im starting to wonder how many rappers/MCs you guys actually DO like then, if you find TRIM of all people unlikeable. being ruthless, cold, hard and numb to the core, thats all part and parcel of being a modern MC (eg - clipse, who i dont really *like* either but admire/am morbidly fascinated with them in the same way i am someone like patrick bateman from american psycho). have you guys seen 300? that absolutely stupid intro about 'showing no fear' and what it is to be a warrior etc might as well be a memo for all aspiring MCs.
I like, love and listen to most forms of MCing, and have done for the past twenty years. I've listened to Trims' mixtape alot, ALOT, and I think it's great, but I don't warm to him at all, which given that he's funny, lyrical and eloquent is a surprise to me. I admire Jay-Z's lyricism as well, but I don't like him, or what I get from listening to him. I like and advocate hearing about violence and mugging and stabbing, it's not that. Like I said, there's something I pick up on in Trim's stuff that leaves me cold, even though he's obviously a great MC. I'm sure A&R people would say the same thing and I think it's well important to talk about MC's 'characters' in depth in the same way I would ( Ulysses and James Joyce ), though I think Trim's more a Kerouac figure than a Joyce.
Getting deeper, I can't work out what's Trim's character and what his real 'voice' is, which is interesting, shows depth of ability, but it's like listening to someone you know is lying, you listen and are fascinated but ultimately it's just whatever. I can't work out which bits of his lyrics he believes in, and I think ultimately I have to believe that there's some form of conviction at work in order for me to listen to music without just hearing form, and on 'Soul Food' I don't hear conviction, I get bitterness instead, which might be honest but doesn't make like him. But as he says himself, he 'doesn't want to be liked', so fair enough.