The style spread among pirate radio stations, such as Rinse FM and underground scenes before achieving some mainstream recognition in the UK during the mid-2000's through artists such as Lethal Bizzle and Wiley. Other prominent artists include JME, Skepta, Stormzy and grime crews such as Boy Better Know. In the mid-2010's, grime received popular attention in North America. The genre has been described as the "most significant musical development within the UK for decades".
A Little background on grime:
Grime has origins tied with UK pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM. The style was known by a number of names, including 8-bar, nu shapes, sublow, as well as eskibeat, a term applied specifically to a style initially developed by Wiley and his collaborators, incorporating dance and electro elements. This indicated the movement of UK garage away from its house influences towards darker themes and sounds. Among the first tracks to be labelled "grime" as a genre in itself were "Eskimo" "Ice Rink" and "Igloo" by Wiley, "Pulse X" by Musical Mob and "Creeper" by Danny Weed.
How Grime has developed:
Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, kano and Lethal Bizzle were among the first to bring the genre to mainstream media attention in 2003-2004, with their albums Boy In da Corner, Treddin' On Thin Ice, Home Sweet Home and Against All Oddz respectively. Dizzee Rascal gathered widespread critical acclaim and commercial success with Boy In Da Corner winning the 2003 Mercury Music Prize.
Despite the popularity and commercial success of individual artists, many underground Grime artists failed to find a platform. In response to this, Boy Better Know's Jammer created Lords of the Mics in 2004 which was an annual DVD series, showcasing underground artists participating in battle rapping and also giving them a platform through interviews.
Lord of the mics was originally sold by Jammer locally but eventually helped smaller grime artists find a platform through selling the DVDs to independent record stores throughout the UK and eventually helping grime form an internet following from uploads to Youtube.
Grime has since received exposure from television stations including Channel U (now known as Channel AKA), the BBC's youth-oriented digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra, in particular Charlie Sloth's show, which showcases various grime artists such as Stormzy, Bugzy Malone and Akala, with his popular segment "fire in the both" and the MOBO awards, which launched its first "Best Grime" category in 2014 (prior to this Grime had been merged with 'Best hip-hop" since 2011) when the show was being broadcast on BBC One.
Grime is a subgenre that draws from a wide variety of influences. The genre's popularity grew exponentially in the United Kingdom.
This united many different music scenes, allowing for it to spread in the same word-of-mouth and mixtape-based style as hip-hop, yet still appeal to fans of electronic music. it allowed for more electronic music artists to incorporate stronger African and Caribbean influences in the future. Grime has received a lot of attention all around the world, but nowhere as much as in the UK. Much like many other less mainstream forms of British electronic music, its main scene and fan base remained in the United Kingdom.
Over the years:
2015 -Following Stormzy's performance of "shut up" during the ring walk to Anthony Joshua's Heavyweight boxing match with Dillian White, Stormzy gained attention and pushed the song further up the charts, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart.
2016 -February - Ministry of Sound and DJ Maximum released a grime compilation entitled GRIME TIME, which topped the UK compilations chart
May - Skepta's fourth studio album, KONNICHIWA, entered the UK Album Chart at number two. The album explored grime's relationship with the United States, and features appearances from ASAP Mob members Young lord and ASAP Nast as well as production and vocals from Pharrell Williams.
Drake later signed to Skepta's Boy Better Know Label. He later included Skepta and Giggs on his More Life album.
The song "KMT" featuring Giggs peaked at nine on the UK Official Singles Chart.
May - Skepta's fourth studio album, KONNICHIWA, entered the UK Album Chart at number two. The album explored grime's relationship with the United States, and features appearances from ASAP Mob members Young lord and ASAP Nast as well as production and vocals from Pharrell Williams.
Drake later signed to Skepta's Boy Better Know Label. He later included Skepta and Giggs on his More Life album.
The song "KMT" featuring Giggs peaked at nine on the UK Official Singles Chart.
2017 -February - Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer was the first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart.
June - British Phonographic Industry reported that Grime sales had risen over 100% with physical sales growing over 109%, Digital sales 51% and streaming up by 138%.
Skepta's Konnichiwa album cover
No comments:
Post a Comment