seeing grime live is almost always disappointing

S

simon silverdollar

Guest
here's my rant:

does anyone else find seeing grime MCs live consistently underwhelming, compared to how good many of them are on pirate sets and mixtapes? over the past 2 years almost every grime night i've been to has been marred by at least one of the following factors (notable honourable exception- ruff sqwad at dirty canvas):

-loads of shit 'up and coming' MCs taking over the stage and taking the mic of people who actually have talent. there's no surer way to ruin a night and this happens incessantly.

-zero interaction between MCs, so that the night has very little flow, and doesn't really work as a whole.

-MCs showing a wilful lack of enthusiasm- e.g checking yr texts while on stage! this really fucks me off. people acting like stars when they're not.

-MCs thinking that screaming and shouting into the mic is the way to get a rewind.

-very little interaction with the audience- i hardly ever get the impression that grime MCs feel any obligation to make sure that the crowd are having a good time, or to be entertainers.

-the circle-jerk of constant rewinds, even when the crowd aren't really feeling the lyrics at all.

-MCs being content to spit a few of their biggest bars and then sit out for the rest of the night (wiley the prime offender here).


i do think that grime nights are fun, by and large, and i think that people like chantelle, bun-u and 7 year glitch who put on grime nights are doing a really good job, but i just wish that MCs would step up their game when it comes to live performances. in grime's struggle to make it big, i think many grime MC's inability to cut it live might be a massive obstacle. wiley is probablyone of the worst, laziest live performers i've seen.

skepta and flow-dan are the only grime MCs who are as good (or even better than) as they are on pirate sets when they perform live.
 
outraygeous

outraygeous

Well-known member
this is where most 'mcs' should be called rappers coz they come on and just spit 16s and expect magic.

hardly any 'mcs' can work a crowd.

as soon as an mc comes along and does that, the rest of the grime crew will copy.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
they dont believe in working crowds cos thats what theyve tried to get away from, the idea of being 'rave mcs'. thats one place grime has gone wrong IMO - the fact its taken itself so seriously as 'the uks hip hop' or whatever that the MCs all think theyre proper 'artists' when most of them still arent on that level and would be better if they just stuck to their role as MCs. i dont mind if all theyre doing is performing to themselves like newham gens, cos at least they keep focus and stay on track and actually keep going on the mic, but the rest of them have no idea about what performance entails. its mostly just like going to see a hip hop show really, i.e - shit. might as well stay home and listen to pirate radio.
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
that's interesting, that the lack of any kind of stage-craft could be due to grime MCs trying to get away from being rave MCs. although i'm unsure about whether, say, chronik or dollar the dustman would consider themselves 'artists'. if they do, then they're pretty misguided.

it's almost embaressing to watch grime MCs live sometimes: awkward teenagers occasionally deigning to look up from their mobiles and shout in to the mic then reaching over to the decks to pull up the tunes themselves!

i think it's no coincidence that those grime MCs who have managed to get deals- lethal bizzle, kano, skepta ( i heard he got signed to big dada recently)- are among the very few who understand what it means to be a live *performer*.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
simon silverdollar said:
that's interesting, that the lack of any kind of stage-craft could be due to grime MCs trying to get away from being rave MCs. although i'm unsure about whether, say, chronik or dollar the dustman would consider themselves 'artists'. if they do, then they're pretty misguided.
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i think they do, actually. after that period when wiley kept talking about how important it is that everyone become an artist like dizzee (when ironically, not even he has been able to make the transition), everyones trying to be an 'artist'. they wanna be more than just an MC. basically, they want to be like rappers. which has set them on the wrong path IMHO cos thats not their strong point at all. not even two of my most fave MCs - riko and flowdan are 'artists'.

simon silverdollar said:
it's almost embaressing to watch grime MCs live sometimes: awkward teenagers occasionally deigning to look up from their mobiles and shout in to the mic then reaching over to the decks to pull up the tunes themselves!

i think it's no coincidence that those grime MCs who have managed to get deals- lethal bizzle, kano, skepta ( i heard he got signed to big dada recently)- are among the very few who understand what it means to be a live *performer*.
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definitely. so skepta is signed to big dada? tres cool.....
 
B

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
i've only been to one grime show (roll deep) and it was probably the worst performance from a headline act i've ever seen, and i've been to hundreds of gigs over the years.
i don't understand how a group that can totally destroy on the radio can be such rank amateurs when it comes to getting on stage. i got shit from logan for saying that rewinds are a bag of shite, but i don't care, roll deep's set was totally marred by the rewinds (amongst other things) more or less every track got a rewind and it totally destroyed the momentum. rewinds might be good if you're tight as fuck and you've got a DJ with turntable skill (i mean if there's like a 1 second gap from rewind to rewound). there were also about 10 people on stage who didn't even do anything, just took up room preventing the other MCs from moving around and generating any energy. manga was even on stage wearing a fucking rucksack (?!?!?!).
there are two things that i'm hoping will come as a result of this godforsaken grindie thing, one is for some kind aerosmith/run dmc-esque crossover that will break some ground for grime to get bigger, and the other thing is that some grime folks will play some shows with some bands who can show them how to perform live. public enemy are an example of a rap group who know how to pull it off live, in chuck D's book he says it wasn't until PE started touring with groups like Anthrax that he realised what it means to play live and at that point he realised that rap groups just had no idea how to deliver live. so i'm hoping grime as a whole gets a similar awakening.
 
