London — On a wall-mounted screen at the Museum of London, a low-definition video showed a young man wrapping syncopated beats quickly and hungry. From time to time, apparently 2000s graphics flashed on the screen, displaying “Risky Roadz 2”.
This video is an early work by Roony “RiskyRoadz” Keefe, who recorded the early days of grime, a genre of muscular British rap. Keefe first picked up the camera in 2004, recorded the early scenes and created a DVD. Freestyle He recorded.
“I hear the MC and think,’You’re fine, wear them,'” Keef said in a telephone interview. The DVD helped promote the rapper in the scene as if he were an A & R talent scout, he added.
Almost 20 years later, 37-year-old Keefe said, “Grime Story: From Corner to MainstreamA small but heartfelt exhibition that is currently on display at the Museum of London until December, looking back on the early days of dirt and the background in which it emerged.
“That’s a big deal, you know,” Keef said. “You wouldn’t expect to go to a museum.”
Originally a close scene formed by young people in East London, grime now occupies a valuable place in mainstream British music and culture.The sales force of this genre is very important, in which Ikea featured East London MC D Double E. 2019 Christmas Advertising.. In politics, 2017 campaign #Grime4Corbyn Using the influence of the rapper, he urged young people to support Jeremy Corbyn, the then leader of the Labor Party.
2015 Brit Awards — UK Grammy Awards — Kanye West Co-starred with many grime artists..Drake is long Accepted the genreRapper Skepta and Giggs in his “More life2017 mixtape with Skepta’s Boy Better Know crew tattoos to help cult TV show come backTop boyIt was set in East London, starring grime artist Kano. “
“Grime Stories” was designed as “a place to talk about the real-life experiences of East Londoners,” said Dhelia Snoussi, curator of the Museum of London. How to “tell some important stories that are rarely heard”.
When it appeared in the early 2000s, dirt was an urgent affirmation of identity. It evolved as an evolution and reaction from the garage, a popular black British dance genre that went in a flashy and pop direction. Other English raps were over-Americanized and some felt, borrowing slang from the entire Atlantic Ocean. The grime creator wanted to talk about life in a corner of London instead.
The exhibition was built around Keef, a black cab driver in London who runs and directs a production company. His knowledge of the streets of the city was a way to tell the story of the community surrounding the genre, but the curator quickly realized that many of the places we wanted to take a taxi weren’t there anymore. Said Snuss, and it became the focus of the gentrification exhibition.
The show includes short documentaries and souvenirs like Keefe’s first camcorders and bags Rhythm Division Record Shop, Grime’s early hub. (Currently it is a coffee shop.)
Especially for purists, grime is a genre with strict technical parameters, including a tempo of 140 beats per minute. But it’s also a way of thinking about community and identity. “”It’s not BPM, it’s not sound. It’s all, “said the exhibition video.
The scene revolved around public housing in East London is evident in the peculiarity of the exhibition’s location, which is a partially reconstructed basement of the Jammer family, one of the pioneers of this genre. Jammer’s basement hosted early collaborations, freestyles, and recordings, commemorated by a layer of artist tags covering the walls.
The DJ Target, which is currently hosting the show on the BBC Radio 1Xtra Station, was part of that early days. Grime quickly became a culture and influenced “how people dress, how they speak, what they look like, how they get haircuts, the slang they use.” “And it all felt like ours.”
The desire to see the actual experience reflected in the music was also a reaction to the environment of the young rapper. Joy White, a scholar who has been studying this genre since 2007, grew up in London, and despite his parents may have grown up in England, early grime artists “continue to negotiate and have a sense of belonging. I was trying to find it. “
Success was initially localized, but then in 2003. That year, music journalist Dan Hancox described it as a “significant and explosive moment” for grime, as did 1977’s punk. In 2003, 19-year-old rapper Dizzee Rascal released his debut album.Dacorn boyWon the Mercury Prize, Britain’s highest music award.
“It was an important moment that everyone could see and see that this was actually possible on a much larger scale,” Target said.
Nearly a decade later, more artists emerged from the grime scene and became influential in British music, even though record labels signed many rappers and then debilitated them. rice field.
In the 2010s, many grime wrappers adopted a more mainstream-friendly sound. Wiley said, “The chart was a success with a dance-focused track.Wearing my rolex2008 and “heat wave“year 2012. Artists such as TinchyStryder, Skepta and Tinie Tempah have also begun to climb the UK charts.
The exhibition will be owned by Jammer and will be held by Skepta.Not me“A 2014 truck announcing the return of grime to credibility.
That same year, a young MC from southern London called Stormzy released his debut EP. Today, Stormzy is Grime’s most successful breakout. “Without the brand new star with the extraordinary, unique charisma and talent that Stormzy has, you wouldn’t have the dirt to land yourself in the popular consciousness it has. Probably, “Hankox said.
Stormzy, now 28, is a popular name in the UK and represents the widespread influence of grime and how the genre has changed. The tracks on his album have changed from the more traditional grime to the innovation of a more recent genre of black British music.
The influence of grime is incorporated into much of the DNA of these genres, including Afroswing, UK drills, and road wraps. Inspiration has also moved in the opposite direction, and grime has evolved to include more fluidity and variety of beats and styles that MC raps.
Jammer accepts these changes. “People tend to say that they want it to sound like it used to be,” he said. “It’s not old.”
“I’m here for something new, I’m here for something exciting,” he added.
