An Insight to Grime

GRIME vs. HIP-HOP 
While Grime has taken a backseat to the world phenomenon they are both not without their similarities, but it is their differences that really make them separate.
Hip Hop has been on a path of change as of late. The rappers of old have taken a backseat to the new artists who have put their own spin on things. Hip Hip legends like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Eminem, Nas and others rapped mostly about the hardships of their life. living on the streets and going through other hardships propelled them to the levels of poverty to superstars. Grime rappers have taken a similar approach to some of these greats whether or not they knew it. They often rap about their lives as well, the drug life usually, and about how they had to struggle to become a success.
However grime doesn't offer all the luxuries that come with hip hop. The perks of hip hop other than fast cars and loads of money is also women. Nowadays music has taken a more objective look towards women often degrading them as sexual objects rather than human beings.



Lil Wayne is a prime example of a hip hop rapper who raps about a life that while he may be living, its not totally relatable to audiences. This is because Lil Wayne has sex with models and strippers on a near day to day basis while people who listen to his music probably have never met a model. However with grime artists they tend to connect with their audiences on a more real and personal level. this is because may of their fans have lived through similar experiences of being bullied, being gangsters or selling drugs to get money. it often helps that their videos are shot in a more local area to the people they are aimed for as opposed to in private jets or 8 million dollar houses. However grime has come a long way come a long way from its modest start to spreading through London and England and slowly and surely across the globe.

THEN
Grime is a genre of music that came about from the late 90's through to the earl 2000's. There are many artists that are considered the pioneers of grime including Dizzie Rascal, Ghetts, Jammer , Skepta, JME, Kano, Lethal Bizzle and Wiley to name a few. These were the first real known mainstream grime artists which is why their effect on the grime scene is seen as so sacred.

Grime started out as a  London genre based on pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM.

At this point the style was referred to as 8 bar (due to the 8 bar style of the rapping), sublow (a reference to the very low bassline frequencies) among others. Grime began to grow as Dizzie Rascal, Kano and Lethal Bizzle began to emerge with some of their most known songs now. Bizzle released Pow (Forward Riddim)in 2004 which landed on the charts at number 11. As of 2015 Lethal Bizzle has had 3 grime songs in the Uk top 40 list including Rari Workout (number 11) and Oi (number 7). Grime is a genre is about the streets primarily, the hardships and the Gang life making it a lot more personal than other genres as a lot of these artists have


NOW
Grime is now a much more international genre. Many American artists have taken a liking to including Drake and Rita Ora. Drake has recently been seen with Skepta, at Wimbeldon tennis matches. He also brought him out during his performance at wireless. This is one prime example of how americans have noticed the rawness of grime and taken a liking to it. Often performing alongside with them.

A prime example of a performance between big mainstream and grime artists is the recently seen partnership between Rita Ora and Section Boyz. The Thorton heath boys have been seen facing timing Rita Ora, she has been seen listening to their music on her snapchat and recently at the Mobo awards performing with them.


This was a performance at the 2015 Mobo awards between the group and the superstar. Speaking of the Mobo awards, it was also dominated by grime Artists. Performances from FKA twigs, Lethal Bizzle and Krept and Konan. The actually awards were dominated by Stormzy who took home 2 of the 3 he was nominated for including Best Grime Act and Best Male Act. Section Boyz won best Newcomer and Krept and Konan won album of the year to go with their world record of the most albums sold in London.

Freestyles have also become much more popular among the music industry.

Stormzy shut up was a freestyle release earlier this year. It was just him, in a park with his friends rapping over a well known grime bear and it has garnered 10 million views. Another one of stromzys freestyles which is what made him famous was the wicked skengman series. Starting of with wickedskengman it progressed through 4 different freestyles ending earlier this year with wickedskengman 4. That video has got 2 million views so far. However it is also the first freestyle to make it into the UK top 40 charts ever.

Grime has always been about the individual success and apart from some groups like Roll Deep and BBK, there has never really been much grime success for groups. However the recent emergence of groups into the scene have added a new dynamic to it. Two groups for example have emerged with hits that are quite well known - Section Boyz and WSTRN.

At the recent Mobo awards Section Boyz won the new comer of the year award. This is an example of how groups have come a long way from not being at the forefront of the grime scene recently to now being well known. Along with performances with Rita Ora and being played on Drakes OVO sound, Section Boyz continue to make a name for themselves. WSTRN have emerged recently as a group with their new hit IN2. This 3 man group have collab with Chip, Wretch 32 and Geko to name a few..

Grime has become a much more universal and accepted genre. From the low key and humble starts to people shutting down shows with the likes of Drake and Rita Ora, both grime and the rappers of the genre are getting more and more recognition and because of the hard work being put in by these people, it is richly deserved.