Before I begin, I just want to take a moment to pour the finest scotch out for K.Lion and Rebel Sixx. They were two unbelievably talented artists who both met premature ends within a month of each other. Both are currently releasing some of their best music posthumously and that’s good but at the same time it’s a damn shame. No trust no love by Rebel Six is not only one of the best tracks in the burgeoning Trinibad genre – it’s one of the best songs released for this year overall. My heart breaks to hear such lyrical growth and pain over a beautifully haunting instrumental provided by the exemplary Travis World. Rebel Sixx seemed like he was evolving and ascending to another artistic peak with this song, focusing his lens for acute description and fine details away from just the violence (though Rifle War is a another classic) to more universal topics like betrayal and regret. It’s really tragic that the Rebel’s run was cut short.
K.Lion on the other hand has been quietly dominating with hits for months. Songs like Extraordinary and Malandros among others have been booming from PH taxis and secondary school children’s Me Too’s since before Carnival. His most recent hit in particular has been ketching major flames since his death. Monsterz Out, is a nihilistic masterpiece and a true badman anthem delivered over gentle strings, synths and gorgeous empty space. It’s destined to inspire hoisted gun fingers and “Ra Ra Ra’s” for years to come. K.Lion had a rare melodic gift that ensured every lyric burrowed it’s way into your brain and attached firmly to the pleasure centre – it has a good boy like me unknowingly singing:
Jus beg dem fi rise up yuh file mek mi run some copper
Real top shotta tell dem we gun hotter
MP’s from Russia, and de three long choppa
Evilest motherfucka
Make sure yuh get it inna de evening like supper
Empty all in yuh mouth watch yuh teeth and dem shatter
I don’t know either of these youths personally but as a fellow artiste I miss them dearly and hearing their potential in the music physically aches me. Rest in power brethren and fly high. ??
Now, we can start.
Just the name “Trinibad” is a very awesome thing that perfectly captures the energy of the genre. It emerged perfectly formed out of nowhere, a very clever pun (big up Deejay Pun) that may have formed organically for the most part but was at least partially facilitated by some clever marketing. Right now almost every Trinidad dancehall song has at least an adlib with the word “Trinibad” in it and plenty songs mention it in the lyrics. I myself heard it first on a Rheon Elbourne song.
It started off as “dem dancehall youths” and moved to “zess” or “zesser music” after the popular song and now the dust has settled on “Trinibad” opportunely coinciding with a massive surge in popularity for the genre. In fact, at this time of writing, it has overtaken soca as the most popular genre in Trinidad. It will be interesting to see how this develops with Carnival 2021 being an unsure thing.
Either way, it really does seem like Trinibad is here to stay. You know you reach when as a genre based on another one you get your own distinct name i.e. when it goes from UK rap to grime or African hip hop to Afrosoca. Trinibad has already developed its own cultural tics – big gaudy gold chains and white vests in videos featuring a bag load of guns shot in depressed areas to reflect the grim, violent realities depicted in the songs. It promotes a lifestyle of ‘zessing’, which originally, specifically referred to the lifestyle of Trinidad drug dealers and now reflects a general fast-living, ‘doh care’ mentality which is a lot more accessible.
It’s reminiscent of the aesthetic of drill music, which is a rap sub-genre that originated in Chicag0, the state that perennially has the number one murder rate in the US – the main difference is that we trini just have a way and this is reflected in Trinibad music videos. The way we rock gold, hold a cigarette, lean on a corner, grimace – all those things are patented and unique to this little twin island state.
Initially, the flows and rhyme schemes were the direct offspring of either Kartel or Popcaan – that has largely changed. Now a local repository of rhyme schemes and cadences have emerged breathing new life and dimensions into trini slangs such as “fully dunce”, “zess” and others. For e.g. “Fully dunce” initially meant someone who is really stupid and definitely not something you wanted to be called. Now in the Trinibad-verse, “fully dunce” is the state of just acting and not caring about the repercussions and is even worn as a badge of pride – “my whole crew have guns and they fully dunce”. Even UK slangs like “ends” isn’t safe from this repurposing and mutation.
