60-509: Chronik (born 3 May 1981), is a grime MC from Maryland , east London . Active in underground music for a number of years, he has released two solo mixtapes; Blaze More Dan U (2007) and Free Chronik (2011). He released his first album, Rise of the Lengman in 2014. He is known for his underground hit Ring , variously released in Free Chronik and Rise of the Lengman . Chronik is
120-467: A MOBO award for the best Female Act. As well as hosting large events, the pirate radio scene includes stations such as Silk City Radio, where Birmingham DJ Big Mikee hosts a regular slot between 10-12pm every Sunday. Birmingham producers such as Preditah and Swifta Beater have become established figures in the grime scene, with leading artists such as Wiley giving recognition to their contribution to grime. In 2011, Preditah released his Solitaire EP;
180-546: A collection of four grime instrumentals. This EP reached number 1 on the iTunes album charts. Channel U commissioned the first grime comedy series in 2002: The Booo Krooo , made by RWD magazine 's founding team members Matt Mason and Lex Johnson . Comedy, satire, and playing on stereotypes would become a common theme in grime music, with artists such as Mr Wong, Bearman, and Big Narstie , Junior Spesh, and Tempa T employing humour in their music. In 2006, Afrikan Boy 's "One Day I Went to Lidl" song went viral gaining over
240-500: A group, the most well known names in the industry, Dizzee Rascal and Kano, both getting their first hits at the age of 16 with " I Luv U " and " Boys Love Girls " respectively, and the resultant package of "youth making music for youth" is seen as a crucial factor for grime's success. Grime producers often battle in so-called "war dubs". Clashing between MC's is generally considered to be an important part of grime culture. Dizzee Rascal , Wiley , Kano and Lethal Bizzle were among
300-581: A key community hub for both developing and established Grime MCs during this time. The store was frequented by artists like Wiley, Skepta and Dizzee Rascal before its eventual closure in 2010. Jammer created Lords of the Mics in 2004. The DVD primarily showcased underground artists clashing (or "battle rapping") each other. Lord of the Mics was originally sold by Jammer, Jammer secured an exclusive deal with ukrecordshop.com which helped catapult sales worldwide. The DVD eventually helped smaller grime artists find
360-466: A legend in the grime scene, alongside the likes of Wiley . Since 2012 collaborates with the label WagWan and its representative, Polish rapper Popek . Grime (music) Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage , and draws influences from jungle , dancehall , and hip hop . The style
420-447: A limelight. Many grime MCs also began to move towards commercial electro house -influenced rap and away from grime music. Artists such as Tinchy Stryder , Chip , and Wiley began to shift away from grime music and instead began releasing music with pop elements to much success. Wiley's track " Wearing My Rolex ", produced by Bless Beats, has been credited for kickstarting this wave of commercialisation, but while it managed to gain
480-465: A member of Musical Mobb, are also often considered to be contenders. Dizzee Rascal personally claimed his song "Crime", released in 2000, was the first grime song. DJ Slimzee and DJ Karnage have also suggested "Year 2000" (released 2000) by Wiley as a contender. Other tracks that were among the first to be labelled as "grime" include "Ice Rink" and "Igloo" by Wiley, "Creeper" by Danny Weed , and "Dollar Sign" by Sticky featuring Stush. Wiley at
540-486: A member of the underground grime group Slew Dem crew along with Tempa T , G-Man and the now deceased Esco "Big Bars". Born in 1981 to parents from the West Indies , Chronik attended Tom Hood School (latterly Buxton School ) for his secondary education. He is a practising Sunni Muslim . Chronik served a short sentence in prison, with colleagues such as Tempa T calling for his release. Chronik has been described as
600-495: A million views on YouTube by 2007. 2014 saw the release of People Just Do Nothing , a mockumentary series that parodied UK garage, pirate radio culture, and the early stages of grime. In 2017, the show won 'Best Scripted Comedy' at the BAFTA Awards . In June 2018, grime MC Big Narstie and comedian Mo Gilligan launched The Big Narstie Show on Channel 4 . In November 2019, IKEA UK used grime MC D Double E as
660-596: A new generation of fans. In January 2017, Wiley released his eleventh studio album Godfather , debuting at number 9 in the charts. In February 2017, Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer was the first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart . In June, the British Phonographic Industry reported that grime sales had risen over 100% with physical sales growing over 109%, digital sales 51% and streaming up 138%. This led to
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#1732776102660720-422: A number 2 spot in the official singles chart , many of the initial attempts to replicate this success failed. Tinchy Stryder's " Stryderman " only managed to peak of No. 73, while Roll Deep 's " Do Me Wrong " failed to chart at all. Skepta 's " Rolex Sweep " only peaked at number 86, although it did briefly start a dance craze after it was released, received a remix by the band Coldplay , and featured on
