Grime-where did it all go wrong?

satanmcnugget

Well-known member
so should all rock stick to its 1950s roots?

ok, you are absolutely right...i hear ya here...im not saying grime shld go backwards, and even though im old, im not calling for a nostalgic return to the good old days (cuz im from Canaduh and wasnt even THERE)

im just lamenting where grime has GONE

i hope the poster who wrote that grime is in a transition stage (no diss intended in forgetting who that was) is right

and dont get me wrong...i think grime on the whole isnt worth paying much attention to

but that doesnt mean there isnt any good grime out there...Black Ops have my ear (despite them being guilty of many of the things iam talking about, oddly enough...at least they do it well...know what i mean?)
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
re: Duppy, as far as I can tell the point of all those simple 8 bar lyrics is that those are classic rave reload lyrics from each person.

Also Skepta's use of Creed is a conscious reference back to another time and vibe of garage, 'old school' as it's called now. As a DJ this tune absolutely destroys the place, in many different venues, it's got a wide and powerful appeal. I make my living playing for crowds and so that may be reflected in my choice of tunes. And formally I find the verse part of that beat to be really fresh and interesting, as well as being a sick bass drop. The 4x4 part is obvious but it's what makes the slow part work, and I actually like it as a gesture towards 'fun' when a lot of people are going for 'heavy' or 'dark'.

Obviously it's a question of taste, but I see Duppy going on to do quite well as a party tune. As mentioned earlier there are grime artists starting to flex their lyrics muscles, the Scorcher tune I mentioned is an interesting one which I dig as well but in terms of club tunes a powerful beat and a simple one line flow is way more effective.

I'm also feeling a lot of the new 'old school' tunes that are coming out, I think grime can do with a happy vibe injection as a corrective measure. Funky grime revolution, no thanks, but a few more danceable upbeat party tunes sounds good to me.

And yeah calling Wiley 'that vomiting retard'... Did you ever like grime?

And bigup Fiddy, very on point remarks.
 

Jezmi

Olli Oliver Steichelsmein
I think the Movement and Boy betta now will have a big influence on grime. These two groups have the potential to be the best crews that grime has ever seen, and the best thing is that they seem to only want to work with the best and seem committed to the music. No more bringing through of own youngers or only focussing on own ends, only talent and productivity should count. With that, a powerful example has been set.
 

mms

sometimes
Duppy is absolutley ace, its not just 4 4 it's the balance and the change of pace that makes it great. it could be a big tune agreed if anyone picks up on it.
grime hasn't really got any worse, it's not done what the faithful hoped it would do, ie break on it's own terms, it has got a little complacent though i think, brilliant producers like terror danjah, target etc have carved out a signature production sound and stuck to it, rather than adapted and developed i think.
maybe the swarm of style mags who keep on telling young mcs they're amazing don't help really, saying people are amazing all the time etc leaves room for unbelivers to say they aren't, for taking sides etc, it's not fair overall.
 

Poisonous Dart

Lone Swordsman
This is more brilliant!

A thread where people in the UK are wondering where Grime went wrong...meanwhile in the US, MTV2 is running a special talking about how Grime is the future of Hip Hop.....that's just smacks of irony, does it not? One.
 
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Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
mms said:
maybe the swarm of style mags who keep on telling young mcs they're amazing don't help really, saying people are amazing all the time etc leaves room for unbelivers to say they aren't, for taking sides etc, it's not fair overall.

Things being over hyped is a recurring problem in Grime be it on RWD forums or radio shows or in the media. I make a big effort toonly push stuff that is legitimately big or that I really feel.
 
I Can't Wait....

for the dubstep version of this thread....'cos its coming soon...probably when the scene gets a bit more hype and the music collapses under the weight of a ton of mediocre 'halfstep', dark ethereal sounding pads, bass worship, misplaced ragga/reggae/dub samples and talk of the music being likened to a 'higher state of conciousness' or something lol...
 
