L'Trimm

L'Trimm was an American bass hip-hop duo composed of Lady Tigra and Bunny D, two girls from Kendall, Florida (an area of Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Miami). They recorded three albums for Atlantic Records: Grab It! in 1988, Drop That Bottom in 1989 (which led The Source to name the group Hip-Hop Goddesses of the Month),[1] and Groovy in 1991.

L'Trimm
OriginMiami, Florida, United States
GenresMiami bass, hip hop
Years active1985–1991
LabelsHot Productions
Atlantic Records
MembersLady Tigra
Bunny D

Early years

Lady Tigra (Rachel DeRougemont) and Bunny D. (Elana Cager) met in high school and regularly attended Skylight Express, a teen-night dance club in Kendall that featured live performances by national hip-hop artists including LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa, as well as local Miami bass music and artists such as 2 Live Crew and the Gucci Crew. They were featured dancers on the syndicated TV show Miami Teen Express that was taped and aired every week throughout South Florida, Atlanta, Metro New York, and was produced by Douglas Productions which produced a string of local and syndicated cable programs.

Lady Tigra and Trikki Nikki (I Touched This)[2] were best friends and wrote rhymes together when one night they met Bunny D. at Skylight Express and invited her onto the stage. The girls quickly struck up a friendship when they discovered their shared love of all things hip-hop. Tigra was an amateur graffiti artist, poet, and break-dancer from Hollis, Queens who wrote rhymes around her Haitian, French and American roots. Bunny D was a classically trained dancer who went to a performing arts school and also wrote hip-hop lyrics. The duo formed a group called XTC and would battle boys during their lunch period, ultimately bringing their underground street and art school polish together to form L'Trimm. Female emcees were a rarity at the time and the girls soon gained the attention of local rapper Mighty Rock of the group Double Deuce, who used to drive them home from school. One afternoon, Mighty Rock needed to stop by the Hot Productions studios. During the meeting, Tigra and Bunny went into a recording booth and began rhyming for fun. Paul Klein of Hot Productions caught the girls and employed Larry Davis to construct some hook-oriented tracks for the duo, around the girls' pre-written rhymes. Trikki Nikki went to a different high school by that time so the trio was destined to become a duo, but she was later brought in to record a solo track, an answer record to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This," which received local accolades. Tigra was 15 years old and Bunny was 17 when they signed with Hot Productions.[3]

Group history

The group took its new name from a then-popular designer brand of blue jeans (Trim) and added the L' prefix to give it a French feel. The song "Grab It!" became a local hit and was followed by an album of the same name.[4] Shortly after, "Cars that go Boom," an ode to subwoofers, reached #54 on the Billboard Hot 100,[5] and a national tour followed. Atlantic Records picked up the group's first album, and signed a deal to distribute L'Trimm's second album, Drop That Bottom, which included a remix of "Grab It!" The album was only a minor success. Interest in "Cars that go Boom" was later renewed in mid-2020 due to the influence of TikTok.[6]

L'Trimm became dissatisfied with the direction their music was taking once co-writers were put in charge of producing their third album Groovy. At the same time, Miami indie labels began to speculate that the Miami bass sound would never break through to mainstream national audiences. As Hot Productions began to look for new creative inspiration, the group hired representation in the form of managers and lawyers. A stalemate was reached and the group abandoned the sessions of its third album, Groovy. With plenty of vocal outtakes left in the studio from previous sessions, Hot Productions continued creating the album without the artists' input. The resulting album had more of a house and new jack swing sound, which sold poorly, failed to find the new market for which it was aiming, and was poorly received by critics.[4] Unwilling to compromise their creative input, unable to score another hit with the label's new sound, and with its youthful pop-rap style waning in popularity, L'Trimm disbanded.

Life after L'Trimm

Bunny D became a nurse working in the fields of Geriatrics, Labor and Delivery, and Special Needs Children and Adults. She has four children and is married to La Kidd[7] from Philadelphia's Tuff Crew, which released the 1989 hit "My Parta Town." They met while touring together. Bunny is also writing a series of children's books and is designing a clothing line.

After a few years of hosting events in Miami's burgeoning music, arts, fashion, and club scenes in South Beach, Lady Tigra moved back to New York City, where she managed nightclubs. In 2008, she moved to Los Angeles and released her first solo project, Please Mr. Boombox[8] (which featured a guest track by MC Lyte), to great critical review, and leading to MySpace putting the first track on their sign-in page as video of the month. Tigra wrote and performed the jingle on the Pinkberry website and appeared on Nickelodeon's award-winning children's show Yo Gabba Gabba,[9] where she performed Debbie Deb's "When I Hear Music." In 2010, she collaborated with writer/director J.B. Ghuhman Jr. and music producer Yeti Beats on the soundtrack of the award-winning movie Spork, which incorporated many references to 1990s pop-culture.

