Grime as therapy

spooky girlfriend

spooky girlfriend

Wild Horses
I'm new here so if there has already been a lengthy thread on this forgive me, but the effect this particular range of sounds has had on my life has been profound. i'm sure clinical depression (whether accepted or not by the unafflicted it exists) is beaten by the determination and resolve of the individual rather than medication.
pharmaceutical giants probably hospitalised hundreds of convicts to give us the numb indifference that accompanies a program of SRI's (seratonin re-uptake inhibitors) but the self-confidence and basic common sense of grime lyrics just gave me the strength to stay with it.
the form of grime music is relentless and always mobile, there's no time for second thoughts or giving a fuck what people are thinking or saying.
i once read a thread on this site about how dubstep brought the author back from the brink - now i can relate to it - i'm wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience?

the basic passion for music that everyone here shares is important. without retreading the 'mystical power of music' ground all i've been able to think listening to everything from the amazing Axiom Ep to old rinse sets is: if music this good can be made by people that began with nothing you can take all the everyday bullshit that is so blindingly and depressingly obvious and turn that knowledge, apathy and hatred into a weapon. And if you have it in you that weapon can be used to help others - romantic ideals that i think we see in the best MC's, DJ's, performers etc. corny as fuck i know...
i'm still exploring grime from dark garage to trim and have only recently discovered ukrecordshop and the online download sources that make this possible, so i feel guilty yet compelled to post on here, music has once again given me a new lease of life. and none of it would have been possible without my flatmate of the last year - a veteran originally of hardcore/jungle derivation and talented vibesman. would like to hear from anyone on this!
 
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Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
music's uplifting restorative powers are something we sometimes take for granted.

i'm someone who gets quite caught up in the paraphanalia around music but very recently i've been amazed by the simple fact of how much happier i feel just from putting a record on.

it's taken me quite by surprise actually.
 
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28 Gun Nice Boy

Well-known member
Grime Motivational Classics

'Stand Up Tall' Dizzee Rascal
'I'm Just Being Me' JME & DaVinche
'Chosen One' Target & Riko
'Pick Ur Self Up' Wiley (infact the 'Treddin On Thin Ice' LP as whole is a very uplifting positive album - check 'Reasons', 'I've Got Somebody Now' & 'I Was Lost' - it's all about Wiley overcoming his depression. Everyone seems to disregard this album but I mantain it's a classic).

I'm sure there's plenty more which work on an obvious level but it's too early for me to think of them and go sifting through my record.

I think the notion of motivating oneself is a key theme in Grime (and appears to different degrees in other street musics e.g. hip hop). Even the boasting and clashing side of things is essentially about proving self worth and gaining self respect. That people find that inspirational would seem the natural reaction to me. Unfortunately most people don't seem to get that when they hear Grime- all they hear is the negative surface elements of the music.
 
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28 Gun Nice Boy

Well-known member
I've just heard Trim's Soulfood Volume Two and it's got two more potential motivational classics - 'Confidence Boost' and 'I Don't Dance Much' both of which I found quite moving. This volume might even be better than the first.
 
bruno

bruno

est malade
spooky girlfriend said:
music has once again given me a new lease of life
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that phrase is beautiful, i can relate your experience completely. there is amazing energy and momentum in grime, i don't know where i'd be without it.

unfortunately it's been sapped away and replaced by melanchoy again, sometimes music is not enough to keep one going.
 
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viktorvaughn

Well-known member
D Double E - Jaylin is the best emo Grime tune EVER!

It's all about his baby girl. It proper touched me the first time i heard it.

