Saturday gone, went with a few mates to carnival warmer Urban Nerds vs Bigger Than Barry at a Shoreditch car park. Pretty good night and that, Katy B, Toddla T and Jayou all on the bill murking. Not on the bill murking, however, was Flirta D and Bruza! Certainly a shock to me and everyone I was with, don't think I've heard Bruza since around 2007.
The said line up.
A quick Youtube search shows that Flirta D recently had new material played on Logan Sama's Kiss Fm show. Not particularly anything special to me (check the tune here) but Sama mentioning the word "returning" to describe Flirta D confirms the guy has finally completed whatever game he was playing for x number of years and may be returning to the scene.
Flirta D - Microphone occupant
Bruza definitely has not been around for a while though his bars are probably still fresh in most people's heads. Also must say he does get a mention from time to time in general conversation.
Bruza - Hot like Baghdad!
While it was predominantely a dubsteppy/grime rave (P Money & Blacks were actually on the bill) it was big hype when these two took the mic in the second room. Everyone was pretty smashed so I cant really remember much but I definitely know there were old school bars involved and don't think there was much spitting over any sort of dubstep.
True say I don't go to many of these raves and maybe they are doing the rounds really but thought it was worth a mention!
Shake Your Eardrum...
Flirta D was nothing short of a God when I was younger. Definite 12/10 for originality and flow, tearing up countless allstar riddims. Blast from the past.
It could be viewed as having all your favourite players in an all star XI. Messi, Drogba and Van Persie leading the front three. It could be likened to having all your favourite characters appearing on the same program. Throw Peggy and Phil Mitchel into the Kyle's house on My Wife and Kids? Anyhow, the rise this year in the collaboration between grime MCs and dubstep music has certainly been a popular one that has actually taken place.
Flow Dan - You don't wanna see me get eeeevil.
By no means is the concept of grime Mcs touching up productions in the Dubstep genre a new concept. It has been around for a long while. Take Flow Dan for example. Many people will instantly catch my drift when I say "Docta can't fix you, send for the hearse" on the sub heavy track produced by The Bug entitled "Skeng". Another example is Durrty Goodz, half brother of jailed MC Crazy Titch, using a Coki production on his Axiom EP on "Take Back The Scene". Aside from this, there are also plenty of sets where Benga's Night or Skream's Midnight Request Line have been chucked in to get MCs hype. You catch my drift.
It could be that now it is indeed the quality of mic controllers that have seen the great rise in popularity. While "Skeng" was well received, Flow Dan didn't have a strong foothold in either the dubstep or grime scene. My focus for this post points to D Double E, P Money and par distributor Tempa T, not that I'm saying they are the only ones. D Double went in with other half Footsie (as the Newham Generals) and out came "Hard" in 2009. There wasn't a dubstep night I went to last year where this track didn't get love! D Double E has since released the hyped up "Street Figher Riddim" and in an interview on Grime Forum it can be you can see for yourself that he is definitely going to have some dubstep on his next releases. His interview can be checked out here.
Newham Generals - looking pretty upset to be honest.
P Money had already featured on lesser known Starkey's second album back in April, with the song "Numb" showing a different side to the fire flow the grime fans fell in love with. In my opinion, his rise on the dubstep scene coincided with the rise of East London producer Sukh Knight. "Slang Like This" and "Left The Room" were both well received bangers and a collector's item for most DJs in the genre.
Tempa T probably sells himself! The "Next Hype" tune remixed and mashed up all over the gaffe including the Next Hype vs Saxon (Chase & Status) mix! The point is that now Grime is definitely a lot more prominent and whilst die hards such as Black The Ripper or Dot Rotten will not run to jump on this particular bus, it offers both a closer to home change (i.e. Grime to Dubstep rather than Grime to Pop) and, while dubstep grows in popularity, and very commercially profitable outlet.
Tempa T has gone from Sidewinder to featuring on the same bill as Grandmaster Flash @ The Warehouse Project (23rd October) - probably the biggest club night in the UK. Both P Money and Flow Dan are performing at the ever popular Outlook Festival in Croatia next month. There are so many obvious positives to be taken from this. Not to mention the pay involved. These guys will have enough money to buy some serious three quarter length shorts for next summer.
Shake Your Eardrum...
Also worth a listen is Electronica prodigy DJ Plastician's very recent set featuring P Money in Bristol covering everything from Grime to Dubstep. Its naughty and its here. Also has a tracklist in case you see anything very naughty.
Skepta (second from left) and the team (taken from Skepta's twitter page).
What is so good about this is that it doesn't need much of an intro. Most people who listen to radio would have heard P Diddy's "Hello, Good Morning" and definitely heard this banger. To Grime fans it is much more than this. It could be argued as representing the first artist from the genre to have a commercialised tune promoted entirely without compromise or, as many would say, "selling out". Such examples of these artists would include Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder, with both considerably changing their original styles to become household names.
The tune is pretty weighty, could appeal to most crowds and when Skepta says "God forgive me when I buss my ting right now!" there is cause for reload and gun mimicking with the fingers.
Who knows what could happen from here? Boy Better Know mixtape featuring Drake and Trey Songz? Obviously the US won't be won over in a day, but following this collaboration Grime is definitely one step closer. The door is open.
Shake Your Eardrum...
It would be racist to take a shot at Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder and close set. Here are some of their earlier grime tunes which I liked as well as a bit of Skepta, because at the end of the day...everyone has to eat, and not everyone can be a shotta.
Tinchy Stryder - Line 'Em Up [Click to listen / Right click to download]
Beat em up, step on your crep, fire tune taken off the Cloud 9 mixtape released in 2008.
