You already know what Trim is on. A genuine OG of the scene, he’s managed to stay at the cutting edge by doing the opposite to everyone else. When most MCs were trying to break the pop market, he was grinding out mixtapes like nobodies business and linking up with less obvious producers. Legacy means a lot in grime, but the exchange rate for legendary pirate radio sets isn’t much when stacked up against MCs and rappers that have on point videos and strong beats. Trim’s dedication to nurturing his own thing has meant he can stay relevant in the musical rat race of today, his lyrical ability and ear for a beat not restricted to the digital history books like so many MCs before him.
His latest single is titled ‘Love Me‘. Produced by Starkey, it flips the self love anthem into a flurry of fourth wall breaking lyricism. The narrative of his whole career has been centered round being an outsider, the guy that managed to ostracise himself in a scene started by people that had been blocked from the UK Garage world. On ‘Love Me‘, he asks “If I don’t love myself, then who can really?” As the track plays out, he talks about owning his own music and claps back against the naysayers by claiming “they always whisper my accomplishments”. The beat is full tilt, with Starkey layering ear splitting notes against a dissonant sample to create an abrasive launchpad. There’s more wordplay as the track goes on, as Trim messes around with variations on the word ‘shit’, moulding and stretching the words to fit into diss bars and more. Overall, the sum of the tracks parts make for a forward thinking grime track. There’s a message in there, too. Because as the man himself says: if you don’t love yourself, then who really will?
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The Art of Grime 