Africans in Grime

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stelfox

Beast of Burden
apple's stuff and ng's stuff particularly. it's totally highlife/mzansi-influenced. on one of the crazy cousins radio sets i have, there's a significant chunk that sounds like afro house, filtered through hardcore (ie more bass than in mzansi stuff or US afrocentric shit), played in a jamaican style... lots of lick-backs, rough mixes and yelling. it's awesome. i've been listening to this stuff a lot lately.
 
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stelfox

Beast of Burden
@ zhao... what i mean is: saying that african culture had any real tangible effect of the instrumental rhythms and textures of grime was always a massive reach. sure, grime's subject matter brought in all kinds of references to african identity, its vocal cadences could be said to be influenced by african accents/creoles etc, certain themes draw directly from africa, but this was really secondary to the influence of jamaican soundsystem culture — grime always had way more to do with dancehall than any other thing. now the way that funky is played by certain DJs and some elements of its production may reference the UK/JA link (in the production, it's little more than a trace or a hint now), but the actual rhythms and structure of the music, the way it swings, the sounds used, are explicityly african in many places. it's the first time in british urban music, as far as i can see, where african influence is superseding that of jamaica
 
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zhao

there are no accidents
stelfox said:
apple's stuff and ng's stuff particularly. it's totally highlife-influenced. on one of the crazy cousins radio sets i have, there's a significant chunk that sounds like afro house, filtered through hardcore (ie more bass than in mzansi stuff or US afrocentric shit), played in a jamaican style... lots of lick-backs, rough mixes and yelling. it's alwesome. i've been listening to this stuff a lot lately.
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that DOES sound awesome. any links to mixes or streams?
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
stelfox said:
@ zhao... what i mean is: saying that african culture had any real tangible effect of the instrumental rhythms and textures of grime was always a massive reach. sure, grime's subject matter brought in all kinds of references to african identity, its vocal cadences could be said to be influenced by african accents/creoles etc, certain themes draw directly from africa, but this was really secondary to the influence of jamaican soundsystem culture — grime always had way more to do with dancehall than any other thing. now the way that funky is played by certain DJs and some elements of its production may reference the UK/JA link (in the production, it's little more than a trace or a hint now), but the actual rhythms and structure of the music, the way it swings, the sounds used, are explicityly african in many places. it's the first time in british urban music, as far as i can see, where african influence is superseding that of jamaica
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I'd like to hear that too, I know what you're saying but it isn't really an African influence, is it? It's much more of a Giles Peterson Brazilian coffee table influence that's made by African Londoners. West London soul boys from what I've been around so far. I wish the African thing was more pronounced but thus far all I've heard is some pseudo-tribal Brazilian sounding duffness. 'Tell Me' is great though.
 
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stelfox

Beast of Burden
Apple is Ghanaian and explicitly says that highlife is a big influence on him. I don't hear a lot of Brazilian influence in his stuff, yet I do hear a lot of quite gritty African sounds and textures. It's also a lot easier to recognise than any kind of African instrumental influence ever has been in grime. Trying to map a sense of rhythmic or tonal "Africanness" onto grime is really quite a feat of projection, because it's really not that relevant at all. With funky, it totally is and will only get moreso, as far as I can see - or at least I hope so anyway. You are right, tho, a lot of funky is totally similar to broken beat in a lot of ways. It's just a bit rawer. Referencing the broken beat thread, I'm not anti a lot of what broken beat tried to do at its best anyway, so I don't see this as being a bad thing. The funky that I'm particularly enjoying is a lot like like bb without the self-congratulatory, tasteful vibe that was so offputting i.e. it's quite wonderful music
 
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zhao

there are no accidents
Originally Posted by stelfox
@ zhao... what i mean is: saying that african culture had any real tangible effect of the instrumental rhythms and textures of grime was always a massive reach.
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ok... but the idea is just so appealing for me :rolleyes:

Tablet said:
Speaking only for the Ghanaians - I can say that the above description doesn't fit the ghanaian music they would have grown up with Ben Brako, Kwadjo Antwi etc... ineresting adjectives: chaos, harsh, raw.. there are many other things that the above description fits but we won't get into that
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though i have heard a lot of various afro styles, mostly traditional or from past several decades, which are very "chaotic", "harsh", and "raw"... certainly not the smooth as silk pop stuff or high-life... i wish i remember better and knew about what I listen to so i can cite examples...
 
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Transpontine

history is made at night
Back on the grime tip, I know that Afrikan Boy is hardly typical (since he has made his Afircan identity his u.s.p.) Interesting though that on his blog he makes a big deal of name checking other Nigerian musicians as well as usual grime suspects:

'Afrikanboy aka YOUNG SUNNY ADE was born the 28th March 1989, He developed a passion for music at a very early age, The main influential artists that he took a shine to were, Fela, Style Plus, Wiley, Dizzie rascal, M.I.A and Yvone Chaka Chaka, SHINA PETERS, KING SUNNY ADE, WASIU'
http://www.myspace.com/afrikanboy
 
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viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Worth noting too is actual mockery of Africans within Grime - check the skits on Bashys first mixtape where a Ghanian highlife buffoon is talking about this 'Bashy star' character and saying how he loves to eat chicken. And on Mercston's one too there is some blatant mockery.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member


i as very uncomfortable with what matt said in the first post on this thread so if you want to know what i think ask me. dont read that. im bumping just to post sneakbos version of oliver twist and to point out how much more prescient i am than you.
 
sufi

sufi

lala
luka said:


i as very uncomfortable with what matt said in the first post on this thread so if you want to know what i think ask me. dont read that. im bumping just to post sneakbos version of oliver twist and to point out how much more prescient i am than you.
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i like this and wish to know more...please elaborate
 
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