“like b.i” Is the Sound of Someone Finally Saying It Out Loud
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- 07/10/2026
I’ve smiled with tears in my eyes exactly twice listening to music this year, and both times it was this track.
Griminal came up through Nasty Crew, the Plaistow collective that gave UK grime some of its most important early voices, D Double E, Jammer, Kano and Ghetts among them. He’s been in the culture since the beginning, which makes “like b.i“, taken from his new album GRIMACE, feel less like a new artist finding their voice and more like someone who’s always had one, finally choosing to use it differently.
“Griminal isn’t hiding any of it. He’s laying it down exactly as it was.”
The beat sits low and patient under him, no rush to it, giving every bar room to land before the next one arrives. That restraint is the whole point. “like b.i” isn’t a track built to hit hard in the chest and move on, but a track built to sit with you.
“This isn’t a track built to hit hard in the chest and move on. It’s built to sit with you.”
The lyrics don’t soften anything. He opens with the crew he started in, MIC, then tracks the years forward to a GP appointment, a diagnosis, pills that were supposed to heal him getting “mixed with MD” anyway. He talks about tackling demons while still wrestling, about trying to end his own life for real, about cocaine and ecstasy taken just to stop feeling what he was feeling. Then, right in the middle of all that darkness, he mentions Jesus standing next to him still. That juxtaposition, rock bottom and faith sitting in the same breath, is what gave me tears and a smile at exactly the same time. It’s disarmingly honest in a way that’s genuinely rare right now.
The video makes the subject matter impossible to look away from. It’s set inside an NA meeting room, and actor Adam Deacon, known for Kidulthood, Adulthood, Shank and his own BAFTA-winning Anuvahood, delivers a performance in that scene that stops you cold.
“Rock bottom and faith sitting in the same breath is what gave me tears and a smile at exactly the same time.
There’s so much shame built into conversations about addiction, mental health and recovery and setting the whole video inside the one room designed specifically to strip that shame away feels deliberate, not decorative. Griminal isn’t hiding any of it. He’s laying it down exactly as it was.
“I tackled demons and I’m here wrestling still.” Griminal
The video itself carries the direction of Rico, (@directed_by_rico), who’s become a key part of bringing Griminal‘s vision to life across the GRIMACE project, including the recent “Ireland” video alongside R.A. and BackRoad Gee. Choosing to set this particular video inside an NA meeting room wasn’t a small decision and that choice, the stillness of the setting, the deliberate lack of spectacle, is exactly what lets Adam Deacon‘s performance and Griminal‘s words carry the full weight they deserve. Rico understood that the story didn’t need dressing up. It just needed space.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” Maya Angelou
What this track ultimately does is remind you that you’re not alone in this, whether it’s been you, a relative or a friend who’s carried something like it. The video closes on a line from Maya Angelou. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” After everything that’s come before it in the song, that line doesn’t feel like a platitude. It feels earned.
“like b.i” is out now on all streaming platforms.
New album is out now GRIMACE
Filmed & Directed by : @directed_by_rico
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