Benzino can’t help but dote over his new granddaughter, despite never meeting her face-to-face.
The rapper/TV personality shared the family update on the Oct. 15 episode of The Danza Project. The sit-down premiered just several months after Benzino’s daughter Coi Leray welcomed a baby girl with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Trippie Redd.
Benzino told the hosts he hasn’t been formally introduced to the baby, but has seen her photos online.
“She’s beautiful. She looks like a doll,” he said. “I just want to hold her, smell her, kiss them cheeks… I light up when I see her on the blogs.”
It’s no surprise Benzino has yet to meet his 4-month-old grandbaby, as he and Coi have had a strained relationship for quite some time. Benzino acknowledged that his family dynamic was unusual, but he still had plenty of love for Coi and her family.
“I’ve come to just stay in my lane,” he explained. “All of this is — I don’t want to use the word ‘weird — it’s just not the conventional way… I know that god is going to fix this. I know she’s busy. I’m trying to do my thing. But I’m gonna see the baby, and when I do, it’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Benzino revealed he also hasn’t met Trippie, as he was never comfortable meeting Coi’s boyfriends until he knew the relationship was serious. His father, however, has visited Trippie and seemingly approved of the rapper. Benzino said his dad shared just a few details about Trippie: He was “cool,” had a “big house,” and “smokes a lot.”
“He didn’t say too much about him,” Benzino recalled before expressing some of his concerns about Trippie. “At 26, man, when you’re a superstar, you’re never gonna be able to focus on anything. Your focus is going to be all over the place because you have so much stardom; you got so much money coming in… Without judging him, he’s not going to be able to be the father, I’m sure, that a woman would want because he’s traveling and he’s doing his thing.”
While those were valid concerns, Benzino was certain that Coi considered Trippie’s unconventional lifestyle when she chose to have his baby.
“If I know Cici, like I know her, this was thought out. This wasn’t random,” he said, referring to her pregnancy. “At the end of the day, Coi is no fool. The father is well off at the end of the day, but he’s still young, too.
He continued: “Coi is a chess player… The expectations is she just wanted a beautiful child. And she got that. The father is very successful, so the child will never have to want anything from that side.”