Biography
THE LADY TIGRA The Lady Tigra was one of the original members of L'Trimm–one of hip-hop's earliest, sassiest, and most influential female duos (with fellow rapper Bunny D). The L'Trimm sound influenced everyone from Peaches to Fannypack to Gwen Stefani. The girls busted out of the Miami Bass movement and are best known for the infectious "Cars With The Boom," an ode to sub-woofers. The bouncy rap glorified the sub-woofer culture and snuck onto the Billboard charts. Having three albums recorded before their 21st birthdays, L'Trimm was voted by Source Magazine as "Hip-Hop Goddesses." After disappearing from the music scene, The Lady Tigra returns with a new album under her arm Please Mr. Boombox and control of her music.
Chapter 1- L'Trimm Like all good girl groups, Bunny and Tigra became best friends in high school and the two proved to be inseparable from the outset. They met at Skylight Express, the teen dance night in southwest Miami that showcased hip hop and Miami Bass artists, where they were both featured dancers. They were also featured dancers on the local TV show, Miami Teen Express, which was taped and aired every week. Rubbing elbows with the Skylight Express crowd launched the young rappers' career.
Like most aspiring young artists, they had no understanding of the industry and really were only looking to have fun. Their ride home from school happened to be local rapper Mighty Rock, of the group Double Duce and one afternoon, he needed to stop by the Hot Productions studio. The girls were hanging around waiting for him when Paul Klein, the head of the studio, asked if they knew how to rap. The folks at Hot Productions didn't think it was funny but decided it was serious– two cute teen girls as a rap duo had significant crossover appeal! The girls wrote and recorded “Grab It” (the first single) that same night. Other hook-oriented tracks were quickly produced, the girls were rushed into the studio… And L'Trimm was born.
The girls took their name from a then-popular designer brand of jeans ('Trim") and added the L' prefix for a little sexy French feel. Their first album Grab It, with the single from the same name, mixed in the girls' own raps. Within a very short time, Bunny D and Lady Tigra heard their song all over the local radio and live shows soon followed. L'Trimm found themselves well into the "music business" before they even realized that they were signed artists with a mild local hit on their hands.
"Car's That Go Boom," a deliriously catchy track, became a Top 40 hit and a huge national tour followed. Atlantic Records decided to step in and distribute L'Trimm's second album, Drop That Bottom, which also had success.
Eventually, the girls realized that they didn't agree with the creative decisions that were being made for them by Hot Productions. At the same time, the Miami Bass sound was not taking off with national audiences. The girls had written all the lyrics on the first two albums as well as the entire A side and the majority of the B side on the third album. Their vision started to conflict with that of their label and L'Trimm abandoned the sessions for their third album, Groovy. With plenty of out-takes left in the studio from the previous sessions, the album was released with out their input. Not their signature sound, Groovy sold poorly and L'Trimm disbanded.
Chapter 2- The Lady Tigra Following L'Trimm's premature split, Tigra returned to her roots in New York and became assistant general manager of the nightclub Spa and the general manager of Plaid. Soon after, fate would intervene. Through mutual friends, The Lady Tigra would meet up and coming singer/ songwriter and production whiz Berko. Their friendship soon led to talks about developing an album.
Despite Tigra’s now somewhat jaded view of the music industry, she agreed to appear on tracks with a few friends. She and Berko began making such songs for fun and after success on a track for their friends, Sherman Oaks, the two decided to continue on their music-making journey. Tigra was back in the “music is fun” mindset and there was no stopping her from that point on.
Signed to High Score Records in 2006, the Lady Tigra's new album Please Mr. Boom Box is a vivid mashing of the styles that helped pioneer her career and feels like a continuation of where she left off. Splitting her time between Miami, New York and LA, the Lady Tigra instinctively brings a cultural hybrid of sonic motifs. Not only did Tigra collaborate with Berko but she also jumped in the studio to duet with MC Lyte and gave Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park two different tracks to remix.
Her album is reminiscent of her work with L'Trimm–infectious with her cool, deadpan flow, which layers nicely over minimal, old-school production. The Lady Tigra is already pouncing into action and jumping on the Pinkberry craze. Her jingle "Sorry Ice Cream" (the company's signature song), is incredibly catchy with hooks that refuse to leave your head. The song has been checked everywhere– from Perez Hilton to New York Magazine to Paper Magazine to the LA Times.
Kicking off '07 was a spot opening for Gnarls Barkley and Kanye West. Along with a new album on the way, this year is proving to be that of The Lady Tigra.
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