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boomnoise

♫
good to see the doomsayers out in force.

i think dubstep could stear it'self out of this danger.

'why haven't you learned anything!'
 
I've still got another long reply stored up but just have no time to write it but a main problem with this scene is people's impatience. Maybe because young African (black) youth in London have been waiting so long for something that accurately articulates them, maybe its a reflection of the instant/microwaveable (cliche I know) culture we live in, maybe its seeing Hip Hop in the States blow and thinking that this is the reply, maybe its 'cos press are constantly looking for a fresh story, maybe it's 'cos people just wanna make p's but its this scene's impatience that is gonna kill it.

Why don't producers, mc's, fledgling 'labels', distributors and everyone involved jus sekkle and relax? How long has this scene been going properly? Since 2000? 2001? You can't expect so much so soon...you really can't. People need to take their time, refine their expectations, HONE their crafts/skills (that goes out to all the DJ's, producers and mc's) and just WAIT. Honestly. Stop thinking this is the States (e.g jumping straight into, and trying to develop, a mixtape culture in this piracy ridden digital age) and develop some original ideas (for instance why have none of these guys got involved with Karma Download or these legal sites? If that's too high an aim how about having a website and a small store bit where I could get some vinyl to help open up a small international marketplace? That's a Paypal account away!) If you wanna follow the States why not take a look at their mistakes and LEARN from them. See how the major's TOTALLY OWN Hip Hop in the States? Then stop asking to get signed! Why are MC' s still asking this? It's similar to how countries such as mine (Ghana) given a FAIR chance would be some of the best in the world 'cos you would learn from mistakes the First World makes and implement them in your own (given neo-colonialism was dead...). Anyway I'm going off on a tangent - I'll give you a personal example.

My people and me were like everyone else. We developed a 5 year plan and set about it. When results didn't come instantly we started getting nervous and wondering why? Many things happened in the camp (marriages, moving, new jobs) we brings us to the present. We then decided "f*** speed! lets just take our time" and that's what were doing. So I honestly don't know when we will bring out our first E.P or whatever, whether this year (not happening), next year or the year after. Until we have become better musicians, learn the business thoroughly, develop a better 5 year plan and actually HONE our individual skills - we ain't (publicly anyway) going nowhere and I'm happy about that. Now I don't think anyone should be doing what were doing ('cos obviously you wouldn't be doing much lol) but on the whole THAT is what I think is wrong with the scene (well partly) - IMPATIENCE from everyone involved. Sorry to bore you lot with selfish talk of my people but that's the only example I could think of.
 
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Poisonous Dart

Lone Swordsman
Beware The Ides Of March!!!

Tactics said:
I've still got another long reply stored up but just have no time to write it but a main problem with this scene is people's impatience. Maybe because young African (black) youth in London have been waiting so long for something that accurately articulates them, maybe its a reflection of the instant/microwaveable (cliche I know) culture we live in, maybe its seeing Hip Hop in the States blow and thinking that this is the reply, maybe its 'cos press are constantly looking for a fresh story, maybe it's 'cos people just wanna make p's but its this scene's impatience that is gonna kill it.

Why don't producers, mc's, fledgling 'labels', distributors and everyone involved jus sekkle and relax? How long has this scene been going properly? Since 2000? 2001? You can't expect so much so soon...you really can't. People need to take their time, refine their expectations, hone their crafts (that goes out to all the DJ's, producers and mc's) and just WAIT. Honestly. Stop thinking this is the States (e.g jumping straight into, and trying to develop, a mixtape culture in this piracy ridden digital age) and develop some origianl ideas. If you wanna follow the States why not take a look at thier mistakes and LEARN from them. See how the major's TOTALLY OWN Hip Hop in the States? Then stops asking for deals! It's similar to how countries such as mine (Ghana) given a FAIR chance would be soem of the best in the world 'cos you would learn from mistakes the First World makes and implement them in your own. Anyway I'm going off on a tangent - I'll give you a personal example.

