HHNLive.com writer Quinton Hatfield sits down with Ms. Trinit to discuss being compared to Beyonce, balancing school and career, failed record deals and much more.

Ms. Triniti on her tennis career: "I played professionally for about a year and a half. I was on a tennis scholarship in San Diego for about four years. I played in tournaments, it was a wicked run..."

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Quinton Hatfield: You go by the name Ms. Triniti. What are three things people should know about you?

Ms. Trinit: Ms. Triniti brings energy and hypeness. The music is a cross between dancehall and reggae, actually hip-hop is like a mix of that. I know this is probably more than three things [laughs], but I’ve been doing my thing as an independent artist for the last three years. Now things are starting to blow up.

Q: I was doing my research. I read that your dad was Trinidadian, your mom was American, and you lived between the U.K. and the Caribbean?

MT: Yeah, that’s right. I was born in London so I had a really diverse upbringing, but it’s a beautiful thing.

Q: How do you feel your varied background has helped you when it comes to music?

MT: It makes it easier for people to relate to me, because in this day and age so many people have more than one culture. People travel around a lot and people are getting more familiar with reggae artists. I think I can just relate to a lot more people with the culture that I have and living in different places. I’ve done some shows over the last few months. I opened for Lil Wayne on one side and Elephant Man on the other side.

Q: You've been doing this for some time and I read you got your first record deal at 15 years old. What happened with that whole situation?

MT: Back then I was pretty much under my parents wing and I was a full time tennis player. I was playing professional tennis. I had injured myself and couldn’t play for a few months so that’s when I recorded the record. They didn’t even know I had done it until they needed me to sign the contract and I was underage. I asked my parents to sign it and they didn’t want me to be in the music industry at all. I had come from a very conservative background and didn’t go back to the music until I actually graduated from college.

Q: Did you ever think you would go the tennis route for good and pass on music?

MT: I played professionally for about a year and a half. I was on a tennis scholarship in San Diego for about four years. I played in tournaments, it was a wicked run, but it really wasn’t my heart and soul like the music is. I’m glad I came back, because it’s a wicked journey.

Q: I know this sounds kind of crazy, but when you got injured playing tennis do you think that's maybe one of the best things that could have happened to you?

MT: Yeah, honestly even that after happened it sometimes seems kind of late getting into music after college. Again it was like complete coincidence that someone offered me to sing the national anthem at the volleyball game. They liked it so much they were like can you do a basketball game, then a football game, and then someone from the San Diego Padres was like can you sing at the Padres game [laughs]? Those were blessings in disguise.

Q: You have a college degree too, right?

MT: Yeah definitely, it’s always going to be there. It’s been about six years now since I’ve been pursuing music full time, but I’m glad I got my education, because at the end of the day knowledge is power.

Q: How do you feel about the title people give you when they call you “The Reggae music version of Beyonce"?

MT: I've heard that before...you know...it’s cool. It’s definitely a compliment to me, I don’t know if it’s on point or not. I might not have the same stage performance as Beyonce does, but it’s hype.

Q: Back in 2004 you had a deal with Sony but were released. Was the problem that you and the label couldn’t come together?

MT: They signed me based on the album that I already made. When I got signed I was like the sweetheart of the label. They would do all this stuff, fly me all over the place, I honestly never got to the bottom of the stuff. I think it was some political stuff between my A&R person...a lot of times it’s politics that goes on in the label that can hurt the artist. I really don’t understand why that happened, but I really think it was a blessing in disguise. They were trying to position me as a pop artist. When I didn’t have my album come out I just started doing it from the ground up and it all paid off.

Q: Why are you still in the game?

MT: I’m staying in the game because I’m fresh and something new. My show is nothing but hypeness. Check me out at http://www.www.myspace.com/triniti