M

mms

sometimes
i agree - the best times i've seen grime has been in a soundsystem style set up, best time was fwd with newham gens, electrifying and controlled, literally 2mcs and a dj ,no performance but a small space a good soundsystem and a lively crowd.
haven't shows with mcs always had a bit of a problem overall, if the mic isn't right and the mc isn't into it things can get really rubbish, show's like that rely on whipping the crowd up and making sure they are having a good time etc plus mcs don't have stage props like guitars to look all heroic with.
there are always too many mcs on stages too with grime, too many people to focus on.
 
L

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
This is why Grime MCs often leave a lot to be desired in live shows;

There are a number of factors.

The first is the duality of the music. It has a split identity as a continuous set of instrumental electronic dance music mixed by a DJ with an MC adding to it, but also as an artist driven scene where the MCs are the known personas and the DJs are simply providing a backdrop to their lyrics.

The second is the fact that since So Solid were big and events had been continually shut down and held back, around 80% of these MCs have honed their craft in a tiny room filled with weed smoke staring at the back of a DJs head or looking at flyers stuck to a wall advertising "old school" events in a pirate radio studio. They have never had to engage an audience. They do not have the crowd management skills which "Old School" MCs such as Flowdan, B Live and Maxwell D posess. Only people with exceptional personalities such as Trim or Skepta for example have naturally evolved into Masters or Ceremonies rather than Microphone Controllers. With hardly any events happening, and those events seeing sets with 10 MCs on at a time, the artists do not really have any training ground to engage an audience for any length of time other than to shout their most well known 8 bar and wait for the pull up.

And the last one is the fact that a lot of these MCs are terribly non-plussed about the whole business of being a performing artist and are not willing to put in the work to perfect their craft.

The wide range of musical influences makes Grime one of the best forms of music in the world for me, but the conflicting influences also confuse and hamper Grime to find it;s own identity to present itself in a professional fashion. It seems that if you go too far in one direction it removes you from what makes the music Grime unless you have a great understanding of the music and a natural gift for speaking to crowds.
 
L

Logos

Ghosts of my life
mms said:
i agree - the best times i've seen grime has been in a soundsystem style set up, best time was fwd with newham gens, electrifying and controlled, literally 2mcs and a dj ,no performance but a small space a good soundsystem and a lively crowd.
haven't shows with mcs always had a bit of a problem overall, if the mic isn't right and the mc isn't into it things can get really rubbish, show's like that rely on whipping the crowd up and making sure they are having a good time etc plus mcs don't have stage props like guitars to look all heroic with.
there are always too many mcs on stages too with grime, too many people to focus on.
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If that was the set at fwd 4th birthday I'm with you on that...totally focused, a tight cru so the DJ can hold off the rewind and not get funny looks or constant nagging off the MC, they all respect each other. And quality MCing of course, a perfect balance between vibing off the crowd when a heavy tune drops and delivering the signature bars. Also one thing that winds me up no end with grime MCs, and which the Gens are really professional about, is shouting into the Mic...I mean, for fucks sake its a microphone, the whole point is to amplify your voice so it can be heard without you screaming your lungs out.
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Logan Sama said:
This is why Grime MCs often leave a lot to be desired in live shows;

There are a number of factors.

The first is the duality of the music. It has a split identity as a continuous set of instrumental electronic dance music mixed by a DJ with an MC adding to it, but also as an artist driven scene where the MCs are the known personas and the DJs are simply providing a backdrop to their lyrics.

The second is the fact that since So Solid were big and events had been continually shut down and held back, around 80% of these MCs have honed their craft in a tiny room filled with weed smoke staring at the back of a DJs head or looking at flyers stuck to a wall advertising "old school" events in a pirate radio studio. They have never had to engage an audience. They do not have the crowd management skills which "Old School" MCs such as Flowdan, B Live and Maxwell D posess. Only people with exceptional personalities such as Trim or Skepta for example have naturally evolved into Masters or Ceremonies rather than Microphone Controllers. With hardly any events happening, and those events seeing sets with 10 MCs on at a time, the artists do not really have any training ground to engage an audience for any length of time other than to shout their most well known 8 bar and wait for the pull up.

And the last one is the fact that a lot of these MCs are terribly non-plussed about the whole business of being a performing artist and are not willing to put in the work to perfect their craft.

The wide range of musical influences makes Grime one of the best forms of music in the world for me, but the conflicting influences also confuse and hamper Grime to find it;s own identity to present itself in a professional fashion. It seems that if you go too far in one direction it removes you from what makes the music Grime unless you have a great understanding of the music and a natural gift for speaking to crowds.
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Nicely summed up. Why ive always like Newham Generals (as has been stated) is that they seem to have a good raport between them, flow well, have nicely contrasting styles and let each other have enough space for thier verses. Im hoping for big things from them :cool:
 
T

tom pr

Well-known member
mpc said:
what happened? i was gonna go but couldn't make it in the end.
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He didn't turn up - it was just maximum and some MCs i didn't know.

i know it's wiley and all, so you kindve half-expect it, but still.
 
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T

Tactics

BBP!
I have to agree with this....

me and my peeps went 333 on friday and it was terrible.....we even were falling asleep at the end...
 
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