Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Trimble.
Brandon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Brandon Trimble better known as “Shakim Shabazz” . I grew up playing Basketball, making music for fun, and I always loved fashion as a kid.
My first love was basketball. When I got to high school and basketball didn’t work out I felt like my life was over. I got a job from an older relative selling clothes. I would resale the latest trends in the hiphop fashion world. As a teen still in high school I wasn’t satisfied I felt like it wasn’t enough. At that point, I started hanging with the wrong crowd and running the streets. I was selling drugs, I joined a gang and started making local dis tracks about other local neighborhoods. Shortly after that, I found myself in some serious trouble. I got kicked out of high school. I was labeled a menace to society. I was an eyewitness to a murder which was my best friend. I was on the run from the law. When they finally found me I got arrested with Guns and drugs. I was sitting in a cell lost. All my friends went off to college and I had a daughter on the way. I prayed to God that he would help me change my life because I was tired of the way I was living.
From that point on, I treated prison like it was college. I read every book I could get my hands on and wrote down my goals 1 by 1 on what I was going to do when I got out. I knew basketball was over for me. I thought of other things I loved before I came to prison and it was fashion and music. I studied business the full time I was in jail and I wrote down certain steps I could take to get a clothing store and also people to connect with to do music with when I got out of prison.
When I got out of prison in 2011, I didn’t have the capital to start a clothing store so I made a clothing line and started to customize clothes for people locally in my hometown and on social media. From there, I got popular around the town and then put my clothing line inside a store in Connecticut called “Jimmys”. Even while my clothes were in Jimmys, I wasn’t satisfied so I kept customizing clothes for other customers and someone found me on Facebook and invited me to do a fashion show for fashion week. From there, I was able to make certain connections with celebrities and have them where my clothes and boost my buzz up.
After doing fashion week a few times, I decided to start doing my own fashion shows locally in my hometown where I would perform my own music and invite other artists and local designers. Each time I did a fashion show, it was a success. My buzz started to grow with my music and with my clothing brand. I shortly after that opened my own clothing store called New Heaven Apparel and also another one in my neighborhood where I grew up called “New Haven Apparel”.
In between time I traveled as a hiphop artist on tour with a few labels and artists and I was able to sell my clothing and build my buzz up as an independent artist. Fast forward, now, the year is 2022, and I’m on my second distribution deal and you can find my music on all platforms.
From designing clothes to opening up a store and doing music it has unlocked so many other opportunities for me and also my family and friends. I was able to make connections by networking and opening up other businesses, such as moving companies and providing jobs for other people in need.
If it’s any advice, I would give to an entrepreneur or anybody going through anything, I would tell them to put God first and follow their dreams. It doesn’t matter how low you feel in life. You can always come out on top. Pressure makes diamonds. Positive Energy Always Creates Elevations ( P E A C E)
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely wasn’t a smooth road. The main struggle was staying focused. As an entrepreneur, it’s hard when you don’t have the capital or you’re trying to build up your capital to invest more into your business. It’s easy to get sidetracked and put your dreams to the side. But you have to remember why you started and stick to your vision. It’s also hard and very discouraging when you feel like every door you knock on is getting slammed in your face or they won’t let you in. You just can’t take no for an answer.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an entrepreneur. I have a clothing store/ Brands, I’m a hiphop artist and I have a moving company as well.
I’m most known for music and fashion. I feel like fashion and music in the hiphop world have always going together. As a kid, we used to look up to rappers and see what they were wearing and follow the trend. Now that I’m older and I’m that guy the kids look up to or come shop with and set the latest trends in my neighborhood or for my followers online. I’m most proud of the fact that I can use my dreams and my story to motivate other people who come from the same type of place I come from and help them to reach their goals.
What sets me apart from others is I’m here to serve others. Through music, I’m just telling my story that people can relate to and I’m giving them knowledge on real life situations that can get them through tough times. Or I can create some feel-good music to change their mood if their down or looking to have a good time. Through clothing, I put a positive message on each Item. My most popular one is “Build & Destroy” Build means to elevate wit the mind to a higher level of consciousness; Destroy means to take away all negativity. Or another one is “Positive Energy Always Creates Elevations (P E A C E). Messages like that I’m giving to serve other people and help them out mentally on a positive note. Through my moving company, I’m serving them because I’m helping customers with their own personal needs which is to move.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
They can reach out to me through email Shakim7music@gmail.com, or through my instagram @thereal_shakim , or contact me here. 203-508-4579
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/shakimshabazz
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thereal_shakim
- Facebook: Shakim Shabazz
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCwozk_jFwtgmNVb1yvo765w\
- Twitter: @therealb_ezy
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/x4BzFL3X787vyAsM9
