Miami showed up for one of the city’s icons, rapper Trina, as she was presented with the key to the city by Mayor Francis Suarez.
“Miami product, Liberty City product. There are not enough words in the vocabulary to express our deep appreciation for everything you’ve done for this community. Never forgetting about this community. The one that loves you, that will always love you and will always take care of you as you’ve always taken care of us,” the mayor said to the gathered crowd.
Trina was born and raised in Miami and graduated from Miami Northwestern High. She has worked hard to become one of the most respected rappers in the game, as well as a reality television star and radio host.
At the event, Suarez also handed Trina a plaque in memory of her late mother.
“‘Cause I know how much your momma meant to you…I have a little plaque for you in loving memory of your mother,” Suarez said. “These are the memories you don’t forget and you’re never going to forget her and what she meant to you and what you mean to us. So it wouldn’t be proper to recognize you without recognizing her.”
Commissioner Keon Hardemon also tended the ceremony and praised Trina’s contributions to the community.
“She’s an example to the young women and men,” Hardemon said per the Miami Herald. “She’s no different from the kids in Liberty City now with a story to tell.”
Vernessa ‘Nessa’ Taylor passed away in 2019 following a battle with cancer. She was 62.
In 2017, Trina released a song in her honor titled “Mama.”
“My mom was kinda sick when I was in the studio making this song, and I was in a really down place,” Trina told the Recording Academy about the song’s video release last November. “I called her on the phone, [but] she wasn’t feeling so good, so that inspired the song. I just went into the studio with all these emotions… and that’s how it came out.”
