When Dizzee Rascal's "I Luv U" first leaked to the internet, it was accompanied by the rumor that it was made with an iBook and a cheapie pencil microphone. A ridiculous visual in retrospect-- iLife in Bow E3!-- but it's interesting that someone somewhere thought it made more sense to tight-focus on Rascal's tools rather than his environment. His environment, after all, was the real story; first in the parentless, concrete battleground that he narrated to lucid detail on Boy In Da Corner and later, in the incredible roster of talent that turned out to be lurking just off Dizzee's camera all along.
I almost felt to stop reading after that opening paragraph. I had de ja vu.
This is why I have a distaste for CERTAIN journalists and publications attempting to cover our music. It comes across as some sort of liberal feel good story. The music receives rave reviews because that appears to be the in thing to do, rather than it being the honest opinion of the writer. And while that is all well and good today, when tomorrow comes and Grime has outlived its novelty and a new sound of the moment has been championed by some mop haired middle aged writer in Shoreditch, where does that leave the music that some of us actually put a lot of work in to make and sell?
I firmly encourage every artist I deal with to exploit and use any "trendy" press coverage they can get to further their own career and make permanent footholds in the industry rather than attempting to ride the tide of praise to stardom. When you have such whimsical publications as your sole source of promotion, your career is held in a fine balance. Thankfully we have Channel U now which will always help give new acts exposure, and lets natural selection take its course.
The music of Dylan Mills was always the real story of Boy In The Corner, not the fantastical "hard streets of Bow" in which the fairy-tale media accounts of his struggle were set. Bow's actually a lovely place.
I don't know if I am being overly protective or cynical, it just worries me in a "worst case scenario" kind of way when a lot of people who don't understand the music or culture of young Londoners try to make sweeping observations about the whole scene without really seeing it first hand. Every review seems to read the same nowadays "Brand new sound fresh out of the streets of London. Kids working on budget technology. Anger and anxiety expressed on wax. Isn't it all ever so marvellous"
Not every person who reads Vice or this Pitchfork publication has the same sort of musical appreciation or desire to absorb information as the people who use this forum. When I first came here I thought it would be a place entirely inhabited by the sort of journalistic types I can't stand, but thankfully I haven't really seen much of it. Just music lovers willing to absorb every piece of information about this scene that they can hunt down.
But the majority of people who see Grime articles in The Guardian, Vice, ID and The Observer will probably turn it into a "Buzz Word", and buzz words hold no longevity. I've already seen UK Garage self destruct due to egos and a passing media interest in the sound, I'd be most disappointed to see it happen again to this.
