A Deeper Dive into the Shape of Grime (Pt. 1)

The last few months have given us some amazing singles, albums and a lot of content to take in. Alongside the insane string of events that we have going on at the minute, there is defintely a lot to champion and shout about in the scene. Seeing as the website has been on a bit of a break recently, I think now is a good time to look back and take in some of the key topics in grime and what talking points have been brought up.

Every grime fan has, at the very least, heard Boy In Da Corner. Whether you were involved from the very start, an avid listener of Dizzee as an artist, or a young fan who picked up the album years later, everyone knows the impact that this album had on the scene as a whole, picking up prestigous awards such as the Mercury Prize for its raw form of storytelling. 20 years on, this album still has the same impact and has created a legacy for Dizzee for not only having one of the best grime albums, but one of the best albums to ever come out of the British Isles. This year has been a celebratory one for the Bow MC, with the O2 being shut down in March to celebrate this milestone. Dizzee has celebrated further, with an insane Rinse set with some legends on the microphone and the release of some people's favourite unreleased tracks that didn't make the original cut, as part of the Boy In Da Corner deluxe edition.

We have seen a few artists re-release their old tracks and albums onto modern-day streaming platforms. Lethal Bizzle put his first two albums out on DSP's a few years ago after years of them not being available and we're seeing more and more singles and even instrumentals being uploaded onto platforms from years ago. It's an easy win at first for the consumer and the artist. As consumers, we get the tracks that either you grew up on and have lots of nostalgia around, or it's a chance for younger fans or fans who weren't aware of these tracks previously to catch up and listen to some of these tracks for the first time and become immersed into the time of when Dizzee was leading up to this album. Having been able to listen to these tracks as part of a project, it definitely feels as if some of these tracks should have been either on the album, or made available a lot sooner. For the artists, it's a way to earn further money from songs that a lot of people loved anyway and will therefore listen to, whilst bringing the album into the modern time period and making sure that everyone can easily listen to these tracks. It further cements the legacy of this album (as if it needed it) as one of the best albums to ever come out of this country.

However, there is one issue. With the release of Street Fighter, which Dizzee released in the build up to the deluxe, we saw a lot of old grime sets and classic videos being taken down from YouTube based off copyright issues. That's not what grime is about. I don't know if they've fixed this but judging on how some labels work, they probably haven't. It is a joke that some videos that have been uploaded for 10/15 years or videos that have been up for a while that keep the history of the genre alive, can be taken down from the greed of a label. I know it's probably an automatic response to take these videos down but it is a huge problem that I, nor any othern grime fan, wants to see become more frequent. There are plenty of other videos that have classic instrumentals on them that don't get taken down. Hopefully, this isn't going to become something that actually takes away a lot more of grime's history than adds to it.

The fact that this deluxe edition is getting its own vinyl release cements it further as a legacy album. I will certainly be buying and at £34, it is honestly a decent price, especially for a 3-disc release. I have seen people complaining that some of the instrumentals are vinyl rips; I don't know how that will sound pressed onto another vinyl. However, for the collection, it seems like a no-brainer as I wanted the original on vinyl anyway. I think this is a great way to celebrate such an iconic piece of art but I do hope some of these issues I've brought up can be sorted.

P Money released his latest album Money Over Everyone 4 at the end of June and shut down Fabric in July to celebrate. This album has a lot to take in, with P not shying away from bringing up some topics that others aren't comfortable speaking about. On Anymore, we are listening to a man who has been in King of Grime conversations for a very long time (and rightfully so) express his dislike for where the genre is going. From personal experiences, to his observations on how some people carry out their business, P Money tells it how he sees it and for a massive fan of grime like myself, it isn't something you wake up wanting to hear. However, it is defintely needed. I spoke to P Money after his show at the flagship Adidas store and his reaction to me mentioning new grime stuck with me. I know from what I cover that there are so many amazing artists from all across the country and even the world that are keeping the genre going. Not to say that he doesn't know this as well, otherwise he wouldn't have invited the lineup for his Fabric show, but its a shame that a lot of people's good, honest and highly talented work gets overshadowed by a combination of big egos, disrespect and delusion. There is honestly too much chatting and not enough working going on around some of these artists and it is clouding the decent works that are actually happening.

It is a theme that comes up a few times on P Money's record. But that isn't to say that there aren't also massively positive moments on the project as well. P Money goes bar for bar with some of the coldest in the scene in Mez, Blacks and Vortex just to name a few and even got AJ Tracey on a track for his long-awaited return to a grime track. P Money brings heavy bars across these tracks and backs up his talk with these tracks. If he had shown signs of deterioration in his tracks, then the brutal honesty in some of these tracks wouldn't hold as much weight. However, he still brings the P Money that we all know and love and that is what makes this album what it is. It's a must listen for any grime fan.

"We’re building and shaping a community and a safe space for people to have fun". It's hard to disagree with Travs himself as he sums up what he is doing with his brand. Travs Presents is one of the most refreshing setups that the scene has seen in a very long time. That is a statement that I don't think many could argue with. They carry just the right amount of the grime essence, with the MCs shelling with their bars in the middle of the crowd and with the sets being in radio stations such as Kindred, or one of the most recent ones being in the basement at Four Quarters in Peckham, it feels like a time capsule to the past but with an updated sound and feeling to it all. From the track selections, to the way each set is expertly filmed, everything about each Travs Presents event is immersive, high energy and fuelled by its community spirit. The regulars on the circuit here are some of the best in grime at the moment and are really pushing the boundaries of what grime can be and what it should become. From the shining personalities and crazy lyrics of Kibo and M.I.C, to some of the hardest barrers in the game like Duppy and Kruz Leone, Travs Presents has a wide range of everything that grime has to offer and showcases it brilliantly.

I think the limits are endless for the shows and they can and should go across the country. Get a Travs Presents up in Birmingham and let's see the Midlands and London scenes collaborate for what could be a monster offering of grime's finest. There is a lot for Travs himself to think about and try and pursue as he takes his brand further and further forward and carries the grime scene, especially here in London. There needs to be a balance between the community feel that is at the heart of it and keeps the events free, but also growing the size of the events and potentially charging for tickets as it grows and costs eventually start to pick up. I wouldn't mind paying for their events as they scale up, that's for sure. I do think the latest Travs Presents was probably the weakest showing of all the events of theirs that I've been to however, I don't know if that was the energy of the crowd being flat or some of the lineup not performing to the levels that the others did, but regardless, the show did end on a high and I know the next one will be insane. The Four Quarters event last month was one of the best grime events I've ever been to. You HAVE to make sure you get down to one of these.

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