Trim Recognized as Billboard's Up-and-Coming Hip-Hop Artist for May 2026

From Grammy-nominated MCs like Jeezy to late ‘00s/early ‘10s icons like Lil Ru (“The Nasty Song”) and newer cats such as Dro Kenji, South Carolina has been an underrated hip-hop state for several decades now. Armed with an innately melodic Gulla Geechee accent, zany beat selection and a knack for endlessly quotable hooks, Trim is looking to be the latest South Carolina rapper to wave her state’s flag in the hip-hop mainstream.

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Born Ahlaisha Kornickey, 19, Trim started rapping last year. She didn’t grow up scribbling bars in an old notebook, nor did she come up trying to memorize her favorite verses in the back seat, but she knew she needed to find her purpose. So, she started freestyling in her backyard, uploading clips to TikTok and quickly accruing a fanbase that rallied around early singles like “Maybach” and “Rocket.” Through developing her rapid-fire flow and bending her malleable accent to achieve different intonation effects, Trim found her voice — and quickly found an audience willing to listen to her.

“[I started rapping] so people could listen to me and so I could express my feelings for real,” she tells Billboard . “When you don’t have a lot of people that listen to you in real life, you might try to find your purpose by being around somebody who will listen to you.”

Last April, Trim teamed up with fellow ascendant South Carolina rapper Ashswervo for “Timbs,” the song that truly blew her up locally and helped her land a distribution deal with BuVision, the label founded by record executive Abou “Bu” Thiam and now operating in partnership with Atlantic Music Group. After closing out 2025 with a steady stream of standalone singles — including breakthrough single “Boat,” a guest appearance on Sunshine Benzi’s “Trump the Bill” and a remix of Monaleo’s “Putting Ya Dine” — Trim’s star skyrocketed at the top of the new year.

Just before Christmas, Trim tapped YKNiece and BunnaB, two Atlanta female rappers who broke out in 2025, for a remix to “Boat” that helped the song go from buzzy social media track to streaming hit. Also aided by a later Pooh Shiesty remix (one of the Memphis rapper’s few post-prison collaborations before getting back in trouble with the law), “Boat” has garnered over 33.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams in 2026, according to Luminate, good for a No. 48 debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

At the top of 2026, Trim scored another viral hit with the score-settling, Arctic Monkeys-nodding “Floor.” She maintained that momentum with “Guapo,” and a pair of eye-catching collaborations: “Chröme” (with Slayr) and “No Trick” (with Luh Tyler). Each of those tracks was a necessary step to “Coconut Water,” a dark horse contender for this year’s breakout summer hip-hop smash. Built around a hook that immediately lodges itself in your brain, the summery song got its live debut during Trim’s Rolling Loud set earlier this month (May 10).

Though that performance exposed some of the difficulties of balancing an explosive rise with the time and care necessary to craft a consistent stage show, Trim’s Rolling Loud debut made one thing clear: she’s hungry and coming for it all. And comparisons to more established MCs — or mean-spirited social media takedowns — aren’t getting in her way.

Below, Trim chats with Billboard about her fast-approaching Pass the Tiara EP, Zara Larsson being her biggest current performance inspiration, and why she’s claiming the Princess of Rap title with her chest.

You call yourself the “Princess of Rap.” Why do you think you deserve that title?

Well, when you’re putting in work every day, and you actually have a passion for rapping instead of letting people give you handouts and write for you — that’s why I deserve it. I don’t ask for handouts.

How would you describe your creative process? What does a typical writing or studio session look like for you?

I think of what I want to do in the moment and how I feel, and I put that in my songs. I freestyle and write. When I’m selecting beats, I listen for claps and a tropical vibe. Something with substance; something people can relate to.

Everyone from Doja Cat to Doechii to Odeal is co-signing “Coconut Water.” Did that song feel special when you recorded it?

No, it just felt like me. When you make your own songs, you know it’s you. People get songs written for them, so they know it’s automatically a hit. But when you expect [the] unexpected, that’s when you have a better outcome. All these celebrities like my songs because they come from me, and they can feel me. That’s why celebrities are not supporting people [who] don’t write their own music; they can’t relate to it, and they can’t feel it.

How did “Coconut Water” come together?

I freestyled [the first pass] because I knew what the topic was going to be, but when I wanted to make a catchier verse — since I already had my hook — I went back and wrote one part.

You were also in the studio with Hitmaka recently. What can you tell us about that?

Hitmaka provides beats for me, and I do [the rest] on my own, but he is very nice. I wouldn’t say I’ve learned anything because if you go into the studio and let people do the work for you, then you’re not really learning anything. But he has shown me that there are different varieties and routes you can take using different beats.

You’ve worked with Pooh Shiesty, Sunshine Benzi and Luh Tyler. Who are some other collaborators on your wish list?

I don’t have a wish list anymore, but I would say Michael Jackson if he [were] here. [I had one at first], but artists tend to lose their worth and value. I really don’t care to work with anybody unless they want to work with me.