780-506: A number of collaborations and genre-blending projects between South African and UK gqom musical artists and grime MCs such as Lady Lykez, Scratcha DVA and Novelist. Pulse X " Pulse X " is a grime instrumental by producer Youngstar of the crew Musical Mob. First released on 12" vinyl in March 2002 and given a wider release in July of the same year, Pulse X is widely considered to be
840-506: 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. This series built a unique platform for artists, because the majority of prior exposure for these artists was through pirate radio. This video series allowed artists to be more visible, and spread their sound. In 2003, TV channel Channel U
900-493: A platform to perform his music. Lethal stated in 2012 to The Guardian that he was unable to play in urban clubs for over a year due to the bans placed on him. Many other grime artists also experienced difficulties performing in clubs due to Form 696 , a police risk assessment form that many clubs were asked to fill in by the Metropolitan police . The form was created in 2005 after a spate of gun violence in clubs. The form
960-496: A response from Shizznit which also included disses towards various producers within the scene, who in-turn followed up with their own diss instrumentals. In the following year, grime experienced a commercial MC-led revival, initiated by the success of Meridian Dan's " German Whip " featuring Big H and Jme . The song reached number 13 in the UK Singles Charts. Two months after that, Skepta reached number 21 in
1020-788: A space for fans to discuss grime as a whole, something that was important to people outside of London due to the lack of information they had access to. Canadian artist Tre Mission credited the forums importance in his early growth. The lack of media attention towards grime, or any mainstream platforms that would reliably showcase grime, gave rise to internet platforms such as SB.TV (formed in 2006), Link Up TV (formed in 2008), and Grime Daily (formed in 2009, now known as GRM Daily). With their initial focus only on grime music (though this has since changed), these platforms provided an easy outlet for artists to funnel their music through and gain fame from, collectively creating an ecosystem that allows artists to easily record, produce, and release music to
1080-460: A stripped down snare and kick for 8 bars. The song has no introduction and the outro is a simple fade out. A voice sample saying "Musical Mob royal pon the map" plays once every 32 bars throughout on the switch from one 8-bar pattern to the other. Pulse X was very influential on early grime productions and the wider post garage landscape of the electronic music scene in London in the early 2000s, with
1140-399: Is Lady Sovereign , who appeared on Late Show with David Letterman , signed to Jay-Z 's Roc-A-Fella Records , and whose " Love Me or Hate Me " became the first video by a British artist to reach number one on MTV 's Total Request Live . It was not until the release of his third album, 2007's Maths + English , that Dizzee Rascal experienced international acclaim. He was nominated for
1200-399: Is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats , generally around 140 beats per minute , and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound. Emceeing is a significant element of the style, and lyrics often revolve around gritty depictions of urban life. The style initially spread among pirate radio stations and underground scenes before achieving some mainstream recognition in
1260-515: The Brit Awards . Following criticism of the performance, Stormzy released " Shut Up ", using the 2004 instrumental "Functions on the Low" produced by XTC, a member of Ruff Sqwad . The song was a massive hit for Stormzy and helped further popularise grime music. Stormzy's performance of the song during the ring walk to Anthony Joshua's Heavyweight boxing match with Dillian Whyte further pushed
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#17327761026601320-546: The Mercury Music Prize again, and despite the fact that the album was not released in the United States in 2007, it received high praise from international music critics, magazines, websites and blogs, including Pitchfork Media , Rolling Stone , and Rock Sound . By 2010, he had achieved three number one singles in a row. In Canada, British Man Dem (B.M.D.), a grime collective originally from
1380-466: The Official Charts saying grime had "smashed" its way into the mainstream. By 2018, grime's momentum had begun to slow down. Grime's rise has been credited for 'opening the door' for competing genres, such as afroswing and UK drill , that had begun to take the limelight. In 2019, Stormzy became the first grime artist to headline Glastonbury Festival . As grime became more popular in
1440-521: The Booth session. The feud catapulted Bugzy Malone to national fame and he has so far released three commercial projects, all debuting in the top 10 in the UK with his latest album charting at number four. The largest scene outside London is based in Birmingham and the wider Birmingham area. So Solid Crew influenced many grime artists, their raw dark track "Dilemma" considered by some to be one of
