Woebot
Well-known member
This is Luka's idea, but it got stuck on the end of some thread here ages ago, so I'm bringing it back with the hope someone can help fill in the gaps/plump up the theory a bit more.
His assertion is that what differentiates Grime in the history of UK Dance Music (OK, lets be explicit, the Ardkore Continuum) is the high percentage of second generation Africans who constitute its ranks.
Luka's observation is that the African community is possibly more ambitious, more deliberately self-motivated and aspiartional than the historic Afro-Caribbean community here. OK this may be contentious but I think there must be a lot of truth in this. The Afro-Caribbean population came here en-masse in the 50s and early 60s to fulfill a shortage in low-paid work; they volunteered for a better life in the UK, only to be gradually disillusioned. Its this nature of their arrival here that many people have argued qualifies their relationship to the host country, less troubled than that of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to America, but still not exactly happy (even at points miserable and opressed).
The first generation Africans who came here on the other hand came looking for a better life entirely of their volition. They're determined to "succeed" here, and here I'm just guessing, I suspect they may even represent the higher ranks of their own middle classes at home, or at least those whose ambitions are frustrated by the status quo in their own original countries.
The Afro-Caribbean community in London has traditionally centred on the West of London, certainly up untill the eighties in Notting Hill Gate, though that community has been shattered by the rise of house prices. The rise of Newham and E3 (the East) must surely be significant as a re-orientation in the orientation of UK Black Street Politix, and the theory goes that (at least within the framework of Grime) this is because the African community makes up a large portion of the population there. The fierce East-West battles internal to London may be better understood within this context, as a tussle between two hegemonies, the old Afro-Caribbean one and the new African one (though I may be reading too much into things here)
Luka's sleuthery centres on the high proportion of second generation Africans within Grime. I know Lethal B (Maxwell Owusu) is one such character, we locked horns as to whether D Double was a second-gen African (Luka, probably correctly insists he isnt, family hails from St.Lucia, though I could have sworn he says something which contradicts on the AIm High DVD). I cant remember which other examples Mnsr. Bisto gave, though I'd be grateful if he refreshed my memory.
I suppose its one of those assertions that, while it doesnt change anything, throws an interesting light on proceedings. I'm also intrigued by the ramifications it might have for my "Shanty House TM" theory. Certainly one couldn't even begin to align something as parochial as drum and bass within a Global Ardkore community. It might also shed light on Desi's inclusion within the schema, perhaps some kind of gutter post-colonial cosmopolitanism (scuse the expression), an 'off-world' non-local perspective is what characterises these musics vis a vis Desi's still-strong links to Bollywood consumerism, even Dancehall Ragga's now pan-Caribbean aspect (strong flavours of Mento/Reggaeton/Calypso/The Clave etc).
Also makes me ponder whether this trans-Global Cosmopolitanism, while once the preserve of the ruling classes, is now quite the opposite essentially that which binds the post-colonial proletariat. You could even argue that the ruling class now aspires to a super localism.
His assertion is that what differentiates Grime in the history of UK Dance Music (OK, lets be explicit, the Ardkore Continuum) is the high percentage of second generation Africans who constitute its ranks.
Luka's observation is that the African community is possibly more ambitious, more deliberately self-motivated and aspiartional than the historic Afro-Caribbean community here. OK this may be contentious but I think there must be a lot of truth in this. The Afro-Caribbean population came here en-masse in the 50s and early 60s to fulfill a shortage in low-paid work; they volunteered for a better life in the UK, only to be gradually disillusioned. Its this nature of their arrival here that many people have argued qualifies their relationship to the host country, less troubled than that of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to America, but still not exactly happy (even at points miserable and opressed).
The first generation Africans who came here on the other hand came looking for a better life entirely of their volition. They're determined to "succeed" here, and here I'm just guessing, I suspect they may even represent the higher ranks of their own middle classes at home, or at least those whose ambitions are frustrated by the status quo in their own original countries.
The Afro-Caribbean community in London has traditionally centred on the West of London, certainly up untill the eighties in Notting Hill Gate, though that community has been shattered by the rise of house prices. The rise of Newham and E3 (the East) must surely be significant as a re-orientation in the orientation of UK Black Street Politix, and the theory goes that (at least within the framework of Grime) this is because the African community makes up a large portion of the population there. The fierce East-West battles internal to London may be better understood within this context, as a tussle between two hegemonies, the old Afro-Caribbean one and the new African one (though I may be reading too much into things here)
Luka's sleuthery centres on the high proportion of second generation Africans within Grime. I know Lethal B (Maxwell Owusu) is one such character, we locked horns as to whether D Double was a second-gen African (Luka, probably correctly insists he isnt, family hails from St.Lucia, though I could have sworn he says something which contradicts on the AIm High DVD). I cant remember which other examples Mnsr. Bisto gave, though I'd be grateful if he refreshed my memory.
I suppose its one of those assertions that, while it doesnt change anything, throws an interesting light on proceedings. I'm also intrigued by the ramifications it might have for my "Shanty House TM" theory. Certainly one couldn't even begin to align something as parochial as drum and bass within a Global Ardkore community. It might also shed light on Desi's inclusion within the schema, perhaps some kind of gutter post-colonial cosmopolitanism (scuse the expression), an 'off-world' non-local perspective is what characterises these musics vis a vis Desi's still-strong links to Bollywood consumerism, even Dancehall Ragga's now pan-Caribbean aspect (strong flavours of Mento/Reggaeton/Calypso/The Clave etc).
Also makes me ponder whether this trans-Global Cosmopolitanism, while once the preserve of the ruling classes, is now quite the opposite essentially that which binds the post-colonial proletariat. You could even argue that the ruling class now aspires to a super localism.