

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. The label dropped him in 2014 when he failed to release an album, although he continues to release music as an independent artist and is signed to Artist Publishing Group for songwriting.

Early life

Nicholaus Williams was born in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a munic ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

. His family moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

before settling in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. As a child, he went to

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syst ...

. He has stated he cannot remember any parts of his life before the age of seven because of a head injury. In the eighth grade, he moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, where he began playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. He began rapping in November 2011. He has listed Jay-Z,

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

, T.I., and

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followi ...

as his influences.

Career

In 2012, James released his official debut single, called " All Gold Everything", which charted in the top 40 of the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was taken from his official debut mixtape, titled ''Don't Be S.A.F.E. (Sensitive As Fuck Everyday)'', which was released on July 31, 2012, and officially re-released with a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

on October 16, 2012. On December 13, 2012, it was announced James had signed a joint venture with Def Jam Records for approximately $2 million. In January, Def Jam re-released ''Don't Be S.A.F.E'' to iTunes, which included the remix to "All Gold Everything" featuring

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, ...

, T.I., and

. On August 6, 2013, he announced that he would be releasing his second mixtape, titled ''10 PC Mild'', on August 13. After months of not releasing any new music, James announced that he had been dropped from Def Jam on August 1, 2014. He also indicated that instead of releasing his album through the label, he would make it available for free, and that the producers and rappers who contributed to the project should not expect any compensation because he had "no money." In April 2016, James released the single "Just a Lil' Thick (She Juicy)" featuring Mystikal and

Lil Dicky David Andrew Burd (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, comedian, and actor. He came to prominence with the release of the music video for his song "Ex-Boyfriend" in 2013, which became popular w ...

. On December 31, 2016, James released a mixtape "The Wake Up 2" to streaming services such as

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and to mixtape websites alike. On June 9, 2018, James released a single titled "M.M.M. (Marilyn Maryland Marilyn)" to streaming services. The music video, directed by Mike Marasco was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

on the same day. On November 27, 2019, in an interview with popular rap talk show "No Jumper", James stated that his current favorite rappers were "Doja Cat and Lil Nas X, I love those guys, partly because their flows remind me of myself" and later in the interview when asked about what his hopes for his current favorite rappers James proclaimed "I would hate to see them quit. You know. The last thing I'd want to see is for them to fall off just like I have." As of 2018, James is a host on a

talk show, ''Full Size Run''. and he appeared in the Safdie Brothers' film ''

Uncut Gems ''Uncut Gems'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel and Eric Bo ...

''.

Discography

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Trinidad 1987 births Living people American music industry executives American rappers of Trinidad and Tobago descent APRA Award winners Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) Def Jam Recordings artists Rappers from Atlanta Southern hip hop musicians Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States 21st-century American rappers