In 2016, Lady Tigra appeared in the American documentary film 808,[10] directed, co-produced, and co-written by Alexander Dunn, co-produced by Arthur Baker, Craig Kallman, and Alex Noyer, and co-written by Luke Bainbridge.

In 2018 Tigra appeared in the first episode of the second season of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix docuseries "Hip-Hop Evolution, The Southern Way." She provided commentary on the roots of Southern Hip-Hop alongside other pioneers of the genre Uncle Luke, Disco Rick, Trick Daddy, Brother Marquis, Mr. Mixx, The Geto Boys, and UGK.

In 2019 Lady Tigra began a collaboration with Spencer Nezey (Her Majesty and the Wolves, Jupiter Rising) called Tigra & Spencer, releasing their first single "Can't Walk Away" in December of the same year.

Lady Tigra has also acted and guest appeared in many projects, and remains active in New York, Miami, and LA's underground music, fashion, DJ, art and club scenes.

L'Trimm has not released further material. Although the duo disbanded, they remain close friends, with Lady Tigra often referencing her days in L'Trimm with Bunny D. as one of her influences. In 2008, "Cars with the Boom" was ranked number 95 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.[11] In 2016, "Cars with the Boom" was ranked 100 in Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 Hip Hop Songs of all Time.[12]

In 2019 L'Trimm appeared in the Boogaloo Shrimp documentary, a film about Michael Chambers, the American dancer and actor known as “Boogaloo Shrimp.” Michael is most renowned for his role as “Turbo” in the 1984 cult movie “Breakin’” and its sequel “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.”

In 2020, L'Trimm's song "Cars with the Boom" went viral on the social media app TikTok. On June 3, the compilation album "Cars That Go Boom" was released.[13]

Discography

Albums
  • 1988: Grab It! (Time-X/Hot Productions HTLP-3307/Atlantic 81925)
  • 1989: Drop That Bottom (Atlantic 82026)
  • 1991: Groovy (Atlantic 82300)
  • 2020: Cars That Go Boom (Warner Music group - X5 Music Group)

The Lady Tigra

  • 2008: "Please Mr. BoomBox" (High Score Productions)

Singles
  • L'Trimm
  • 1987: "Grab It"
  • 1988: "Cutie Pie"
  • 1988: "Cars That Go Boom"
  • 1989: "Drop That Bottom"
  • 1991: "Get Loose"
  • 1991: "Low Rider"
  • The Lady Tigra Singles
  • 2008: Bass on the Bottom (remixed by Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park)
  • 2009: Stole My Radio (featuring Mc Lyte)
  • 2010: Santa Baby (by Yeti Beats featuring DJ IQ Luna of The Handroids)
  • 2011: Summertime (featuring Fatlip from The Pharcyde)
  • 2012: Thing-a-Ling (Spork Movie Soundtrack)
  • Guest Appearances by The Lady Tigra:
  • 2001: Larry Tee - Supasize
  • 2004: Avenue D + Phiiliip - Pants Down
  • 2006: The Phenomenal Handclap Band - "15 to 20" ft. The Lady Tigra
  • 2009: Jupiter Rising - When the Bass Drops
  • 2012: Staygold - Backseat (featuring Spank Rock, Damian Adore and Lady Tigra)
  • 2015: Ruckus Robiticus - Come Alive
  • 2017: Oliver - Heart Attack (featuring De La Soul)
  • The Lady Tigra Prime Time TV
  • 2008: Dirty Sexy Money featuring Alicia Keys: Switchblade Kitty
  • 2009: The World According to Paris: Switchblade Kitty
  • 2009: The Real World: Bass on the Bottom
  • 2012: Misfits: 15 to 20
  • 2016: Devious Maids: Player of Love

References
  1. "The Source |Brianna Perry Remakes L'Trimm's '80s hit "Cars That Go Boom"". Thesource.com. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  2. "Tricky Nikki - I Touched It". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  3. "Meet Haitian American Lady Tigra: One Half Of The 80's Miami Bass Girl Group L'Trimm". Lunionsuite.com. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  4. Shapiro, Peter (2005) "L'Trimm", in The Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-263-8
  5. "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.com.
  6. Andrews, Travis M. (18 June 2020). "'Cars That Go Boom' has made a comeback, thanks to TikTok. The '80s duo L'Trimm says it's 'surreal.'". Washington Post. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. Ettelson, Robbie (2016-04-11). "Part Time Rap Star, Full Time Drug Dealer". Medium.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29. LA Kid got married recently to Bunny from L’Trimm
  8. "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: THE LADY TIGRA". Jestherent.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  9. "LA CANVAS ISSUE 01". Issuu.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  10. "Lady Tigra". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  11. "VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs". Stereogum.com. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  12. Rolling Stone (2017-06-02). "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  13. https://music.apple.com/us/album/cars-that-go-boom/1516259121. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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