1500-484: The Mics is one of the earliest examples of a Midlands MC at the forefront of the scene and is credited by Jammer with helping to break down the stigma of accents from outside London over grime music. The clash is considered to be one of the greatest in the LOTM series with artists such as Drake praising it. Devilman would later link up with Mike Skinner to appear on the remix of "Prangin' Out". In 2007, Trilla released
1560-462: The Mics is a series of grime clashes hosted by Jammer . Both the LOTM III DVD and CD charted. Wiley, inspired by the return of LOTM, also brought back Eskimo Dance the following year, a grime rave from the 2000s that had been discontinued. Jammer suggested that the success of Eskimo Dance encouraged more grime raves to be held than had been previously. By 2013, a revival of instrumental grime
1620-536: The UK Singles Chart with his single " That's Not Me " featuring his brother Jme. Two months later, Lethal Bizzle released the single " Rari WorkOut " featuring Jme and Tempa T , which also charted, peaking at number 11 in the UK Singles Charts. A wave of new successful young grime MC's also began to emerge, such as Stormzy , AJ Tracey , Novelist , Jammz , and Lady Leshurr . In 2015, Kanye West invited various grime artists to join him on stage at
1680-535: The UK during the mid-2000s through artists such as Dizzee Rascal , Kano , Lethal Bizzle , and Wiley . In the mid-2010s, grime began to receive popular attention in Canada. The genre has been described as the "most significant musical development within the UK for decades." Though they are often compared, grime is generally considered distinct from hip hop due to its roots primarily being genres such as UK garage and jungle. Many but not all grime artists are from
1740-446: The UK throughout the mid-2000s, it spread out of London to other major British cities. Birmingham , Manchester , Nottingham , Leeds , Sheffield , Blackpool , and Bristol now have grime MCs who are currently gaining major exposure in the scene and have featured on Lord of the Mics , an annual DVD released by Boy Better Know 's Jammer . The national growth of the grime scene has also been evident with many grime artists playing on
1800-420: The UK, popularised grime with their radio show "Brits in the 6ix" in 2008 in which they brought grime artists to the spotlight in Canada. Grime became increasingly popular in Canada during early 2010, most notably by Canadian grime artist Tre Mission , one of the first North American artists to be associated with the predominantly United Kingdom-based grime genre. Drake also proved helpful in bringing grime to
1860-534: The beat. By the early 2010s, the grime scene in Birmingham was well established and the city hosted several highly successful events called 'Goonies' at the Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth . These events attracted some of the biggest names in grime, most notably P-Money, who referenced the events on his single "Slang Like This". Other prominent artists include Deadly, who formed the grime group N.O.D.B,
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1920-462: The black British community. Grime emerged in the early 2000s in London . It has origins tied with UK pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM , Deja Vu, Major FM, Delight FM, Freeze 92.7 and Mission. and it was through pirate radio that artists could first present themselves and build an audience. In the late 1990s, UK garage grew in popularity and also found crossover commercial success with shows on Kiss 100 and BBC Radio 1 . Whilst much of
1980-556: The comedy show Misfits . Dizzee Rascal found more success than most, with his songs such as " Dance wiv Me " finding itself on the number one spot on the UK Singles Chart . The wave of commercialised music received some criticism from fellow grime artists for being inauthentic to the original sound. Another commercialisation that happened during this period was grindie , which fused grime with indie rock . Grime did still have some success during this period, such as
2040-485: The decline in popularity grime experienced during the late 2000s. Logan Sama's show on radio station Kiss FM was one of the only daytime radio shows that would regularly play grime during the 2000s. By the late 2000s, grime had begun to enter into a decline. Record labels, radio, and the media struggled with knowing what to do with grime, and as a result limited its impact and exposure. The rise of dubstep and UK funky also made it harder for grime to gain
2100-422: The first ever grime beat and has been described as "year zero" for the genre. It was re-released by White Peach Records on 16 November 2015 in the form of an extended play. Pulse X is noted for its aggressive minimalism and original sound, consisting of a single 16 bar loop, with some minor variation to the patterns in the second half of the song, with a more typical 2-step garage style for 8 bars followed by
2160-525: The first grime songs ever. Mike Skinner released an EP entitled All Got Our Runnins , which featured a number of grime MCs on the remixes of some of his tracks. Skinner also produced and featured on Kano 's 2005 hit single "Nite Nite", from the critically acclaimed Home Sweet Home album. In 2006, the second in the series of Lord of the Mics DVDs was released. It featured Devilman from Birmingham, clashing Skepta. Devilman's appearance on Lord of
