UK Road Rap

I've not really been very excited about music for a while now, save for this genre. I've had giggs on loop for over a year and a half and im slowly feeling my way through other mc's on the scene.

So far i've fallen for fix dot'm, buck, fem felon, youngsta, margs, blade brown, morrisson (the white giggs!) and most recently joe black - who absolutely charms his way through any beat he rides with that chilled out relaxed rap.

Road rap is really doing it for me in the way that grime isnt at the moment. Its got the grittiness and the rawness in the lyrics (some of the beats are savage aswell) but also an entirely different approach to rhythm, timing and cadence on the part of the mc's. It seems very much an mc led movement and its definately the most exciting sound in london in my opinion at the moment.

It seems to me that road rap mc's generally write with the principle of spitting 64bars+ in mind. Its not about an instantaneous gratification like grime, though there are some tremendous one line wheel up moments, but rather the mc's build tension and menace slowly, weaving their personalities and brags throughout the beats in a much more informal fashion. I love the deliberate off timing flows, maybe this is a giggs trademark, but it seems everyone is doing it.

Theres something about the way the mc's space their lyrics so that quite a large portion of their bars are enforced by a pause, a silence - there doesnt seem to be the clamour, the desperation to spit all your lyrics as fast as you can, it feels more calculated, and this is what adds the weight to the sound.

So who am i missing out on, what mixtapes are essential listening etc...

i really want to hear more from morrisson - more collaborations with giggs, but i hear he's locked up
 
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