Grime and Urban – Musical Musings
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Grime and Urban – Musical Musings

Posted by on Nov 14, 2011 in Reviews | 0 comments

 
To listen to this week’s playlist as you read, click here

 

Hello once more, dedicated TrendFlux zealots,

 

This week’s article is all about Grime and Urban! But don’t let this put you off. Remember I’m not going to choose anything too obscure that you will be physically repulsed by the sheer nature of content in this article.

 

Before I start however, I’d just like to take a minute to talk about the recent Justin Bieber scandal this week. You know the one, that he has allegedly (read: he has) gotten a girl pregnant with his seed (lol, ‘seed’). I’m not going to have the birds and the bees talk with you now but it took place in a backstage toilet and J-Biebz refused to wear a condom, obviously going against his motto of ‘Never say never’. He is reported to have said to her, and I quote, “I want to f**k the s**t out of you”. How adorable. Not what you would have expected from the suave charming young man. I would have expected something more like, “I wouldn’t mind if we partook in some coitus together, with such vigor that you seem to lose all control of your bowels, rendering you ‘soiled’ in your nether regions”. I’m sure history has never seen a child more wanted to be killed by a section of society (The Beliebers), since Jesus and the Romans.

 

 

Anyway, today I’m going to give you a small lesson in ‘A History of Grime’. Grime used to be considered a small genre of music in the 2000’s as it broke off from the UK Garage scene of east London. By utilising simple garage beats like this, it could be described like a disgruntled cat stuck in a box. It has a lot of thrashing and claws to throw but not much room in which to do it in. This, of course, is a poor analogy, referring to lots of lyrics, with little bars and verse patterns to work with. Grime in the past decade however, has gone from a small area to the global stage, just like AIDS. (Too much?)

 

Artists like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Kano are seen as the ‘Founding Fathers’ of the genre. Just without the odd outfits and the silly white hair. I’m also not too sure how they would have reacted to a black person on the committee back then either…

 

"What Up, Bitchezzzzzz?"

 

By the late noughties, Grime had blown up with Dizzee’s album ‘Maths + English’ winning many awards. It kinda sounded like this… However, the first line of this song is steeped with irony, as many claim this is the song in which he lost his roots. Since this, other artists have come out into the limelight, with many changing their sound to fit into the now more suitable term of ‘Urban’.

 

 

Plan B is a legend in the grime arena. Just as Bin Laden was within the Hide and seek society. Unfortunately (for some), he’s now moved towards his other talent of Pop/Motown.

 

Tinie is another great pioneer. He has managed to bring Grime to the masses like none other. Invading the USA now, he’s unstoppable (pun intended). You probably know him from his more recent stuff, such as Pass Out. Grime has caused more waves in the US than the opening of a new McDonalds, to such an extent that even Diddy is getting Grime lessons from this chap, Skepta.

 

 

Probably the most recent contender of the title of ‘urban king’, is Wretch 32. His music was what originally got me into Grime. His newer stuff, whilst still great music, is now more watered down than the spirits in Whetherspoons.

 

Grime and Urban is changing as frequently as Britney Spears’ waistline (Am I right, girls? Oh, SNAP!) This next video combines probably 2 of my favorite artists in the ‘urban’ genre, and probably the coolest name in the business This is a nice snap shot of where the genre is moving to and how diverse it still is! And there you have it! Grime on a shoestring!

 

 

A little new music to end with. Can I apologise first off. I don’t listen to Radio 1, so I am not aware of which new artist they have crawled into bed with recently. So if this band is already being overplayed, I’m sorry. But new-ish band Dry the River blend beautiful harmonic songs in a kind of cross between Mumford and Sons and the Bombay Bicycle Club album ‘Flaws’.

 

Well, enjoy! Hopefully I have opened your eyes to Grime a little bit more. Be sure to listen all the way through the Youtube Playlist as there are many, many more songs on there to listen to, so you can really see how the genre has branched out! At the risk of sounding like a teacher, “I don’t put it up for my own amusement!” so check it out!

 

Happy listening!

 


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