Finally: Now That's What I Call Vocal Grime

Blackdown

nexKeysound
Semtex has finally gone and done what grime needed: Now That's What I Call Vocal Grime.

Its his new comp called Grimewave hosted by D double.

tracklisting is:

Jammer 'Murkle Man special'
Dizzee 'Stand Up Tall'
Cage + Danny Weed 'Creeper'
Lethal 'Pow'
Kano 'Mic Check'
Crazy Titch 'I Can C U'
Roll Deep 'Bogey Man'
Flirta D 'Warp Speed'
Bear Man 'Drink Bear'
SLK 'Hype Hype'
Fire Camp 'No!'
Roll Deep 'When I'm Ere'
Regal Players 'Rude boy'
Kray Twins 'What We Do'
Wiley 'Gangsters'
D Double E 'Signal'
Jammer 'Marxman'
Wonder & Sway 'Call My Name'
L Man 'L Dot Man'

having co-A&Red Run the Road 1, that is an amazing line up to assemble on one legit CD.
 
C

captain easychord

Guest
the world could have used that CD a year ago or more. big tunes.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
im sure its a good comp but it feels like too little too late at this point. doesnt really help that a lot of those tunes are pretty old now either. hopefully it wont sink without a trace though.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
yeah, most of this doesn't grab me as i've heard it all too many times. and hasn't logan been pushing vocal grime and doing mixtapes for a little while now?!
i don't see how this is a really big development, even though it does include some good tunes. drink bear is still a great, funny record...
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
personally, i reckon grime should maybe focus more on establishing itself as an instrumental genre, and just keep the MCs only for live things, like how it was with jungle, etc. it hasnt done dubstep any harm to take that route, and at this stage, it might do it some good (although of course, MCing is what grime is all about) and open up its audience, which at this stage, isnt exactly huge.
 

IKoss

Wild Horses
i reckon grime should maybe focus more on establishing itself as an instrumental genre, ...

it hasnt done dubstep any harm to take that route, ...

hmmm. agreed, i like a great deal how a dubstep set can get kinda pleasantly broken-up by some grime tracks here and there.
vocal or otherwise.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
personally, i reckon grime should maybe focus more on establishing itself as an instrumental genre, and just keep the MCs only for live things, like how it was with jungle, etc. it hasnt done dubstep any harm to take that route, and at this stage, it might do it some good (although of course, MCing is what grime is all about) and open up its audience, which at this stage, isnt exactly huge.

god forbid. more instrumental genres are exactly what club music categorically does not need
 
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mms

sometimes
personally, i reckon grime should maybe focus more on establishing itself as an instrumental genre, and just keep the MCs only for live things, like how it was with jungle, etc. it hasnt done dubstep any harm to take that route, and at this stage, it might do it some good (although of course, MCing is what grime is all about) and open up its audience, which at this stage, isnt exactly huge.

thats exactly the opposite of what it needs, it needs more versatile mcs and producers thats what it needs, needs more risk, more of the production that made it stand out so much in the first place, more mcs that stick out like a sore thumb. production has got too formulaic and that's a shame
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
it needs all your above points, marcus, but it also needs to focus on business - to get its arse in gear in the regard of promotion, release cds when they're supposed to be released, behave itself well enough to get booked in clubs and on radio, and just fucking grow up a bit, if we're being honest. it's all very well to talk about stacking p's etc, but there aren't that many p's to be had in bow, and it'll never properly break out of its own backyard if it doesn't play the game a little - not too much, mind, just enough to not shoot itself in the foot. the past few years have seen some jaw-dropping music, even if we are in a bit of a rut now, and there are reasons beyond the simply artistic why it wasn't being heard.
 
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mms

sometimes
it needs all your above points, marcus, but it also needs to focus on business - to get its arse in gear in the regard of promotion, release cds when they're supposed to be released, behave itself well enough to get booked in clubs and on radio, and just fucking grow up a bit, if we're being honest. it's all very well to talk about stacking p's etc, but there aren't that many p's to be had in bow, and it'll never properly break out of its own backyard if it doesn't play the game a little - not too much, mind, just enough to not shoot itself in the foot. the past few years have seen some jaw-dropping music, even if we are in a bit of a rut now, and there are reasons beyond the simply artistic why it wasn't being heard.


absolutley, it's the flip side, the strange mimickry without the actual p's, the flip to having two feet tied to reality.
also angry young men are proud, suspicious of people trying to help them, naive and run around in stiff little groups, forming a world view that way, they're also a little arrogant and lazy, i was.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
god forbid. more instrumental genres are exactly what club music categorically does not need

true enough. but the angry MC-led grime has turned out to be a bit of a self parodic dead end. and on a practical level, i dont see there being a whole lot of avenues opening up for vocal grime, esp when a lot of the vocal tracks are simply of poor quality (and have been for a long time - its always been hard IMO to find a good sized selection of strong vocal tracks at any given month - theres a good reason so many of the tracks on semtexs compilation are old). if dubstep IS the next thing to come along (eg - grimes been around for a few years now, and was always going to be replaced in some way just as it replaced 2step) and it does seem like it is, if grime wants to survive, its probably going to have to play by some of dubsteps rules.
 

mms

sometimes
true enough. but the angry MC-led grime has turned out to be a bit of a self parodic dead end. and on a practical level, i dont see there being a whole lot of avenues opening up for vocal grime, esp when a lot of the vocal tracks are simply of poor quality (and have been for a long time - its always been hard IMO to find a good sized selection of strong vocal tracks at any given month - theres a good reason so many of the tracks on semtexs compilation are old). if dubstep IS the next thing to come along (eg - grimes been around for a few years now, and was always going to be replaced in some way just as it replaced 2step) and it does seem like it is, if grime wants to survive, its probably going to have to play by some of dubsteps rules.

dubsteps older than grime, grimes distinct from dubstep in all but parts of its roots. grime is more a reaction to 2 step than dubstep though.
2step hasn't been replaced, it's still 2step, grime and dubstep are just different, newer genres that have some roots in 2 step.
There aren't that many avenues opening up for vocal grime you are right, but that has alot to do with what stelfox was talking about, i think thats the axis at the scene moves on really, it's got to. There are alot of talented mcs and producers in grime, the worst thing possible for a genre that's grown out of being britains equivalent seedling culture to hip hop is to rid it of it's primary reason for existing.
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
Anything that generates income for the people that made some of the massive tunes on that CD is positive.

