Grime In Dubstep

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.

The Bug ft Killa P & Flow Dan - Skeng [Click to listen / Right click to download]

Durrty Goodz - Take Back The Scene

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.

Katy B - Girl On A Mission

Before anything, I have to say, I don't know why Youtube jinallzed me but the videos stick out the borders here. The Computer Science degree didn't teach me how to rectify this so I hope your eyes don't bleed too much when you scroll down. Keep it real, bro.

Katy B - Thought she'd be better looking/not ginger? Me too!

To assess Katy B, one should look to other similar artists. Lets take Shola Ama. Both had pretty big Funky House vocals last summer. Shola Ama went in with Perempay & Dee on "DJ Play", which got a lot of play from the DJs, whilst Katy B featured on the big track with Geeneus "As I". All the UK mandem must have at least one memory of grinding a girl to one of these tunes. Whether it was in Malia, Kos or Oceana Kingston.

Geeneus ft Katy B - As I (Skepta Remix) [Click to listen / Right click to download]

Shola Ama...probably on a comedown.

Giggs - Cut Above The Rest ft Shola Ama

After Shola Ama, fresh from her druggie days, had this tune played out we didn't hear from her again until she came out on the Cut Above The Rest mixtape on the title track with leader of the emerging UK Rap scene Giggs. At best it was a good tune but, while the collaboration was a coup for the SN1 rapper, it left a lot to be questioned regarding Shola's career choices. Katy B, on the other hand, essentially became a "new" sensation to electronica. I say electronica because the big hits "Katy B On A Mission" & "Perfect Stranger" is more the commercialisation of dubstep rather than representing the scene. The latter of the tracks contains mouth dropping, unbelievably catchy vocals. It doesn't take a Geeneus to guess which singer is taking the bookings right now.




All I can say is the bandwagon has shown both hit and miss. Whilst I am a great fan of Giggs and the raise in profile in UK Rap, the rap game is not going to take any female vocalists to the top. Don't you remember what happened to Olivia from G-Unit? On the other hand, the trio forming Magnetic Man may have propelled Katy B into Britain's hands as the next Lilly Allen like figure. Judging on the quality of the tracks, she can definitely go far.



As for Shola Ama, you can probably catch her in a Mcdonalds doing some methedrone off a tray with her agent. Or whatever's doing the rounds in Skegness these days. Look out for the Katy B tracks, I read "Katy B On A Mission is out August 23rd and the other comes out with the Magnetic Man album (available for pre order here) on October 4th.

Shake Your Eardrum...

Shout out to Giggs, doing it for the scene. Also worth checking out this for some more mellow Giggs, right off the debut album titled Walk In The Park.

Giggs - Make It Look Good ft J.Melo

Telling the sweet story the only way a Peckham gangster could.

Netsky - Drum & Taste

Netsky - His music is better than his looks.

Netsky produced Net-sky(sky high)! His latest remix of Pendulum's "Witchcraft" is just insane. Such an airy feel, does justice for both hype and mellow moods and that appreciation goes up because I think the original tune is just straight wack lol. This is the kind of tune a main character would be happy to die to at the end of a drama series, so much atmosphere!




I like a lot of his other stuff as well, "Tomorrow's Another Day" VIP mix is another huge tune as most of us didn't know Collie Buddz could sound so intense on a beat. When I pump out this tune and hear the man sing I feel like confessing sin like I cheated on my imaginary girlfriend.

Netsky - Tomorrow's Another Day VIP (Snarftastic Edit) (Dodgy version looped twice but you'll get the crack [Click to listen / Right click to download]

Definitely on my priority list to go and see live, I'm also a big fan of one of his mixes (the August one). The one I'm on about can be found off his myspace or at the link below.

Netsky's Studio Mix (August 2009)

Netsky is also the name given to a big virus that attacked emails, but doesn't sound so good to listen to really....Check out his other tunes and if you like them don't suppose you could go wrong copping the sexy self-titled album.

Skepta the Microphone Champion

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.

Chipmunk - Consistent (Produced by Wiley)
Chipz at his best beating up a Wiley beat on the League of My Own mixtape from 2007.

Skepta - Deeper (Ft Romeo)
Boy Better Know meets So Solid Crew on this classic.

Chapter 0

I complained to friends about having no source of creative release on my monotonous Computer Science. And I always found new music from everywhere but not always someone was there to pat me on the back or offer a constructive opinion. Then I created a blog and tried to avoid making it about music because there is loads.

I made one post and had about 6 drafts before I left it and came to this. If I get bored of this I will by decks and become a bedroom DJ. This ensures that I will have a good attempt at this because I am currently £1497 into my £1500 student overdraft and not due till mid September!

What is my blog about? Well probably covering MY music interests which covers most Electronica and Grime music. I grew up in the semi-ghetto of Edmonton, North London ("Brap!") and can accurately say I saw Grime grow up and develop. Not necessarily having the best view, but today I can say that I am still a big fan. Maybe I will enlighten one person and piss off and lose a million potential followers. If I can make one person say "hey, this guy is good", and get him a Youtube hit, that will put a smile on my face.

I am also a pretty random person and depending on my relationship with this page I may just chuck in the odd, grumpy man, ramble. I'm all for spreading the love. I don't like Facebook for this however, as people on my list are way too personal and the stuff I know about most people is starting to render my phone useless. That's another story though....

I could waffle on about my OCD and lack of holidays but it's 1am and I am quite high stacked on this Full Tilt freeroll so I will just deliver the crack and hand you a key to take a nice dig out of.

Hold my hand, and I will hold yours et cetera.