"Trident" was first released through its music video on September 30, 2014, later being included as the B-side to the 12-inch vinyl release of "50 Cent" on November 3, 2014.[6] "50 Cent" was previously released as a single on September 9, 2014, along with the release date of Blunt's second studio album, Black Metal (2014).[7]
Reception
Chris Deville of Stereogum compared "Trident" to the second half of Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain In Light, though "refracted through the lens of bizarre outsider hip-hop."[6]The Vinyl Factory named the "50 Cent/Trident" vinyl one of the best releases of the week, with Kelly Doherty writing that the latter track "devastatingly captures the isolation of urban life."[8]
Trident 2
Portrait of Mark Duggan, who is referenced in "Trident 2".
The sequel to "Trident", titled "Trident 2", was released to SoundCloud in October 2014 under Blunt's alias @jesuschrist3000ADHD.[9] In the song, Blunt recites an article about the killing of Mark Duggan over a looped goth-rock sample.[9][10] In its lyrics, Blunt references the history of the Hackney Boys and Tottenham Mandem gangs, the nature of gang culture in the UK, and critiques London police's response to Duggan's death, characterising it as ultimately harmful and self-defeating.[2][11]
Reception
"Trident 2" received generally positive reviews. Samuel Diamond of Tiny Mix Tapes compared it to the work of Linton Kwesi Johnson, though noted that "where Johnson composed dub poems set to music produced by others, Blunt seems to have simply recited excerpts from an article over more than eight minutes of (possibly) original music."[9] For Clash, Robin Murray said it had "an interesting viewpoint, one that is frequently bypassed in British music";[11] another article by the magazine opined that it "offers listeners a greater insight into [Blunt's] world than ever before."[12] At Flavorwire, Tom Hawking one of the week's best releases, feeling that it "works surprisingly well, even if the details of shooting after shooting are both depressing and all-too-familiar."[13] Reviewing Roaches 2012-2019, Resident Advisor's Maya-Roisin Slater praised the song's inclusion, writing that "[b]y archiving it in this medium, Blunt returns the song to its ancient use as a vessel for history, capturing the story in a way that's both rich and emotionally resonant."[2]
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