A History of Grime
At the turn of the millennium, a pioneering music movement was brewing out of the blocks of East London. A prominent voice for counter-culture and descendant of Garage and Jungle merged with the foundation of Hip-Hop, Grime was not beholden to these influences — rather documenting life in London’s inner-city.
Its origins are often disputed, groups such as So Solid Crew and Heartless Crew had both dabbled with the sound at the time of conception. However, it was following the disbandment of the Garage collective Pay As U Go Cartel in 2002 where we would see Grime’s fruition as we know today. Wiley aka Eskiboy focused his efforts on production, sonically unique to his predecessors, he experimented with a faster 140BPM tempo, darker melodies and a variety of untried samples “The music reflects what’s going on in society. Everyone’s so angry at the world and each other and they don’t know why.” Produced in 1999 but officially released in 2002, his ‘Eskimo’ instrumental is regarded as Grime’s inauguration which he initially aptly named ‘Eskibeat’ earning him the rightful title ‘Godfather of Grime.’
Pirate radio stations such as Deja Vu and Rinse FM were the focal point in hosting Garage sets to an audience within signal range. The latter was founded in 1994 by 2 members of the Pay As U Go Cartel who quickly adapted to the new sound created by their counter-parts. Wiley soon launched ‘Eskimo Dance’ — a rave which offered the stage to young artists similar to Sidewinder’s touring events in the 90s. As a genre focused on the satisfaction of listeners, plans were non-existent and tracks were chosen spontaneously, dictated by the crowd’s reaction. Reloads, 8-bar repetition and iconic adlibs were all defining factors in its appealing aesthetic.
When More Fire Crew, led by Lethal B hit #8 on the Singles Charts with ‘Oi!’ it caused a seismic shift across the industry. The power of this new movement was evident and encouraged the BBC to capitalise off the wave by launching the 1Xtra subsidiary, dedicated entirely to black music and a demographic which had largely been overlooked. 2003 was significant for the culture, the cable-TV platform Channel U was launched at the start of the year and gave new artists the ability to broadcast music with accompanying lo-fi visuals. Dizzee Rascal’s debut ‘Boy in Da Corner’ released that summer, is revered as the first Grime album and at 19 he was the youngest artist to be awarded a Mercury Prize. Its memorable samples and hard-hitting flow solidified itself as the cornerstone of Grime’s legacy and truly put on for the genre.
Inspired by Smack DVDs which took the US underground scene by storm, both Risky Roadz and Lord of the Mics (formerly Lord of the Decks) provided a multimedia outlet for artists to showcase raw, unadulterated content. Risky compiled episodes of freestyles and interviews on DVDs. However, with clashing being a right-of-passage inherited from Garage, Jammer wanted to present that competitiveness to the masses. Setting place in the basement of his parental home, he organised his first battle — Kano vs Wiley in 2004, the series would grow exponentially and produced arguably the most iconic clash to date — Skepta vs Devilman in 2006.
When Noel Clarke’s ‘Kidulthood’ premiered in 2006, it was the first time the culture had been represented on the big screen. The cult-classic provided an insight into the social challenges encountered by inner-city youth — addressing earnest topics like London’s socio-economic disparity, racial inequality, self-harm and drug abuse to name a few and was accompanied by an unforgettable soundtrack.
Connectivity through internet allowed grassroots artists to build a mass following from their front doors, eradicating the need for traditional major label backing or knowledge of the music business. YouTube, in particular, played a vital role in this cultivation, SBTV, LinkUp TV and GRM Daily launched in 2006, 2008 and 2009 respectively, gave emerging talent a platform to accumulate millions of views. Previously unfathomable, Tim Westwood brought raw talent directly to the BBC during his time at 1Xtra which delivered some of the most iconic freestyles to date. Despite its growing success, the demonisation of the music and culture was perpetuated through mainstream media and government bodies. The Metropolitan Police habitually used the infamous Form 696 — a risk assessment given to promoters and venues that disproportionately discriminated on the grounds of racial ethnicity, eventually discontinued in 2017. Not only did this result in hundreds of cancelled shows but also prevented artists from any financial gain. Whether overt or covert, the remnants of this discrimination are well ingrained into society and majority-black music movements are continually condemned and used as scapegoats for crime.
Following the success of his critically acclaimed debut album ‘Gang Signs & Prayers’ it was revealed Stormzy would headline Glastonbury Festival, performing on the illustrious Pyramid Stage. This news was met with backlash from both media outlets and partygoers who masked their prejudice with the guise of him having a minimal discography — ignoring the historic milestone that had been achieved for the British-born genre. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Stormzy responded by delivering a powerful performance, taking time to mourn the victims of the Grenfell tragedy whilst stepping out in a Union Jack-clad bulletproof vest hand-painted by the politically-driven, elusive artist, Banksy.
After being shunned for over a decade, we have seen Grime dominate not only the charts but all aspects of popular culture — from its cultural aesthetics appropriated by haute couture brands to Skepta appearing on the renowned GQ cover alongside Naomi Campbell, its influence is undeniable. By merging with Chicago’s Drill in the early 10s, the resulting unique sound resonated amongst multicultural cities worldwide. With the UK spearheading this movement, it has been adopted by the birthplace of Hip-Hop, NYC exhibiting a full circle for homegrown street-music. With all eyes firmly set on Britain’s scene, success is limitless and Grime has unapologetically etched its own chapter into the history books.
Written by Ali Twice for Issue 04 of Akin Magazine
