Lord Of The Mics, the colossal grime platform founded and led by Jammer and Ratty, is making its return for a massive eighth season. Over the years there have been some monumental clashes and warm-up sessions that have changed the face of the grime scene in ways you couldn’t imagine. In fact, LOTM can trace its history before grime even had a name. Those iconic clashes are embedded into the minds of any true grime fan. Kano vs. Wiley, Skepta vs. Devilman, Footsie vs. Scratchy, P Money vs. Big H… and the eighth edition looks like it’ll be just as heated and just as game-changing.

Ahead of the official release, we’ve teamed up with the LOTM team to exclusively premiere the batch of Hype Sessions. If, somehow, you’re not entirely familiar with the institution that is the Lord Of The Mics warm-up sessions, each clash is preceded by a quick filmed freestyle of each MC, which basically gives them all an opportunity to rile up their opponents and stoke the flames of competition in the hopes their opponent will get too heated and make a mistake.

TRENCH will be premiering all eighteen Hype Sessions in the build-up to the full release of Lord Of The Mics 8. Today, we’re profiling rival spitters Funky Dee and Mischief.

Of course everyone knows Funky Dee’s UK funky Ayia Napa anthem “Are You Gonna Bang Doe?”, including most of Europe, but that’s just one facet of Funky Dee. His grime credentials are extensive and span more than a decade. What’s more is he’s proven himself with more than his fair share of freestyles, sets, and clashes—including quite a bit of history with Lord Of The Mics already. What’s more, with lines like I’m the leader of the pack like Moses and You know my name on the roads, there’s no doubt how sure he is of his odds against Mischief. In his own words, Funky Dee is bringing “powerful delivery, aggression, wittiness and clarity” to the table.

Having been an MC since 2004, Mischief’s experience as both producer and rhymer could be the thing to give him the edge, but as he himself says, this is all about bars. With a stack of respected freestyles and cyphers under his belt, Mischief has long since proved his credentials in grime and can hold his own against the best of them. To add some extra fuel to the fire, he’s been aiming a few diss tunes Funky Dee’s way, with lines like Funky Dee can’t fuck with me / I’ve got bars and I’ll kill him off comfortably, as he said in the “3 Nil” video from last September. Which could explain their heated exchange when they recorded the Lord Of The Mics 8 cypher in February. Still, that just ups the stakes for them both. What you can expect from Mischief is “no gimmicks, just bars! I came here to prove a point and that’s what I done.”