as i was listening to aim high 2 it became clear to me. Grime is British HipHop. I know, it is supposed to descend from rave, is part of the rave continuum, is a british invention and is something completely different from the much maligned uk rap thing. While this may keep the (memory of) youth of ageing ravers alive and give some national pride, when you just listen to it, grime IS british hiphop, really. It has some inventive producers and really good mc's (i like it) but it is hiphop.
The question of grime as a genre breaking in the US isn't right either, it's the question of particular uk hiphop artists and producers making it in the states, as hiphop as a genre already broke some time ago.
It seems to me that hiphop fans over the world listen to american artists and their local ones. French hiphoppers listen to american and french artists, south africans to american and south african artists, and the british listen to americans and grime.
As for interest in grime outside of the UK, on this board i see this mainly coming from Canada and Australia, two countries with strong cultural ties to the UK (the same queen!) and one with a strong desire to distinguish itself from its big neighbour.
So in my view, a grime artist making it big in the states would be the hiphop equivalent of Oasis making it there. Sorry.
The question of grime as a genre breaking in the US isn't right either, it's the question of particular uk hiphop artists and producers making it in the states, as hiphop as a genre already broke some time ago.
It seems to me that hiphop fans over the world listen to american artists and their local ones. French hiphoppers listen to american and french artists, south africans to american and south african artists, and the british listen to americans and grime.
As for interest in grime outside of the UK, on this board i see this mainly coming from Canada and Australia, two countries with strong cultural ties to the UK (the same queen!) and one with a strong desire to distinguish itself from its big neighbour.
So in my view, a grime artist making it big in the states would be the hiphop equivalent of Oasis making it there. Sorry.