2nd best - Chosen One - Riko and Target
 
B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
I was really caught out by Common's The People recently. it's uplifting in a way that so much of grime isn't (not that i mind, grime's different).

it made me dance foolishly in the bathroom while brushing my teeth and never want to do anything again but make beats for the rest of my life...
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
i'm not even sure the specific 'message' of a song is that impt, as much as i love 'chosen one', for example.. i play loud, obnoxious, aggy grime of any stripe at all hours of the day or night just because i feel inclined to, knowing it will pep me up/make me happy..

ex-girlf's have often commented that they find it especially weird that i like to listen to chronik or whoever at 8am when it's still that fuzzy-headed, half-awake stage of the morning.. what can i say? i do. i'm not alone in this i hope?
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
Blackdown said:
I was really caught out by Common's The People recently. it's uplifting in a way that so much of grime isn't (not that i mind, grime's different).

it made me dance foolishly in the bathroom while brushing my teeth and never want to do anything again but make beats for the rest of my life...
Click to expand...

just checked that.. lovely. as an aside, is that the first ref to Obama in hiphop? first reference of many i am sure.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
"This Ain't A Game" by Sharkie Major affects me every time I play it, even four years on. Makes me proud to be a (quasi-)Londoner too, in a somewhat parochial way.

Not wanting to derail the thread from grime, but "Fear of a Black Planet" 's sheer riotous energy virtually saved my life in a very dark period.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
spooky girlfriend said:
I'm new here so if there has already been a lengthy thread on this forgive me, but the effect this particular range of sounds has had on my life has been profound. i'm sure clinical depression (whether accepted or not by the unafflicted it exists) is beaten by the determination and resolve of the individual rather than medication.
pharmaceutical giants probably hospitalised hundreds of convicts to give us the numb indifference that accompanies a program of SRI's (seratonin re-uptake inhibitors) but the self-confidence and basic common sense of grime lyrics just gave me the strength to stay with it.
Click to expand...

Incidentally, would be interested to know about others' experiences of SSRIs etc, so will start a thread in the 'miscellaneous' part of the forum.
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
spooky girlfriend said:
And if you have it in you that weapon can be used to help others - romantic ideals that i think we see in the best MC's, DJ's, performers etc. corny as fuck i know...

i'm still exploring grime from dark garage to trim and have only recently discovered ukrecordshop and the online download sources that make this possible, so i feel guilty yet compelled to post on here, music has once again given me a new lease of life. and none of it would have been possible without my flatmate of the last year - a veteran originally of hardcore/jungle derivation and talented vibesman. would like to hear from anyone on this!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that the music has helped you overcome your troubles by the way.

There is nothing wrong with a certain romantic aspect to DJ/MCs - I love to think of them as Warriors, Ninjas, High-priests or whatever, delivering blessings to assembled masses or fighting mediocrity and conservatism with eskiblades or "the velocity of the spinning vinyl, cross-faded, spun backwards, and re-released".

Sure, it sounds a bit cheesy, but fuck it. Knowing the strange serenity an apparently fucked-up, austere and cold tune such as Wiley's Icerink or Ruff Sqwad's Lethal Injection can bring is amazing. They form a little safe haven to retreat too - a world where Eskimo didn't ruin the UKG sound; it revolutionized it, where people don't laugh at the badly spelled names of Sqwads, Crus and Cartells but revere them, where the Pulse X VIP isn't some childish arrangement of basslines heard irritatingly through floorboards but is actually a gully as fuck and life-affirming sound!
 
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bun-u

Trumpet Police
I completely agree with the mood/outlook-changing impact of music (though much as I love it, I'm not sure grime can claim extra powers). A selection of tunes, the amp turned up, headphones (to protect the neighbours) is better than any new age flotation tank, expensive therapist or drug. Though there's always a danger when reducing music just down to its theraputic qualities.

Axiom EP is pretty amazing isn't it - right up there with soulfood and boy in the corner as grime's bst long players
 
S

Snaps

snaps
Yeah I have to agree with everyone.
So you ever have that thing where people ask you with incongruity 'How can you like THIS music!?'

