Good-natured slews/disses in grime

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
.... are there any? Reggae and hip hop are both notable for, as well as a number of geniune beefs, quite a few ones invented to boost publicity, have a laugh, and sharpen mic-skills. Yet grime's disses always seem to be either absolutely fearsome, genuinely threatening, or at least tough to the point of wanting to humiliate the opponent. Listening to Aftershock on the 1Xtra UKG mix show the other day, they played the new Fury track (called "New Beginning" or something?), an absolutely furious diss of Shystie ("you don't know if you're reppin East or North London"). And yet it was only the other week that those two seemed tight, recording girl-power type anthem Can Never Hold Us Down.

It's strange, part of hip hop strength is that it can recognise beefs can just be words, not the proverbial sticks and stones. Hip hop recognises there's real life outside dissing. Does grime realise this, or is it too full of testosterone to have a sense of humour about it?
 

bun-u

Trumpet Police
I don’t think too many of the beefs (‘wars’ in grime speak) are real. Wiley on the Lord of the Decks talked about warring as something necessary to keep him on his toes and on his game and I’m sure it’s the same for most of the others. Of course it also gives a that little bit of extra exposure - Crazy Titch has obviously made a name being Dizzee’s nemesis (would Westwood have come knocking otherwise), and Lethal B’s little spat with Wiley has helped brought him back into view. It was funny to hear the Essentials (on Logan Sama) open up a little thing with Lethal B over stealing their ‘no no’ hook – like as though the act of stealing lines and riffs in grime was rare!
 
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captain easychord

Guest
agreed with bun-u. every grime MC knows that its a win win situation in terms of promotion. clashing is just the way that MC's make a name for themselves. durrty doogz, crazy t and bashy all got their name out by publicly beefing with wiley, and i'm sure he appreciates the attention, it validates him as the top boy. if i were to pick one exception it would be crazy t, he seems like the kind of guy who would bring beef to the real world. in sum, despite the viciousness of war lyrics i think its generally understood that its all just 'the game'.

bun-u on that 'stealing' lyrics tip have you heard the new E3's finest dub? it's god's gift, wiley, trim, scratchy gunning lethal b. god's gift has these bars about how lethal b stole the whole "POW" thing from him, lol. as if he hasn't nicked about a million verses from dancehall artists.
 

Ned

Ruby Tuesday
'if i were to pick one exception it would be crazy t, he seems like the kind of guy who would bring beef to the real world.'

When I interviewed him he seemed way too friendly to get involved in that kind of thing (although he did say he 'took clashing personal'.)
 
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captain easychord

Guest
^^^^^^^ hm. guess appearances are deceiving. all that hypeness must just be his schtick (e.g. - his monologue on lord of the decks, talking about beefing with dizzzy, going up to bow to his house and wanting to fight him...) when did you get to interview him and why?
 

luka

Well-known member
'if i were to pick one exception it would be crazy t, he seems like the kind of guy who would bring beef to the real world.'

When I interviewed him he seemed way too friendly to get involved in that kind of thing (although he did say he 'took clashing personal'.)


i hate to shatter your illusions but come to newham and ask around about titch.
that boy has a reputation and it precedes his musical career. or look at that thing on rwd where he's boasting about kidnapping a rival stripping him naked and abandoning him in the middle of the countryside with no idea where he was.
 

luka

Well-known member
on lotd he's saying he went and licked shots outside dizzee's house and was suprised when dizzee didn't come out to fight him.
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
He's not my thing, Crazy T, personally. Despite that, he's quite good on that Alias/Sugababes/Crazy T single Gully which got played for the first time on 1 Xtra this weekend.
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
although i think it's probably true that most grime clashes are just for hype and nothing personal at all [indeed, it's almost an honour to have someone want to clash you- it means they see you as one of the top boys], i do get the impression that sometimes, at least, there's genuine animosity between people who are clashing. take Trim for instance- who seems to be clashing just about everyone at the moment. his lyrics about Major Ace seem genuinely pissed off, and he gives the background story as to why they dislike each other so much [apparently they went on the same radio show and major ace was acting like he was running the station, and also insulted Scratchy, which you must never do if you want to stay on the right side of Trim]

and don't forget that wiley got stabbed by 2-tuff crew after clashing with babycham.

also, i heard a set a while back from flirta d's old crew [that's special delivery, isn't it?], and they were really, really laying into him about him having left. it didn't sound good natured at all- very bitter, very angry.


crazy titch doesn't really do it for me either. don't really understand why he's so big, to be honest, but i guess i'm probably missing something here...
 
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captain easychord

Guest
CRAZY IS BIG NUF MC'S TALK SHIT BUT HE IS BIG HE A TOP MERKER I WOULDN'T WANT TO WAR WIF HIM HUE IS GULLY STILL WHEN IS CRAZY TIMES DVD CUMING OUT.

i have to read this abot 7 or 8 times a day on the rewind forum (jk)

really though i can see crazy t's appeal for young aggressive teenagers....
 

Ach!

Turd on the Run
I think the worst I've heard was various members Special Delivery gunning Scratchy and Trim - all sorts of nonsense, a whole heap of unrepeatable gutter gossip. Saying that, Trim and Scratch held gave back as good as they got, as you can still hear if you listen in to Rinse most weekdays, when they'll inevitably be on.
 

luka

Well-known member
'Welcome to Rhythm Division, If your out and about this week then go to your local store and buy yourself a copy of the highly acclaimed and world famous fashion bible 'Vogue Magazine'. On page 94 it features a spread on fashion in the grime scene with a m... '

my mate was listening to a south station the other day and they were talking about wiley. the usual scurriolus accusation, the cocaine, the young girls (the girl he fucked went to my stepbrothers school. he says she was 13) etc he says they even name the boy who stabbed dizzee like
'that's why big donkey bored up dizzee' that sort of thing
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
Ach! said:
I think the worst I've heard was various members Special Delivery gunning Scratchy and Trim - all sorts of nonsense, a whole heap of unrepeatable gutter gossip.

-is that the stuff about Trim getting raped in prison? or was that ghetto's lyric? either way, yeah, very nasty stuff...
 
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captain easychord

Guest
luka said:
'Welcome to Rhythm Division, If your out and about this week then go to your local store and buy yourself a copy of the highly acclaimed and world famous fashion bible 'Vogue Magazine'. On page 94 it features a spread on fashion in the grime scene with a m... '

my mate was listening to a south station the other day and they were talking about wiley. the usual scurriolus accusation, the cocaine, the young girls (the girl he fucked went to my stepbrothers school. he says she was 13) etc he says they even name the boy who stabbed dizzee like
'that's why big donkey bored up dizzee' that sort of thing

is that the bashy war track over the 'ether' beat by nas? vicious and not even witty or funny...
 

mms

sometimes
merkings the fragile axis grime stands on i think, it needs for it's intensity and competion,and to improve the level of skills and see who's top boy, but it could be the thing that makes everything implode
 
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