The biggest stars aren’t household names (yet) but they are well known within their demographic. The secondary school and little older set adore them and look up to them with similar veneration as Bounty Killa and Beenie in my time. The YouTube views especially have been tremendous. A key soca artist would be pleased with half a million views. In the TriniBad circles, a million views is just the batting average. On the streaming side, things are similarly impressive. The Trinidad and Tobago Top 100 charts on Apple Music is full of Trinibad music and in most cases, the number one song is a Trinibad song. And some classics such as “Die Die” by Boy Boy and “Bread Winner” by Prince Swanny have resided on the charts since before this Covid dystopia.
Now this isn’t the first time local music has experienced a wave of popularity. Since I’ve been alive, we’ve seen variations of this movement before: the Kiskidee Caravan in the early nineties, the Reggae Movement featuring Isasha, Prophet Benjamin and company in the early 2010s and considerably smaller other movements such as the Rapso explosion in the early 2000s and a string of local Hip Hop in early to mid 2010s. What’s the difference with Trinibad? One word: Independence. All other movements depended on the gatekeepers like seedling plants stretching for sunlight. The Kiskidee Caravan was ideated, designed and funded by Robert Amar. When he lost interest (and money), it died. Radio stopped playing local reggae and stifled it. The other smaller movements similarly buckled without radio support. Not this time though.
You see, as a few crowing radio deejays have realised, Trinibad doesn’t need or even care about radio. In 2010, I wrote an article declaring Facebook as the new radio. Kinda true but slightly premature. I failed to realize what a crafty devil Radio could be. As time passed, radio adjusted and now Facebook and other social media are simply used as a tastemakers, like artificially intelligent AR, to inform radio what should be added to their playlists. In short, radio still maintained control as the place where people went to hear new music. The reality became, Facebook could land you on radio.
Thanks to Trinibad, finally in 2020 it seems like the singularity I dreamt about is here. Dreams dawg, dreams dawg! The forces of streaming, YouTube and cheap home studios have aligned enabling Trinibad artists to form a lucrative loop with the funnel ending in streaming royalties. While soca artists were home during Covid, belly thin, worrying over lost festival money, Prince Swanny and others have been dropping at least two songs a month each song doing over a million views. The same deejays that declared the music “too violent to play” have now silently swallowed their pride and have Trinibad on repeat. Doh feel we eh seeing allyuh ? ?
But let’s touch on the violence topic for a while. For one, if your child listening to it and they too young, put yourself in the naughty corner. That’s your decision and don’t expect anyone else to parent for you. Two, I know the same people who was singing those gunman Bounty and Spragga Benzz lyrics loud loud can’t be fixing dey mouth to judge current youths? They just attracted to the same escapism fantasies that you were. Nah man. Doh do meh dat. They not anymore likely to act on it as you so hush! And three, most of these artists come from violent areas so they are singing what they see. That’s why the descriptions are so visceral and real. These artists are products “of” something not the cause. Crime was rampant in these areas before many of these artists were born. Yes something should be done about it but that isn’t their job. The artist’s job is to paint the forest, not deal with deforestation.
The only thing I would say against the violent topics, beyond it spilling over from just music, is that the laser focus on violence can get repetitive but even that is quickly evolving. “Bread Winner” by Prince Swanny, “No Trust No Love” by Rebel Six and “Catch 22” also by the Swan Dan demonstrate that topics are becoming more universal and less reliant on just the excitement of gun talk. The productions are also getting better, I consider Millbeatz’s scorcher on “Bread Winner” to be the turning point when the music hit a new level. Not surprising because Millbeatz is well… Millbeatz, his resume of hits especially on the soca side is deep. Another good sign, is that the artists are making money and investing in their craft. With the added revenue some have built studios resulting in more time and comfort to experiment. The music is becoming less predictable and the song craft is improving. As the audience increases I’m hearing the confidence and added swagger in their delivery. I like it.
If Trinibad is really here to stay it will be the first local genre since soca to achieve this. Well that’s the best case. I just hope that it remains as inventive and deliriously self-sufficient as it is now and incoming gatekeepers don’t heavy the scene. Scene?
If you want to check out some of the best Trinibad songs released this year you can check my playlist on Apple Music. This is the type of local I endorse and recommend you support.