It's funny: today I had a telephone interview for a sales job and the guy said to me that he was looking for 1)Articulation 2)Determination and 3)Focus... I should have played him Wiley's freestyle over Lewi White's Graveyard tune on Creeper volume 2

'I wanna go to the bagel bar cos' I'm hungry/
Go there Four in the morning' That line for some reason always kills me.

I still swear that you will not get lyrics or words eevn, as ferociously focused and precise than from a Great Grime MC. Not in books, other music, or poetry.
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
baboon2004 said:
"This Ain't A Game" by Sharkie Major affects me every time I play it, even four years on. Makes me proud to be a (quasi-)Londoner too, in a somewhat parochial way.
Click to expand...

arguably the most emotive grime track ever? i'm sure there are other contenders but it's definitely up there. i remember watching the end of some jet li film on bbc1 at like 2am a few years ago, and the credits rolled.. and the theme music was the source of the sample in 'this ain't a game' - that really made me happy at the time.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
mos dan said:
arguably the most emotive grime track ever? i'm sure there are other contenders but it's definitely up there. i remember watching the end of some jet li film on bbc1 at like 2am a few years ago, and the credits rolled.. and the theme music was the source of the sample in 'this ain't a game' - that really made me happy at the time.
Click to expand...

That's interesting - I had presumed the riff was made by Jammer from a sound he'd come up with. Let me know if you can remember the name of the film in question...
 
A

audiofelch

Active member
28 Gun Nice Boy said:
'Pick Ur Self Up' Wiley (infact the 'Treddin On Thin Ice' LP as whole is a very uplifting positive album - check 'Reasons', 'I've Got Somebody Now' & 'I Was Lost' - it's all about Wiley overcoming his depression. Everyone seems to disregard this album but I mantain it's a classic).
Click to expand...

im totally with you on this.
the no nonsense call to motivation in this tune has been really helpful to me... couldnt have been a better remedy to all the godspeedyoublack emperor-related miserable (if beautiful) stuff i was wallowing in at the time!
 
E

evergreen

Well-known member
mos dan said:
i'm not even sure the specific 'message' of a song is that impt, as much as i love 'chosen one', for example.. i play loud, obnoxious, aggy grime of any stripe at all hours of the day or night just because i feel inclined to, knowing it will pep me up/make me happy..

ex-girlf's have often commented that they find it especially weird that i like to listen to chronik or whoever at 8am when it's still that fuzzy-headed, half-awake stage of the morning.. what can i say? i do. i'm not alone in this i hope?
Click to expand...
i feel exactly the same way. put on an old N.A.S.T.Y Deja set the other morning and it made me deeply happy (much to my surprise). it's all about "putting the work in", that's exactly the vibe i get from almost all grime, and the fact that its power and energy comes through in even the worst-produced tracks or a 65k radio rip is just as inspiring.
 
spooky girlfriend

spooky girlfriend

Wild Horses
baboon2004 said:
"This Ain't A Game" by Sharkie Major affects me every time I play it, even four years on. Makes me proud to be a (quasi-)Londoner too, in a somewhat parochial way.

Not wanting to derail the thread from grime, but "Fear of a Black Planet" 's sheer riotous energy virtually saved my life in a very dark period.
Click to expand...

public enemy definitely sort you out. 'it takes a nation of millions...' i took a while to eventually buy but there's focus in that album. 'night of the living baseheads', although it knocks what has been a favourite pastime, convinces you that there's no need to blaze. and there isn't...it just works for some people more than others.
i've got the Axiom EP on at the moment and this guy is the opposite of say, the Beatles. not just formally but both are striving to achieve completely different things with the music. i only mention the Beatles because i have had many an impassioned argument with people who don't think they're better than sex, and to anybody who got hooked on them like i did you just know that doesn't make any sense.
BUT at the same time definitive 60's psychedelia/pop just doesn't hit the same spots as grime. the 'Rubber Soul' album will not make you ready to face the world with car keys in fist and a gritted teeth
 
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