Tory Lanez has shown love to Trina for helping to jumpstart his career as he prepares to release Lost Cause on streaming for the first time.
The currently incarcerated rapper took to Instagram on Tuesday (October 1) to announce that his fan-favorite 2014 mixtape would be arriving on streaming platforms on Friday (October 4), marking the first of many old projects to be reissued.
In his caption, Tory reflected on the making of the tape and gave a special shoutout to Trina for going above and beyond to support him during that time.
“THIS FRIDAY LOST CAUSE,” he wrote. “This is truly a remarkable moment. You should not be an Umbrella without knowing what this project means.
“Ten years ago, I was broke as fuck sleeping in my girlfriend’s car and on my manager’s couch trying to create a sound that was unique to myself. I LITERALLY put my blood, sweat, and tears into this project.
“My girlfriend broke up with me and I moved in with @trinarockstarr. I remember showing her the song for ‘Godfather’. She looked at me and said, ‘That’s the song that’s going to get you a deal.’”
Trina’s prediction came true as Tory ended up signing with none other than Interscope, in partnership with producer Benny Blanco’s Mad Love Records, shortly after.
“She put five bands up and helped me get the video shot,” he continued. “Coincidentally, the same director from that video, shot another video from the project for free. That video ended up being ‘Henny in Hand.’
“Two months later, Interscope watched both videos and couldn’t believe it was the same person on both songs. That led to me getting signed and the rest was history.”
Lanez added: “The unique sound that I was working on ended up being the infamous deep voice Fargo sound that created gems like ‘Litty Again’ and the New Toronto Series. Without this project, I wouldn’t be the Tory Lanez that you know me as.
“For the 10 year anniversary, not only will I release ‘Lost Cause’ on DSPS this Friday, but this will be the first of many classic mixtapes of mine that I will officially release on DSPs now that I am INDEPENDENT!!! [umbrella with rain emoji].”
Though Trina went the extra mile to help Tory Lanez during this time, she previously clarified that they were never romantic, despite rumors suggesting otherwise.
Tory Lanez Believes His ‘Prison Tapes’ Were Shut Down Because He Was Helping Other Inmates
While appearing on Yung Miami‘s Caresha Please show, the Florida rap legend said: “We wasn’t dating. Tory was just my friend but he liked me. I just felt like I met Tory at a weird time, like right after the whole French [Montana] debacle, the whole situation.
“I met him through just other friends that came to the studio. I was in this space like, ‘Ok, I gotta work.’”
She went on to explain that they initially bonded over music after Tory was brought to one of her studio sessions. The friendship grew once Trina learned that he was the artist whose vocals her team had been trying to replace on a reference track she had received from a producer.
“I was so ashamed ’cause I had already liked it, I liked the guy on the song,” she recalled. “But I get it, when it come to the label, we gotta put somebody with a bigger name to make the song bigger. So we ended up meeting and we clicked, and he was just a cool person. He was real young and I was real advanced and I’m not with the shits.”
According to Trina, while they did spend some time together, Tory Lanez never directly approached her about being more than friends. Instead, he led with the music, which yielded two collaborations: 2014’s “Fuck Love” and “Damn” in 2017.
