Trinidad James declares June ‘Fathers Month’ and rewards deserving dad

Father’s Day might have come and gone but that didn’t stop Trinidad James from ensuring one deserving dad felt appreciation for more than just 24 hours. James has declared June “Fathers Month,” making it never too early or too late to show dads the love they deserve.

Shortly before Father’s Day, Trinidad James announced his “Father’s Day with Dad” contest, via Instagram. The winning Atlanta father would receive a day of lunch and shopping at one of Atlanta’s most well-known stores in the rap community, Exclusive Game, with the rap artist. James isn’t a dad just yet, but still has a special relationship with the word, “dad.” “I am not a father so the reason for doing something like this is because the terminology of dad has been something that stuck with me since even before my musical career,” James told Access Atlanta. “It started off as a term of endearment with my friends, like if you could score on the basketball court or cross somebody up, we’d be like, ‘oh you’re dad today.’ Then we took it off the court and put it into our life, like if you’re the best dressed or you got the most girls, you’re dad. I love acronyms so I took the letters from dad and turned it into Destroying All Doubters, and the reason why I chose that is because when I got into the music industry, that was the first time that I ever heard negative opinions about myself.”

With tons of submissions, Tevin Ray, the winner of the contest, never thought he would be the person picked – but once he found out he won, via being tagged in the winner announcement on Instagram, he was filled with emotions. “It was a shock, but it was mostly excitement,” Ray told Access Atlanta. “I was on my way to work. I was on the train, and I got the mention [on Instagram] from Trinidad that I won the contest. I just stood up on the train and said ‘oh my God’ and everybody was looking at me crazy. At first, I was like, is this a fake profile? There’s no way I won.”

“I read the story that his girl put out there,” James said when asked about why Ray was the lucky winner. “She submitted him to it and I read all the submissions that we got… when I read that he had his first child in the pandemic, it was just one of those things that it stuck with me because in the midst of it, when his girl is writing this, I could feel from the words that I’m reading, through the thick and the thin, she appreciated him… him also being a young father, that stood out to me too because young fathers are the future, not just the children they make, but young fathers are the future for other young fathers.”

With a son turning two in August, Ray says fatherhood is everything to him. “I’m more proud and prideful in myself with what I do and knowing the work that I put in is going towards my family being safe, being secure, knowing that I’m putting food on the table, it just feels amazing.”