Political/Conscious Grime?

KaBuT

Member
It's just occured to me that in my (Admittedly limited, compared to the folks in here) experience of listening to grime i've never come across an overtly political sentiment.

How political does grime get? I can appreciate that some scenes (possibly for the best) tend to steer clear of lecturing a message, does grime fall into this category?

Will political/concious/social vocalists one day arrive and pull the scene off in a new direction?
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
explicity there's been very little. Dizzee makes a few Blair references, Wiley too, there's a Faction G dub that's political. to be grime is much more implicitely political, begging questions to be asked about social conditions and personal lifestyle choices.
 

mms

sometimes
heard one interesting one that was going on about 'we're all terror suspects ' the other night and talking about the aftermarth of the bmbings abd fearing the tube.
Also another with i think donnaeo discussing guns government and the war in iraq i a rather conspiratorial style. there seem to be more creeping in - also dogzillas 'nightshift' which samples paul young which corny as it is, is endearing and lovely, discusses the need for better social services..
 

3underscore

Well-known member
I would agree, Blackdown. What with the time-lag in tunes coming through to vinyl (especially), and moreso general production... do you expect anything from the bombings to filter into the content? I thought at the time it was the type of event that would influence some tracks.

Edited to say I wrote this on the thread before mms' had arrived. On returning to the board I notice that this makes me look an ignorant muppet. Which is probably quite true, just not in this circumstance!
 
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mms

sometimes
3underscore said:
I would agree, Blackdown. What with the time-lag in tunes coming through to vinyl (especially), and moreso general production... do you expect anything from the bombings to filter into the content? I thought at the time it was the type of event that would influence some tracks.

so you just ignored the post i wrote?
:)
 

KaBuT

Member
gumdrops said:
i'd say grime is completely apolitical, really.

I suppose being apolitical doesn't mean you can't be conscious. As Blackdown says if you beg social questions then that's implicitly political anyway.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
KaBuT said:
I suppose being apolitical doesn't mean you can't be conscious. As Blackdown says if you beg social questions then that's implicitly political anyway.

Word. Talking about everyday life is political. Plus I think it's usually more interesting than talking about the bigger picture.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
do grime MCs talk about everyday life though?? most lyrics seem to be about slewing wastemen, or talking about nothing in particular and skipping from topic to topic.

then again, there are always lyrics like the ones on wileys album which were a bit more self reflective and inward looking (sometimes a bit too much so).

another vaguely political grime lyric is when im ere, when someone (trim?) says 'never ever see a black face when im 'ere'. that line surprised me. grime MCs dont often draw attention to things like that.
 
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h-crimm

Well-known member
is it in that last show logan did on rinse where maxwell D (just a guess :D ) goes off on a big numerical analysis of major record deals vs. DIY scene economics. "just a little reality check"?
made me smile anyway.
 

h-crimm

Well-known member
gumdrops said:
another vaguely political grime lyric is when im ere, when someone (trim?) says 'never ever see a black face when im 'ere'. that line surprised me. grime MCs dont often draw attention to things like that.

i thought it was flodan saying "i DONT wanna see your black face when i'm here"
which i thought was something you just say to piss people off

we need arbitration...
 

john eden

male pale and stale
gumdrops said:
do grime MCs talk about everyday life though?? most lyrics seem to be about slewing wastemen, or talking about nothing in particular and skipping from topic to topic.

then again, there are always lyrics like the ones on wileys album which were a bit more self reflective and inward looking (sometimes a bit too much so).

another vaguely political grime lyric is when im ere, when someone (trim?) says 'never ever see a black face when im 'ere'. that line surprised me. grime MCs dont often draw attention to things like that.

I'm bluffing really, I know next to nothing about grime... :)
 

mms

sometimes
grime is always pollitical in a sense, the game the cash, the need for a deal, the inwars etc, these are things you don't hear from other types of music to such an extent, grime also being a community within a larger network and industry .
i think there will be some more concious kinda grime - listening to a show on rinse on saturday there seemed to be some reflection coming thru. as i already said
dogzilla is a very reflective mc in the style of someone like tupac, that grey area between self loathing, self aggrandisment, reflection on background and dreams.
 

mms

sometimes
gumdrops said:
dogzilla is actually far more like the grime non-phixion or necro.
on some tracks he is - was it him that did that tune about gettting totally fucked on pills -
but other tracks hes as i've described him i think 'actually'. still not sure whether i really like what he does tho
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
yeah i dont really like him, lol. hes one of my least favourite MCs. he often sounds like hes whining. like hes about to have a tantrum.
 
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