RL Grime
The producer who made festival trap feel cinematic — enormous drops with real compositional care, Halloween-mix mythology included.
Henry Steinway was born in Los Angeles, where his mother worked in photography and his father in architecture; his grandfather was Henry Z. Steinway, the last family owner of the Steinway & Sons piano company, though Steinway says he grew up with little music around him. He studied music business at Northeastern University, then transferred to New York University, before moving back to Los Angeles in 2012.
He had earlier released house-leaning music as Clockwork. Under the RL Grime name, he joined the WeDidIt collective in 2011 alongside fellow Los Angeles producers Shlohmo, Groundislava and D33J, and released his debut Grapes EP on the label in April 2012. His stage name is drawn from horror novelist R.L. Stine.
A 2012 remix of Kanye West's Mercy, made with producer Salva, spread widely online and helped establish his name. That October he released the first of his annual Halloween mixes, a run that has continued every year since, mixing original material and edits with vocal cameos from figures such as Pharrell Williams, Shaquille O'Neal and Jack Black. His High Beams EP followed in 2013 on Fool's Gold Records, topping the iTunes electronic chart.
His productions combine the drum programming and 808 sub-bass of Southern rap with orchestral samples, drawn-out builds and heavy drops, an approach heard across the albums Void, which featured Big Sean and Boys Noize, and Nova. In 2019 he founded his own label, Sable Valley.
RL Grime at a glance
Where is RL Grime from?
RL Grime is from Los Angeles, CA.
What kind of music does RL Grime play?
RL Grime is tagged trap and bass.
What festivals has RL Grime played before?
RL Grime has played HARD Summer 2026.
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