Adele White wonders what the hell has happened to grime…
In 2010 it’s fair to say that grime stars who were once shunned by the UK charts and the elusive Radio 1 playlist, have become the UK’s music scene’s hottest commercially viable products. From basement freestyler to discussing policies of the newly elected Barack Obama with Jeremy Paxman, Dizzee, the once frustrated Boy in Da Corner is now the respected man responsible for your Grandma’s recent case of disco fever. Dylan Mills represents the rapid transition of the UK music industry and how it has embodied the genre of grime. As a result, he is arguably the biggest male pop solo artist in the UK right now.
The question I am often asked is, does grime music actually exist anymore? With many of its pioneers turning their back on the scene and opting for an electro/club/pop sound, has grime expired and given into the machine that is pop music – simply popular music, regardless of genre – or has grime just evolved?
Grime was a genre born out of young creative artists and producers who were working with limited resources and wanted to make music that reflected their lives. So is it difficult to believe that an artist that once told the nation to “Fix Up, Look Sharp” is now encouraging everyone to “Disco, Disco, Disco”? As Dizzee began to gain critical acclaim and financial success, the reality is that he was no longer financially constrained, therefore his lyrics, the sound, and the man himself have become more polished.
With artists like Chipmunk, Tinchy, Dizzee, Roll Deep & Tinie having Top 10 success in 2010, no one could have predicted that grime would produce a staple camp intelligent, business savvy individuals able to crossover their music to a mainstream market.
As a result, the usual backlash from the fans has occurred as grime no longer reflected the teenage angst of youth culture. With Chipmunk abandoning his title of “The grime scene saviour”, instead opting to sing about his latest diamond ring, it’s hardly surprising that lovers of the original genre can no longer relate to the current wave of grime pop stars.
Leaving a gap in market for those seeking the gritty realism that grime once offered. Once again record label XL has come to the ‘rescue’ by signing an artist that goes totally against the dirty pop electro grime tracks. In late 2009 XL announced they had signed the U.K’s first street rapper, south London’s, Giggs. No stranger to crime or harsh realities of inner city living he offers the raw teenage angst and danger that middle class youths often hear about, but rarely get to experience.
In 2007 when he recorded the infamous mixtape Hard bodied, which included the infamous club banger “Talkin The Hardest” the CD was distributed for free and was scattered across the streets of south London. Flashed forward to 2010 Giggs is now a signed artist with latest single “Look What the Cat dragged In”, entering the national charts at number 52 and debut album “Let Em have It”, entering official album charts at number 35. Most people in the music industry thought he was a one hit wonder. Now it seems every day there is a new UK rapper popping up.
Will U.K rap create its own genre of successful Pop stars? Its far cry and nobody really knows yet, as UK rap has notoriously been unsuccessful with the stiff competition of U.S Hip Hop stars. However with artists such as Giggs, Tinie Tempah, Skepta and Tinchy Strder collaborating with US Superstars stars such as B.O.B, Snoop Dogg and P Diddy , the future of U.K rap looks to be something that America is taking very seriously.
In conclusion Grime in the last five years has grown up and got married to electro dance in order to maintain presence in the fickle pop world. However, due to the credible talents of people like Dizzee, Wiley, Chipmunk, Tinchy and Tinie who have pushed the original boundaries for what grime originally was, it’s impossible to say it’s died or because music always evolves as do the artists that produce it. Thus, the true magic of the grime genre has been its ability to provide the stepping-stone for eager, talented artists to pursue their love of music from their bedrooms, to the top of the UK Pop charts.
Do you agree with Adele? Let us know your thoughts below
Words by Adele White
Tags: Chipmunk, Dizzee Rascal, Giggs, Grime, Roll Deep, Skepta, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, Wiley
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Grime been dead for time it was never alive! Im from Hackney and my era was just after grimes real rise and no one ever listened to it no one was ever on the block spittin grime they were rapping and we were listening to rap. Artists like Mashtown and Joe black Giggs aint knew We been rapping for ages its just not like US rap and its kinda slightly influenced by grime only because that is our street culture.
Stop being ignorant ppl grime is dead!
grime aint dead never will be and people who say thay aint no diffrence between grime and us hiphop/rap that we coped them dont get me wrong we all lisend 2,2pac and biggie but grime is on another level even down 2 the beats grime spat at 140 beats per min grime is taking over and its us rap wats dead
Genres of music relate primarily to the sound. Grime is a sound, RnB is a sound, pop is a sound. Having limited finances doesn’t limit the sound of the music you make, only the artists themselves can do that! If you come up sounding grime and change your sound for mainstream success, you are no longer a grime artist; you have become something else. Plan B went from Soul to Rap and back to Soul and nobody talks about that, why I wonder? Grime is and probably always will be an underground sound, simply because radio 1 will not put it on the playlist. Journalists are quick to ask why artists change their sound but never want to point blame at the labels or the mainstream industry as a whole.
To quote a lyric from Kano;
“Can you get to the top of the top? Pow – #11 still no Top of The Pops. How??”
grime aint jus ghetts, p money, newham, jme n tempz.
cuz so many big grime mc gne pop people forget bout other manz.
kwam, hydro, dimples, m.i.k, blacks, so on n so on
1) grime aint dead and grime was never mainstream to begin with. boy in da corner never got on the radio. tinchy stryder’s first album never got on the radio.
2) giggs is not grime. he is hip hop. calling giggs hip hop is like calling sway hip hop, just because he’s a uk rapper.
3) rwd mag forum is dead though
thank god finally sum1 spoke up about this situation, they say grime aint dead yet the people carrying this scene have all gone mainstream..evidence is right there. BIG UP ADELE !!!!
some really intelligent points that youve come out with. definetley caused some tlking points. But what good writer doesn’t.
