next grime mc to get a deal?

[Raw Patrick]

i could see Bashy being marketable- funny, clever, smooth and talented but not too 'weird' with his flow- could be the next kano...

Which is why he wouldn't get signed:

22 Kano Typical Me Mar 2005
25 Kano Nite Nite Sep 2005

Those type of chart positions are why grime isn't getting signed. If it had at least one act as big as Franz or Fiddy or whoever, then maybe there could be a lot of people riding on coat tails but there isn't.

I live in York, out of the way of the grime epicentre and I have never heard anyone mention grime in real life.

 

[gumdrops]

as far as the earlier comment that A&Rs say that grime is unmarketable, what about chantelle fiddy (who posts here) who - i think - does A&R for 679?

679 takes more risks than most of the bigger labels so im surprised they havent had a go at doing something with grime yet (not counting kanos album as it wasnt really a full on grime affair was it).

to echo the comments upthread, i think grime needs a def jam/tommy boy-type label as well. but it would take someone slightly outside the scene to become that russell simmons/rick rubin figure.

Those type of chart positions are why grime isn't getting signed. If it had at least one act as big as Franz or Fiddy or whoever, then maybe there could be a lot of people riding on coat tails but there isn't.

kanos chart positions arent that bad really. and dizzee's had decent chart positions too. i think it just comes down to the industry not wanting to take a chance with something like grime. theyd rather stick with the safe comfortable refuge of retro indie bands.

 

[petergunn]

679 takes more risks than most of the bigger labels so im surprised they havent had a go at doing something with grime yet (not counting kanos album as it wasnt really a full on grime affair was it).

run the road?

anyways, yeah, the tommy boy/def jam thing is apt... but, like i said, i imagine it crossed with Sub Pop... the whole "singles of the month" club is what blew that label up, esp. in the UK... and now if you own the Nirvana single from that series, you're a rich man...

but, yeah, the thing is white labels are dope, the artists make some cash, but unless you spend a lot of time actively following the grime scene, flipping thru white labels is fucking confusing as hell... blank discs with tiny names scrawled on them, that cost about as much as a CD...
for fuck's sake, you don't even get a cardboard sleeve! a small label that actually did things professionally (nice logo, nice graphics, simple advertising) and put out shit like "murkle man" or "drinking bear" would sell enough copies easily... they would also get a shitload of press. every grime event i've hard about in nyc, whether it was roll deep playing in the rain for like 25 people or dizzee packing out Volume has gotten tons and tons of press coverage... if someone could hitch their train up to this and give themselves the grime "brandname" (as Def Jam effectively did for hip hop in the mid to late 80's), they could do big things...

 

[Raw Patrick]

Originally Posted by Raw Patrick
Those type of chart positions are why grime isn't getting signed. If it had at least one act as big as Franz or Fiddy or whoever, then maybe there could be a lot of people riding on coat tails but there isn't.

Originally Posted by gumdrops
kanos chart positions arent that bad really. and dizzee's had decent chart positions too. i think it just comes down to the industry not wanting to take a chance with something like grime. theyd rather stick with the safe comfortable refuge of retro indie bands.

Those type of chart positions are very bad for anyone trying to work at chart level - ie anyone signed by a major. People can get dropped for not getting into the the top ten, never mind the top twenty. Not getting into the top twenty is the equivalent of not getting into the top forty ten years ago bcz singles don't sell much these days. #25 is a bad position for 'Nite Nite' bcz it was a slushy chart oriented production with Mike Skinner on the track and in the video.

Which is why grime has to grab the nettle and do it for itself. Why are grime tracks that get really hot never even released? I could get everything the Arctic Monkeys had recorded for months on the internet before they'd had a hit and it didn't harm them. If no-one can find your music, even on P2P, y're fucked. (OK, you can buy eight quid a pop twelves over the internet but I can't be bothered with that and I'm a music obsessive who for a while was exceptionally interested in grime.)

 

[the undisputed truth]

from an outside perspective...

...grime needs to internationalize and create a global scene outside of the UK by collaborating more with underground producers from say NZ

It'd be easier for a foreigner to slip in the back door even as a novelty rather than a UK based act trying to kick in the front door or wedge a foot in it while it's slightly ajar...

...in saying that give us some quality grime accapellas and see what we or any gloabl underground producer can do

the worst that can happen is it sux in which case nothings changed but everyone will have learnt by the experience...

...nothing ventured nothing gained

 

[petergunn]

...in saying that give us some quality grime accapellas and see what we or any gloabl underground producer can do

huh, interesting... yeah, off the top of my head, only grime acapella i have is Dizzee's "stand up tall"... i've seen one or two others on 12", but they were kinda wack songs... yeah, i would love more grime 12"s to have acapellas on 'em...

 

[SIZZLE]

Another great success story is that of people like Chamillionaire and Slim Thug, out of Houston, TX. Slim's LP is titled 'Already Platinum' because he ground it out so hard and sold so many units locally himself that he already had money when the labels came calling. Same with Chamillionaire, he was successful locally already with an independent infrastructure so he could wait for someone to come to him with as he says 'an unrecoupable mill' which evidently has happened since he's now got a major distro deal for his label.

Independent street mixtapes and as they call them 'street albums' (arguably like what JME is about to release with Shhhut Ya Mout) played THE major role in this, something the grime scene needs to focus on.

For more stories like this pick up a copy of the excellent Murder Dog magazine. Actually in the keak the sneak issue they reviewed Pow and Run The Roads 1 favorably. They even said 'We don't understand why this is being marketed as 'electronica' because it is straight gutter'. I was pleased to see real recognize real.