Research - Genre

History

2002
Garage dies. Grime is born

An east London garage super-crew, Pay As U Go Cartel, split up in the aftermath of their single ‘Champagne Dance’ reaching the Top 20. Two of their producers, Geeneus and Slimzee, concentrate on their pirate radio station, Rinse FM. Meanwhile, another member, Wiley, heads off to tinker with beats and ends up inventing grime with an instrumental track called ‘Eskimo’.

2003
No one knows what to call grime

Some people are calling it ‘Eski-beat’ (mainly Wiley, tbf), some people are calling it ‘sub-low’. Others are calling it ‘grime’. Channel 4 even runs a late-night short documentary interviewing MCs to find out its name. Just in case all this wasn’t confusing enough, Wiley later releases a single called ‘Wot Do U Call It?’

2003
Grime gets its own version of MTV

It’s not just the songs that grime fans can’t get enough of: it’s also the low-budget videos. Cue satellite music TV station Channel U, which quickly becomes one of the best places to discover new grime music.

2004
Grime gets its ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (and clubs try to ban it)

Punk? Pfft. By 2004, grime has its own tear-the-club-up anthem in the form of Lethal Bizzle’s ‘Forward Riddim’, better known as ‘Pow!’. Not only is it the first grime single to break the UK Top 20, but it makes headlines after the moshpits it provokes see club owners put up signs to DJs saying: ‘Do not play “Pow!”’

2006
David Cameron has a beef with Lethal Bizzle

By now, grime is such a vibrant social movement that it’s even reached the ears of the leader of the Tory party (still a few years off being elected prime minister). He criticises Tim Westwood for playing lyrics with violent content, so the Guardian gives Lethal Bizzle a column entitled ‘David Cameron Is a Donut.’ Astonishingly, Cameron shoots back with a whole article in the Mail on Sunday called ‘You’re Talking Rubbish, Lethal Bizzle’.

2014
Skepta throws his Gucci clobber in the bin, reinvents grime and wins a Mobo

Skepta puts out a big musical ‘fuck you’ to the mainstream, with ‘That’s Not Me’ , in which he announces that he’s done with the bling lifestyle. Its deliberately low-budget video (it cost just 80 quid) duly wins a Mobo. ‘Grime,’ he seems to be saying, ‘is now for the masses!’

2015
Kanye sneaks grime’s finest on to live TV

When Kanye West performs ‘All Day’ at the Brits, he unexpectedly brings a 40-person tracksuited mafia of London grime artists on to the stage. Is he exploiting grime? Is he boosting its profile? Either way, it shows that the genre has some serious fans across the Pond.

2016
Drake signs to Boy Better Know

Back in the day, grime artists tried desperately to get cred by being acknowledged by North American artists. When, in February, Drake instagrams ‘the first Canadian signed to BBK’, the internet goes mental. ‘Finally!’ they squeal, ‘they’ve come to us for credibility. The roles are reversed!’ Grime’s journey to global mega-ness is complete.    

Stormzy

Fast-rising London Grime artist, with Ghanaian heritage, Stormzy launched his career clashing at youth clubs around his home town of Croydon where his performances evolved from Grime-only music that showed a love of artists like Skepta and Wiley, to more Rap oriented material that reflected Stormzy’s growing appreciation of artists like Drake, with the artist also citing the likes of Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.

Examples of Stormzy music; 'Where do you know me from' 'Shut up' Lethal Bizzle feat Stormzy Lethal Bizzle 'Black the ripper'

'Skepta'

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