I’d say grime is still here, it’s just becoming very different from what it once was, a good new Artist out is Kizzle, now he’s got some hit bangas, his latest is ‘Not Afraid’ ft Shahlamn. I’m loving it
Wow RWD wheerrrrrrrrrrrr did you find Adele White? She certainly hit the nail on the head! She got them talking; that’s good real good! Get her back to do more writing NOW!
Grime ain’t dead- your fully gassed.
Grime is live and kicking- not like the old days but oh well nothing ever is.
Theres bare MC’s producing brilliant tracks and album.
Grime ain’t dead- never that
p.s adele white those chsticles ur hiding under that top are sublime (wink)
intresting……certainly got people talkin!..its certainly isnt what it used to be,and some people have moved on from it…I agree with the writers comments on this :
“Grime was a genre born out of young creative artists and producers who were working with limited resources and wanted to make music that reflected their lives. So is it difficult to believe that an artist that once told the nation to “Fix Up, Look Sharp” is now encouraging everyone to “Disco, Disco, Disco”? As Dizzee began to gain critical acclaim and financial success, the reality is that he was no longer financially constrained, therefore his lyrics, the sound, and the man himself have become more polished.”
i just want to say first of all that Giggs is not grime. Alright, now that that’s said grime has evolved, but yall are right to say that it kinda leaves us grime heads with… but if you pay attention, not everyone has left the ends, they definitely want to make P’s, everyone wants to make p’s but people like Big H, wrigley, the white guy from manchester(i cant remember his name), ghetts, p money and ogz are still holding it down for grime. i would like to also admit that i like the way other genres developed like the funky, and dubstep. but over all GRIME IS NOT DEAD, i still have my treading on thin ice, and home sweet home, lord of the mic recordings, i still remember when i heard POW, Pies, Typical me, and JUST A RASCAL. GRIME FOR Life, representing grimeheads in the US.
Grime Daily have done a full reply
http://www.grimedaily.com/news/grime-is-dead-come-off-it
I think what you’ve said is wildly innacurate as if you look at what you’ve wrote you have deviated from ‘grime’ to ‘u.k rap’ they are two different things.
Giggs’ place in the chart has no relevance to grime he has never been grime and never will be grime, he is a uk rapper who was signed to go against the norm at this moment in time as you have stated.
these artists have very different stories behind why they are able to get in to the charts but the general pattern IS the same they have to water their music down, make music for a younger audience or have a chorus that will accepted by the mainstream buyers market.
They choose to do this because Grime does not sell because its target audience doesnt buy music, they go to raves and listen to radio, or use internet to watch videos and hear new music it is the way grime is!
Grime is still provdided with extremely talented musicians who given major label backing could probably get number one singles themselves for example Dot Rotten as a producer and lyricist is one the best, Ghetts is a top lyricist second to none including hip hop artists, bottom line Grime is not dead but the artists you know about are the ones that are deciding they need to be wealthy off music and are fed up with receiving pence for good music in the underground. it would never happen in america, Mos Def could be argued as one of the best rappers of all time and makes enough money to live off his music but has never had a commercial hit or a billboard number one, and i do know he does movies and things of that sort but he was well off before even stepping in to movies
Dont get it twisted. Its great to see that people are protective. Its unfortunate that certain people are not clever enough to read between the lines. Was in not Logan who set up his own t-shirt range promoting Grime is Dead nearly 2-3 years ago. There was also a massive selling t-shirt wth the slogan HIP HOP is Dead. Is it? No so dont be so close minded with the rediculous comments.
Grime has evolved in my eyes and has now become very much part of british culture. The better artists have made careers out of utilising there skills and making music for the main stream, and not for the post codes. Grime has progressed and is in a far better place.
When you grow up and become more educated you then realise that the small minded use of bad language can only get you so far. As Roll Deep have always said AIM HIGH.
FUCK RWD MAG….. WE GOT GRIMEDAILY LOL
ALL THE GUYS THAT ARE SAYING GRIME DEAD ARE TINCHY STRYDER AND 06′ SKEPTA FANS!!
FUCK RWD JUST COS UR SHIT FORUM DIED! U MAD? OYNAMA SIKIDIM SIKIDIM!
It has been for at least two years. P.S. I suck cock.
If your opinion is that grime is dead or doesn’t exist anymore then you are clearly looking in the wrong places.
I don’t think grime is dead but its very very close.
When Dizzee won a Mercury award it seemed like the best thing that could possibly happen for the scene as a whole. ‘Boy in da Corner’ a reflective album of the genre had reached critical acclaim…. Then the Fairytale ended.
Seemed Dizzee had a ‘glass ceiling’ and a ‘if you cant beat them, join them’ strategy was developed.
For me personally, Grime has always been about the Raw element. Sweaty radio stations in tower blocks, shit equipment and an ambition of what could be. As soon as Dizzee, Tinchy and all the new found UK stars turned their back on this, they immediately fell out the loop. No longer accessible artists but, eventually, just faceless entities on the television. A shame.
Easy to criticise, but who wouldn’t do the same really I suppose!??
Yes very well said and im taking uk music very seriously. Shakira uk Dancestep Dreamgirzl.
hmmmmm can’t really say i fully agree, what about Ghetts ,Logan Sama or even chanel U now aka? For the most parts I can see where she’s coming from.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, the early noughties grime always reminded me of early 90’s Hip hop and in the same way both have morphed themselves into radio friendly pop and for the same reasons, Money. I m not judging them thou because its inevitable, plus some good tunes have come out of it.