Trying to develop a timeline of grime journalism... need help tho

effoveks

revvin up.
For university, I'm writing a history of grime, but not so much in the evolution of the genre itself, but rather my focus is how social consciousness of it has developed --
How was grime gradually brought to a larger audience?

I feel like pirate radio like RinseFM broadcasted it big. And grime essentially already had the developed UKG scene to appreciate and spread the new sound evolution, but did any of that press expand beyond the existing UKG scene?
Blogging wise, its Silverdollarcircle, Blissblog, and Woebot... and kid shirt, technicolor, skykicking that covered the newest sounds.
... features on Stylus and now Pitchfork....
... Frere-Jones's article in the New Yorker...

But how was the grime scene covered by media and/or spread to an audience pre-2005?
 

Poet for Hire

Well-known member
there was a pay as you go article on www.hyperdub.com from about 2001 which in retrospect seems pretty important

also the hyperdub interviews with dizzee and wiley and their coverage of the darkside of garage culture seems pretty key in fueling the blogsphere

and of course www.rwdmag.com
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
the guardian actually did an interview with pay as u go in about 2000, i think. they were kind of presented as the 'nice boys' of the garage scene- compared to so solid, anyway. apparently PAUG rang their mums after shows to say that they'd be home soon!

blogging wise, it was blissblog, heronbone, skykicking. luke and tim finney's contributions to ILM also helped spread the word. silverdollarcircle only came later- by the time i really started, grime was already very well known.

but yeah, for people outside the 'board/blog channels, i guess it was rwdmag.com, hyperdub, and the now defucnt Deuce magaizine that were the main sources of grime coverage.

rinse fm did help grime a lot in the early days, but it's important to remember that De Ja Vu ran things from 2003-2004, grime-wise: they have a large part to play in making the names of people like Nasty and Ruff Sqwad and Crazy Titch. rinse have only recently got back to having a substantial number of grime MCs on the station.
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
throughout 2002-03 i wrote monthly reviews of what was becoming grime in my mixmag ukg column ie the first Slimzos release "Capsule" by Hinzy D, Eskimo, I Luv U, Pulse X etc.

when the More Fire Crew album came out i wrote a Mixmag piece on the new sound of More Fire, Dizzee and Wiley. i think it was the devil mix of Eskimo that really made me realise the rules had totally changed. that must have been early 2003. I Luv U got reviewed in late 2002.

The Hyperdub interviews with Dizzee, Wiley and Terror were all from features done in different mags like Mixmag, Jockey Slut, Vice and Touch. and of course me and Chan were doing grime features and news in Deuce.
 

Woebot

Well-known member
http://www.woebot.com/movabletype/archives/000813.html

Not exactly prodigal, but my first contribution. I gave up on Garage after I bought So Solid's "Oh No" for me all the early MC stuff got lost in the kinda boring breaksy stuff. I'll fully concede to missing out "Know We" and "Terrible."

Silverdollar is right, Tim F was amazingly on the ball in this period, and was based in Oz (scratches head). Him and Simon in NYC shamed all the locals apart from Luka, and of course Martin and Chantelle.

What kind of college lets you write a thesis like this though!?! (laughs) You ought to demand a refund! And who's marking it?
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
WOEBOTwho's marking it?[/QUOTE said:
it should be riko, aka 'the mic tutor'.

he does actually call himself that, on occasion.
 

effoveks

revvin up.
Thanks for the input, everyone. It's quite helpful. I also shot an email off to Sasha Frere-Jones, asking him what prompted him to write about it.

As for my <a href="http://www.wpi.edu">school</a>, I thought I graduated in December but turns out I still need a couple more credits. So I'm just doing some independent studies with my advisor. I was going to focus on how specific acts have been propelled throught the online music scene: M.I.A, Arcade Fire, etc., but my 50yr old advisor was familiar with Dizzee and The Streets and all that and pushed me towards a focus on grime. Very cool guy.

Tactics, I was talking about the common people's social awareness of the existence of grime. I'm just looking into how people become aware of it. Then again, I completely forget how I first heard about it... :confused: oh well.

I also really want to find someone that dismissed grime early on and but then later saw their stance change after the genre gained popularity. Were there any naysayers, or was it just primarily evangelism?
 

Fiddy

Well-known member
Like Martin I reviewed garage/grime for Muzik until it folded. Also had Roll Deep feature in there 2002 I think.
I'm trying to remember when I first put Dizzee in Touch, think it was summer of 2001 but I'd have to double check (was with Wiley, same pics that XXL went onto use). Aside from Deuce the foreign press were more open initially - I put Wiley & Dizzee in Swedish publication Bon around the same time but it wasn't until Dizzee got signed and won the Mercury that grime related features became more regular. I've got copies of all the old stuff so if there's anything that will assist you, holler.
 
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