Who are your hip-hop heroes?

I don’t have none. My only hero is my mom. That’s it.

She understood what I was rapping about, and she pushed me to keep rapping about things that I normally don’t do in real life. Growing up and becoming a woman, it’s things that you’re going to participate in, so she allowed me to rap about that so I can become bigger instead of judging me [based on] what I rap about. She pushed me because she knows it will be beneficial.

I didn’t want my family to be a part of my team, because the music industry is stressful, and I don’t want their life to be stressful. I’d rather just go through it myself, and they get the gold from it. I’ve done research on the music industry since I was 17, before I started rapping. I studied what goes on, and things have been exposed. Why would I want to put my family through that? And you shouldn’t mix family with business, first of all. I’d rather do it with somebody [who] already has experience and [whom] I feel comfortable with.

You played a few local shows before your Rolling Loud debut. What was that experience like?

I book my own venues, and I allow my supporters to come because you gotta gain power. If you let people book your venues, they take a percentage of what’s yours. Why not build my own show, so when I get in arenas I can rent out a damn arena; Imma be making way more money instead of people taking cuts from me. That’s why I started doing my mini shows.

You’re very business-minded. Where do you think that comes from?

From doing research and seeing what people don’t do. When you see mistakes other people make, you know not to make them yourself. And when you see things that people aren’t doing, I do it myself. Because why aren’t you doing it?

Talk to me about Rolling Loud.

It was exciting. I know I can do better, but it was so hot. I’m gonna definitely up my performances. I’m no longer using a microphone; I’m using a headpiece so I can actually give a show because that is one of my goals. I want to give people what they’re worth watching. I tried to do that in the beginning, but they didn’t give me a proper headpiece. There’s definitely things I need to work on.

What were rehearsals like?

Performance rehearsals are fun! I will continue to do rehearsals even if I don’t have a show coming up, so I can become a better artist. But the only person I still see doing performances — because they don’t care to anymore in hip-hop — is Zara Larsson. I’ve seen her working with a lot of hip-hop artists, too. She inspired me to want to do performances at that level.

As someone who was raised and blew up on the internet, how are you dealing with how nasty and intense the comments can get?

I take it as things that I need to work on, so I self-reflect and do things better. Not everybody’s trying to attack you; they’re actually trying to help you. Everybody has their moments when they cry about it, though, it’s just part of being human. But to be great, you have to cry. You have to be better. I take it all as a learning experience, even if I do something wrong that might not be wrong to me. And it’s not me trying to be perfect for the world, it’s just me growing as a person.

Do you have that same approach when it comes to people trying to compare you to more established artists, particularly those in the female rap arena?

Back in the day, those artists were [developed] way older. They were like 25-30 and had the experience of being a woman and being a man to have a good vocabulary. I like to have bars and a good vocabulary, but I really don’t care about those things right now because I am younger and I made it way younger than most of them. Some people are using ChatGPT, and they’re not actually writing; people be cheating and looking on the Internet for bars.

I didn’t go to college, but I did graduate high school. I didn’t graduate high school the proper way, so I don’t have these big words, but I know I can get them in the future. When people compare me to artists older than me, it don’t even make sense. I was 19 when I made it. My brain isn’t even as developed as theirs just yet. But I take it as a compliment because that means I’m on their mind.

How do you define success? What are your long-term goals?

My long-term goal is to make my own Super Bowl performance and not depend on anybody else. I want to do it myself. Some people may see it as impossible, but you have to think impossible to make it possible.

Who are some South Carolina rappers that we should know?

My crew, YTN [Young Turnt Nation], with 01Wavey and TrapStaxrC. TrapStaxrC was on my song “Bad Ho’s,” and me and Wavey are gonna have a song. That’s the only people you should look out for. That’s the male version of me, honestly.

[Before I blew up], the rap scene in South Carolina was about living the fast life and being outside. The energy reminds me of people from outside of the country, like Mexicans and Africans, because it’s so free-willed with the dancing, not caring what other people think. That’s how the people are in Charleston; it’s not like in Miami or L.A., where people care about how the world perceives them. We have more freedom, and we’re not scared to do what we want.

What can you tell us about Pass the Tiara?

It’s coming after I drop my single “Hey Boy,” so probably around August or September. And it’s an EP to let people know that I am the Princess of Rap — and to tell other people to stop calling themselves that. If you’re going to call yourself that, you have to have a high standard with music in general, not just an online presence. How are you the princess when you don’t even know who your fans are? You don’t have no Michael Jackson effect in them. I will be having that effect. It might not be as big just yet, but it will be bigger than what these other people have in person with their fans.

What’s the most surprising cosign you’ve gotten?

The only one y’all don’t know about is probably G Herbo, but I met Young Thug, and that was cool. It was a little bit awkward because whe

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/trim-billboard-up-and-coming-hip-hop-artist-may-2026-1236255029/)._