NASTY Crew vs. Roll Deep

S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
"NASTY or Roll Deep needs it's own thread, really, if it hasn't existed before. "

Here it is.

Roll Deep did some heinous crimes on grime music (In At The Deep End, encouraging people like Syer Bars and Discarda) but I prefer them.

Wiley, Dizzee, Flow Dan, Riko, Trim, Scratchy, Roachee, Breeze, Brazen
Danny Weed, Wiley, Target, Scratchy for beats
Maximum, Karnage DJs (although Mak 10 destroys this department, admittedly)

I've left out Manga, Jet Li, Syer Bars and older guys like Jamakabi because they are shit.

I've left out JME and Skepta because they aren't really Roll Deep. I do like the addition of J2K though.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
roll deep easily.

nasty dont/didnt have the same range of character-ful mcs in their lineup. distinctive voices sure, but not personalities.

jamakabi wasnt shit!
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
Also, my big problem with NASTY is they seemed like they had a big problem with egos and who held the spotlight. Kano and D Double E especially.

Roll Deep had a bit more cohesion until Trim left.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
roll deeps sets could/can sometimes be a bit ramshackle, i find. nastys sets were usually like a barrage of verses.
 
slackk

slackk

-
The thing is, without Nasty it's hard to say what the crew in grime would be. I'm not denying the presence of earlier crews- or, indeed, their worth- but compare a Nasty set from 2001 against PAUG for example. They were consistently ahead of everyone else in terms of hype, selection, cohesion.

Admittedly, they peaked and dissipated (sic) a lot earlier than everyone else but a top calibre NASTY set triumphs every other crew.

And they made Take You Out. Best grime song ever.
 
benjybars

benjybars

village elder.
i properly disagree with not including skepta as 'proper roll-deep'. he repped roll deep HARD when he first came through with them, and given that skepta's arrival/ascension as an MC is one of the key points in grime's history (hard to believe now, obviously, but he was ridiculously sick in 2005-06. far and away the best MC for a while) it seems stupid not to include him.

JME never really repped roll deep tho so fair enough.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
petergunn said:
hmmm, if we're talking posse cuts, i gotta go w/ Xtra...
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Had never heard 'When I'm 'Ere' before this thread, so thanks for the tip-off on that. So many great voices in Roll Deep, and who'd have thought a decade ago that the (synthesised) accordion could've had a pivotal place in the development of UK music?

Was there ever a posse cut on the 'Shanghai' riddim? That was always my favourite...
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
benjybars said:
i properly disagree with not including skepta as 'proper roll-deep'. he repped roll deep HARD when he first came through with them, and given that skepta's arrival/ascension as an MC is one of the key points in grime's history (hard to believe now, obviously, but he was ridiculously sick in 2005-06. far and away the best MC for a while) it seems stupid not to include him.

JME never really repped roll deep tho so fair enough.
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Hmm, i remember thinking Skepta didn't really bring anything to the Roll Deep Rinsessions CD and that must have been from 05 right? Had some big rave bars obviously but i don't think he was the best in the scene. Roachee was more hype on that CD.
 
benjybars

benjybars

village elder.
viktorvaughn said:
Hmm, i remember thinking Skepta didn't really bring anything to the Roll Deep Rinsessions CD and that must have been from 05 right? Had some big rave bars obviously but i don't think he was the best in the scene. Roachee was more hype on that CD.
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oh come now... skepta basically WAS roll deep in 2005. Carried their radio sets week in, week out. maybe you weren't feeling him on that cd but for me, he was comfortablt best in the scene at that time.

you know what - let me find that skepta set with zimbon on deck...
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
My memory must be a bit hazy or something, but I never really registered Skepta as part of Roll Deep in '05. I remember him being on sets with Roll Deep members, but he wasn't on In At The Deep End, and pretty much every other member was. I had it in my head that he was with Meridian up until I saw some DVD (Aim High 3 I think) where Trim was listing off the names of people in Roll Deep and then only just remembered to add Skepta and JME at the end.

For me, Skepta will always be Meridian and Boy Better Know. He just didn't seem to me to hold a spot in Roll Deep like, say, Flow Dan did. I might've been missing something though.
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
benjybars said:
oh come now... skepta basically WAS roll deep in 2005. Carried their radio sets week in, week out. maybe you weren't feeling him on that cd but for me, he was comfortablt best in the scene at that time.

you know what - let me find that skepta set with zimbon on deck...
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I wasn't that up on grime in 05 to be honest so you're probably better placed than me to comment! Would look fwd to hearing some skeptizzle from then.
 
A

Ach!

Turd on the Run
Skepta was definitely on loads of Roll Deep sets from late 04 through 05. Pirate grime was quite bare apart from the Roll Deep Rinse shows for a few months around that period. Not that many crews on radio, although I guess you had Heat FM in north, and On Top in south at the time. With Deja stopping grime and Raw Blaze/Raw UK dissappearing, it just felt like there weren't many crews on.
 
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owengriffiths

owengriffiths

Owen
I havent heard that many tracks by him, but at times I just dont get Flowdan. Certainly on Ice Rink he is too quiet and flat. He doesnt strike me as a stand out member of roll deep. Jamakabi is a more of an obvious choice for quality ragga chatting
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
owengriffiths said:
I havent heard that many tracks by him, but at times I just dont get Flowdan. Certainly on Ice Rink he is too quiet and flat. He doesnt strike me as a stand out member of roll deep. Jamakabi is a more of an obvious choice for quality ragga chatting
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Flow Dan is miles beyond the most Jamakabi could ever hope to achieve as an MC in his natural life. If anything, Riko makes Jamakabi redundant. Flow Dan stands up on his own: his soft spoken delivery that skips between sounding suave and then sounding downright eerie, his humour (one of the funniest guys in Roll Deep), the whole "Nasa" thing, his reload bars ("ay yo, it's the big flow dan"), his great talent as a hype man yet despite this being able to carry sets quite easily on his own, his experimentations with dubstep and weirder (e.g. his collaborations with the Bug), his freestyle over Alligator riddim, his contributions to the Creeper mixtapes, "Night Life", and for being responsible for a lot of the best verses on every Roll Deep release.

Also considering he has been in Roll Deep pretty much longer than anyone, I would consider him essential to the crew.
 
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S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
That being said Breeze has been in Roll Deep a really long time too. I'm not sure who came first, can't remember.
 
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