2220-453: The first group from Birmingham to feature on BBC Radio 1Xtra ; Mayhem , who is also a founding member of N.O.D.B, known for his bombastic sound and his 2012 feud with Wiley , C4, Sox, JayKae and SafOne. Many Birmingham artists have now had success outside the Birmingham region in recent years. The fourth edition of Lady Leshurr 's "Queen's Speech" freestyle has gained over 28 million views on YouTube as of May 2016. In 2016, Lady Leshurr won
2280-463: 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 garnered widespread critical acclaim and commercial success with Boy in da Corner winning the 2003 Mercury Music Prize . From 2001 to 2006 The RWD magazine forum was cited as a key development in
2340-524: The genre's culture. Moderators included Logan Sama , and artists such as Wiley , Skepta and Jme would often come on the forum to engage with the community. This was the birthplace of Wiley's famous rants, where he would often target forum users and resort to either trolling or humorous insults. The genre was predominantly non-visual in its early stages, meaning you would primarily only hear artists on pirate radio or through their music as opposed to actually seeing what they looked like. This changed with
2400-437: The instrumental continuing to influence grime's new wave of producers in the early 2010s Bok Bok called Youngstar's early music as "simplistic, brutalist genius" in 2014 describing "Pulse X" his favourite example of the producers work. The minimalism and empty space on beats such as Pulse X set the foundations for the development of grime as a more MC centric genre than its forebear UK garage with MCs preferring to spit over
2460-400: The masses without the need of support from traditional media or the music industry . In 2012, Charlie Sloth created "Fire in the Booth" on BBC 1Xtra (later moved to Apple Music ). The show became a popular segment and granted grime MCs and UK hip-hop artists a large platform to showcase themselves. In 2011, a new edition of Lord of the Mics was released, the first since 2006. Lord of
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2520-410: The name sublow being a reference to the very low bassline frequencies, often around 40 Hz ) and 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. Wiley's song " Wot Do U Call It " was released in 2004 and
2580-467: The popular Tempa T song "Next Hype" released in 2009. "Pow" by Lethal Bizzle was dubbed the 'unofficial song' of the 2010 student protests . The grime scene outside of London was also flourishing in the midlands , particularly in Birmingham . In 2008, GrimeForum was created by Hijj. The forum was a major platform for grime music at the time, providing a space for artists to promote themselves and
2640-399: The popular UK garage sound fused soul and R&B influences, a 'darker garage' sound was also appearing which was more instrumental and less vocal, which allowed MCs to lay down lyrics over them. The role of MCs became more prominent on radio shows, and collectives such as So Solid Crew (on Delight FM), Heartless Crew (on Mission), and Pay As U Go (on Rinse FM) would begin to pave
2700-569: The rhythms of dancehall to capture all three genre's essences and add a new half-time, down-tempo dimension to the mix. The genre's popularity grew exponentially in the United Kingdom, as people across the scene's musical spectrum appreciated grime's eclectic mix of instrumentation and subcultures. This hybridisation 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 also paved
2760-569: The rise of various DVD series' such as Lord of the Mics , Lord of the Decks , Risky Roadz , Run the Roads and Practise Hours , filmed by amateur videographers such as Roony 'Rsky' Keefe and Troy 'A Plus' Miller. The DVDs often featured artists giving interviews and performing freestyles. These videos often featured record store Rhythm Division on Roman Road in East London, which served as
2820-557: The single "G Star", produced by the Dwellaz. A fusion of grime and bassline, it became an underground hit. Several other tracks were released during this time which were also well received by fans, such as Slash's "Birmingham" and C4's "Oorite". In 2009, Wolverhampton producer S-X released the Woooo Riddim, which was widely regarded as one of the most successful instrumentals that year, with many MCs recording their own vocals over
2880-442: The song higher up the charts, eventually peaking at number eight on the UK Singles Chart. In February 2016, Ministry of Sound and DJ Maximum released a grime compilation entitled Grime Time , which topped the UK compilations chart. In May 2016, Skepta's fourth studio album, Konnichiwa , entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. The album was awarded the 2016 Mercury Prize , and was later credited for introducing grime to
2940-675: The spotlight in Canada; Skepta 's single Shutdown sampled a video by Drake, and Skepta later worked on Drake's More Life project. Various UK MC's have had successful tours in New Zealand, such as Wiley , Stormzy and Eyez. Stormzy's album Gang Signs & Prayer reached No.14 in the New Zealand charts. A grime tour known as Eskimo Dance was intended to occur in Australia and New Zealand in late 2018, featuring MC's Wiley , Lethal Bizzle , Devlin , P Money & Little Dee, President T and producers DJ Target and Rude Kid. It