It is a shame that labels have only decided to invest in a sensible way a year too late.

Hopefully we can still make the most of this interest as a scene.
 

petergunn

plywood violin
Semtex has finally gone and done what grime needed: Now That's What I Call Vocal Grime.

Its his new comp called Grimewave hosted by D double.

tracklisting is:

Jammer 'Murkle Man special'
Dizzee 'Stand Up Tall'
Cage + Danny Weed 'Creeper'
Lethal 'Pow'
Kano 'Mic Check'
Crazy Titch 'I Can C U'
Roll Deep 'Bogey Man'
Flirta D 'Warp Speed'
Bear Man 'Drink Bear'
SLK 'Hype Hype'
Fire Camp 'No!'
Roll Deep 'When I'm Ere'
Regal Players 'Rude boy'
Kray Twins 'What We Do'
Wiley 'Gangsters'
D Double E 'Signal'
Jammer 'Marxman'
Wonder & Sway 'Call My Name'
L Man 'L Dot Man'

having co-A&Red Run the Road 1, that is an amazing line up to assemble on one legit CD.

not a bad selection...

tho, 2 Jammer vocal tunes and none by Ruff Sqwad?
 

Logos

Ghosts of my life
having co-A&Red Run the Road 1, that is an amazing line up to assemble on one legit CD.

I read into that an implication that licensing is difficult for grime...

Why is that? Its not like they are making any money off 1000 white labels is it.

Looks a decent enough tracklist...if a bit unadventurous maybe.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
dubsteps older than grime, grimes distinct from dubstep in all but parts of its roots. grime is more a reaction to 2 step than dubstep though.
2step hasn't been replaced, it's still 2step, grime and dubstep are just different, newer genres that have some roots in 2 step.
There aren't that many avenues opening up for vocal grime you are right, but that has alot to do with what stelfox was talking about, i think thats the axis at the scene moves on really, it's got to. There are alot of talented mcs and producers in grime, the worst thing possible for a genre that's grown out of being britains equivalent seedling culture to hip hop is to rid it of it's primary reason for existing.

i just typed a whole load of stuff but it got lost. anyway, i dont think that whole 'real uk hip hop' and 'real uk answer to hip hop' stuff ever really helped, in fact i think it put the wrong idea into a lot of peoples heads about what grime was meant to be/sound like. i didnt mean 2step had vanished, more that in terms of the hardcore continuum etc etc that dissensus posters seem quite fond of, grime was the 'next step' as it were in that tradition, and i cant help thinking that dubstep is in fact the next. if only in terms of popularity. it at least has a club presence, and while i doubt people really get their rocks off dancing to it, it does seem to be proving to be a pretty succesful club music on its own terms. dubstep might be less exciting in some ways, but the basic quality control seems a lot higher, and where grime really wants to count - vocal tunes- it still doesnt have much quality control. it reminds me of what someone once wrote about why they preferred the stooges to so much punk, cos punk had more ambition and energy than actual ability, sometimes i think something similar about grime. and no, im not some hipster type, i still buy records, mixtapes etc etc, but it has always been hard since i got into it to find many vocal tracks that i would ever really want to spend £6-7 quid on, something which i would imagine is its biggest hurdle.
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
I read into that an implication that licensing is difficult for grime...

Why is that? Its not like they are making any money off 1000 white labels is it.

Looks a decent enough tracklist...if a bit unadventurous maybe.

They are if you are a major label that has never bothered to do anything to help people who make the music in the first place. Suddenly people turn round and ask for the money they should be getting, rather than what you think you can par them off with.
 

Cornflake

Well-known member
I sure hope it doesnt go towards more instrumentals. Besides really enjoying alot of the mcs and there a huge aspect of the whole scene...ppl like me overseas dont really have mcs that i can go see that do the live stuff for us like the drum and bass. What we have are djs that play it and hearing instrumentals can be meh after a while. IM very much a supporter of the vocal grime and like to hear more of it.
Lots of artists are lazy with promotional stuff i find as well. Its too bad they dont have any money to do it...i dont know how many artists ive dealt with lately who have agreed to do some promo work with them and when it comes down to it they dont come through.
 

theo

pollymarchs 4 eva
not a bad selection...

tho, 2 Jammer vocal tunes and none by Ruff Sqwad?


Here here!

Jammer is new as an mc and almost all of Ruff Sqwad's tunes are classics.
Whenever I play anyone Grime tunes to people its always Ruff Sqwad that they get excited about - I think the reason is mainly because of their unique production - recently it seems like its changed to a roll deep shake a leg style.

Anyways Ruff Sqwad are massive and there is a reason Wiley is staying tight with them.
Still most underated in the scene.
 

Cornflake

Well-known member
Yeh i agree completely..you just dont hear enuff about ruff squad. All day long is my fav ruff squad track...so happy to have that badboy on vinyl. Jenny is another personal fav of mine..to bad it was never released from what i know of anyways
 
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