My people and me were like everyone else. We developed a 5 year plan and set about it. When results didn't come instantly we started getting nervous and wondering why? Many things happened in the camp (marriages, moving, new jobs) we brings us to the present. We then decided "f*** speed! lets just take our time" and that's what were doing. So I honestly don't know when we will bring out our first tune, whether this year (not happening), next year or the year after. Until we have become better musicians, learn the business thoroughly, develop a better 5 year plan and actually hone our skills we ain't (publicly anyway) going nowhere. THAT'S what I think's wrong the scene (well partly). Sorry to bore you lot with selfish talk of my people but that's the only example I could think of.

Grime is in a TRANSITION PHASE...all young forms of music go through this...Hip Hop has been through about 8 or 10 in my LIFETIME...Stop running around and screaming like it's the Grime Apocalypse or the damned Garage Ragnarock...Grime is not going to die soon because YOUR INDIVIDUAL buzz or level of excitement about it is dying down. One.
 
you got glasses?

'cos obviously you didn't see or even read my post properly. I'm a fan of the scene dummy and am actually trying to defend it here. No-one said the scene is going to die (which even if someone said that...does it matter? They are TYPING that in CYBERSPACE - tell the kids on the 69, 316 or 262 that the scene is dying and with one blast of some MC from their phone will laugh in your hipster face!)

Please re-read my post.

Poisonous Dart said:
Grime is in a TRANSITION PHASE...all young forms of music go through this...Hip Hop has been through about 8 or 10 in my LIFETIME...Stop running around and screaming like it's the Grime Apocalypse or the damned Garage Ragnarock...Grime is not going to die soon because YOUR INDIVIDUAL buzz or level of excitement about it is dying down. One.
 

luka

Well-known member
i used to get the 262 to college! big up the 262! uh, i'm not sposed to be here, bye...
 

Poisonous Dart

Lone Swordsman
Naaah, man.

Tactics said:
'cos obviously you didn't see or even read my post properly. I'm a fan of the scene dummy and am actually trying to defend it here. No-one said the scene is going to die (which even if someone said that...does it matter? They are TYPING that in CYBERSPACE - tell the kids on the 69, 316 or 262 that the scene is dying and with one blast of some MC from their phone will laugh in your hipster face!)

Please re-read my post.

I read it the first time...I was actually agreeing with YOU and talking about the "hipsters" and "scenesters" that I ALSO derided in MY previous posts...in retrospect my post looked like it was talking to YOU instead of the jackasses talking about "Grime's rubbish now!" and all that. I made my post after seeing that SOMEONE in this thread had common sense. Sorry, if I didn't make that clear in my post. One.
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
'Garage Ragnarok' Hahahhahahaha. That's best thing I've heard all morning.

I think the 'signing for a 6 figure deal' that figures in a lot of 16 year old MCs lyrics is just a naive hope that there is an easy way out of the hood. It's based on a near-total ignorance of the actual workings, scale, possibilities of the music biz. Now that some people like JME, Skepta and Wiley have had a peek in at what is happening in the business, what happens when you get signed, etc. They have new, REALISTIC ideas about how things work and are moving correctly in response by stepping back, retrenching and starting to build from the foundations. In a recent interview Wiley said that he sort of hated In At The Deep End because (to paraphrase a bit) he realized that watering down (which they blatantly tried there, hold tight everyone who thought Shake A Leg would be a hit) was not going to play to their strengths. He also said he would be happy if 2nd Phaze sold 10,000 copies. I think those are both clear eyed evaluations of his situation. Now that he's looking at things that way he should realize the best thing he can do is go and produce the best, grimiest tunes as only he can and shot 10,000 on an indie, and he'll probably make as much or more than shotting 50K or whatever it was on a label.

Poisonous Dart is definitely right about things being in transition and I for one think it's crucial and necessary, and yes this will mean a certain number of people will flop, fall by the wayside and quit because things turned out to be about 1000% harder than they thought it would be and the 6 figure deals are not forthcoming.
 
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