3000-465: The timed dubbed the sound 'eskibeat' rather than "grime", which had yet to gain popular usage. His song "Eskimo" was characterised by its sparse and cold production, and "awkward, off-kilter rhythms". Wiley explained this colder, darker sound, reflected his mental state at the time, stating "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" to Spin magazine in 2005. The name "grime"
3060-512: The urban music stages of the big summer festivals such as Glastonbury , Reading and Leeds , T in the Park and O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park . Dizzee Rascal played at all these events in the summer of 2008. In 2015, Manchester grime artist Bugzy Malone was involved in a heavily publicised grime feud with London-based MC Chip who had created controversy with comments during a Fire in
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#17327761026603120-563: The voice of their Christmas advert 'Silence the Critics'. D Double E wrote a song talking about how dirty the house was and the lyrics were placed over animated household items. The 2005 release of 679 Recordings ' Run the Road compilation showcased some of the most popular grime releases to that point, increasing the popularity and fame of grime and grime artists internationally. A particularly notable grime artist who has had success overseas
3180-531: The way for more electronic music artists to incorporate stronger Jamaican influence in the future. Grime never received the same attention worldwide that it did in the UK. Much like many other less mainstream forms of British electronic music, its main scene and fan base remain in the United Kingdom. Although grime is recognised as a creative and innovative musical style, there are other contributing factors to its rapid and widespread growth in popularity. The MCs producing current grime music are overwhelmingly young as
3240-587: The way for what would eventually be called "grime". Members of these crews would begin to experiment with accessible music creation software such as Fruityloops to write their own instrumentals which were cut to dubplate for shows. The first grime track is often debated. Some will credit Pay As U Go's "Know We" or So Solid Crew's "Dilemma" (both were released in 2000), however, " Eskimo " by Wiley (produced in Christmas 1999 or early 2000, but released in 2002) and " Pulse X " by Youngstar (released in 2002),
3300-465: Was anticipated to be the 'biggest ever' grime tour in New Zealand. The event was cancelled in late 2018 by Wiley himself for unclear reasons. New Zealand grime MC Stanza Switch Blade and NZ grime crew Spreading The Sickness (STS Crew) have both featured on Risky Roadz, a long-running influential grime video series wherein MC's are made to freestyle over handpicked beats. The late 2010s and early 2020s
3360-622: Was coined by journalists who initially termed the music's sub-bass heavy sound as "grimy", which subsequently became "grime". It has also been suggested by artists themselves that the term fits as the music frequently talks about "grimy goings-on" in deprived areas. Initially, some referred to the genre as 'grimey garage'. At this point, the style was known by a number of names, including 8-bar (meaning eight-bar verse patterns), nu shape (which encouraged more complex 16-bar and 32-bar verse patterns), sublow (a music style and movement created by Jon E Cash with Dread D (T Williams) and crew "The Black Ops",
3420-493: Was criticised in 2009 by John Whittingdale , a Conservative Party MP, for being "draconian". The form was also criticised for allegedly targeting black music nights due to it asking specifically what ethnic groups may be attending the event. Many grime raves were shut down by police using the form. Lethal Bizzle stated in 2012 this led to a shift from making grime music for the clubs, to making grime music for "in-your-house listening". Form 696 has been blamed for contributing to
3480-435: Was formed (later became Channel AKA, now Now 70s ). It would become one of the most important places for people to discover new grime music. In 2004, grime received its first UK Top 20 single with Lethal Bizzle's song " Pow! (Forward) ". The song would prove controversial for the alleged fights it caused in clubs, leading to many venues banning the song from being played. This made it difficult for Lethal Bizzle to find
3540-468: Was made to address the identity problems grime was experiencing at the time, and to establish its separation from garage. It became Wiley's first grime hit song. Grime is not an offshoot of early electronic music, but rather a subgenre that draws from a wide variety of influences. Early innovative artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Wiley were able to take the strong thumping drums of drum and bass , lyricism and vocal styles of UK garage and alter some of
3600-468: Was occurring in the underground, with a new wave of producers experimenting with grime music. Logos, who was credited by FactMag for initiating the revival, credited the fall of dubstep as inspiration for going back to grime and reimagining it. In 2013, just a year prior to grime's resurgence in the mainstream, a large 'war dub' occurred amongst dozens of grime producers. It started off with grime producer Bless Beats releasing "Wardub" on Twitter, followed by
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