For many years I’ve been listening to Grime and attending Grime raves & concerts getting hyped over my favourite artists getting wheel ups on the decks and sharing the experience with hundreds of other fans, who all came for the same thing without any trouble whatsoever. Recently watching the ‘Noisey: London’ documentary has opened my eyes to the harsh reality of London crime and the links it has with Grime music and artists, which I have never experienced.
For many years Grime has been underground and has been viewed in the public eye as young troublesome teens making music, talking about guns and violence, which in turn is the same thing, they’re doing on the street. One major factor is the Trident police force, which is a group responsible for tackling gang violence and the prevention. The Noisey London documentary showed how Trident police force would target grime MC’s and shut down their shows when all the artists want to do is enjoy themselves and feed off the audiences vibes.
This is the side of grime that I have never experienced; personally I’ve never been to a grime rave where there’s been trouble. I’ve just seen everybody riding the wave and giving off positive vibes.
I feel Grime music is now the voice of London spreading across the nation and worldwide with artists such as Skepta spearheading the movement. The BRIT awards 2015 opened everybody’s eyes but not mine. Kanye West stormed the stage with the main Grime artists such as BBK, Novelist and Krept and Konan to rap his hit song “All Day” which made news headlines and caused negative reactions such as this comment
“A bunch of young men all dressed in black dancing extremely aggressively on stage, it made me feel so intimidated and it’s just not what I expect to see on prime time TV”.
To me Kanye West hasn’t really done anything for the Grime scene apart from have a small group of artists on stage with him; which for him was just a marketing ploy to gain the UK audience’s favour and be controversial. The real MVP is Drake, who has embraced the scene fully by signing to BoyBetterKnow, co-signing The Section Boyz on stage after performing at the MOBO’s and forging a genuine friendship with Skepta.
Grime to me is a welcoming sound that no matter who you are, what age you are or what mood you’re in, the music will tailor to you. Artists such as Wiley, Ghetts and Kano who have been around since the early days have had breaks in their careers, moved to other stuff but have always been welcomed with open arms on their return because we all know when they drop a tune it will be fire, they have the natural ability to shell down the mic wherever and whenever they go. They are the true members of the Grime family and will always be, old is gold.
In my opinion the grime scene and the artists are not bad, it is the portrayal in the media, which is wrong. We are a massive family whom enjoy the same taste of music and are looking for a good time as its natural and about real life struggles. My best experience to this day is Skepta’s shutdown Shoreditch car park rave where I came out absolutely exhausted and so hyped. Personally I’m lucky to live in London and the age where Grime is popping once again. Grime is organic, it is not forced, and it comes from the heart. How many people can say they’ve met their favourite Grime artist on more than one occasion, on a personal level and had normal conversations with them? Gone to a free Skepta rave in a Shoreditch car park, after being tweeted by Skepta 4 years prior to it? This touches back on why Grime is organic and is so important to me. There is nothing else like it. Grime to me, being a London boy is a way of life. This is our genre, we own this thing!
Words: Aman Basi – @SignorBasi – Lead photo – Nicholas Sandzi – @NSandzi
