grime in 2004

how do people in the scene compare 2004 to 2003? better/worse/different in what way?

have there been any minor/major general changes in the music/scene?

is the scene in danger of becoming too hip hoppy or MC-based?

I'd say that happened in 2001.

Not that it matters now, but when I wrote this I intended to use the second sentence to link to my post and then wrote the third by mistake. Just in case Spencer thought I was getting snitchy about him not being on the ball (and credit where credit's due, it was Luka who got me onto that track).

You feel correct and vindictated?

Not at all! And I like the "shivery oscillator synth" description. Actually with grime, I always feel like release dates etc are a little, uh, murky. I'm never sure if I'm way ahead or way behind on any particular track.

or co.uk

rolldeep are on rinse fm right now.....

Class A are from Leicester, they put out a couple of 12"s on Platinum Projects (XL imprint) early last year. They were using Playstation back then but I don't think they are anymore.

class a, to *me* at least, from the first few tracks of their album i heard, dont sound all that much like the grime stuff coming out of london right now. they seem to remind me more of early proto-grime and stuff like that. only heard a few songs though, which i skipped through cos it didnt do much for me. bit odd how XL didnt want wiley but want these guys.

Other track I'm feeling, "No Help, No Handouts" by Unorthodox. A killer female emcee and a couple dudes over some dark Castlevania ambience, it's a winning combination. Big tune.

back issues are worth chasing, esp the one with the Jammer mix CD. 20-30 tracks mixed; they still sound fresh.

the Run the Road comp has a new track from Unorthadox's Nolay (the killer female emcee, mentioned above). look out for that this nov.

also re Danny Weed, he produced the Roll Deep track on Run the Road. it features this chicago-house-esque piano loop plus trim, wiley n co. mmm...

this phrase sounds totally weird to me. granted i've not heard this, but every other time ive heard b-live, he has appeared to be the worst mc ever. like, thanks for rendering cd1 of 'street beats' unlistenable dude! granted, its mostly about his shocking 'american' accent, but maybe hes dropped that.

as far as random grime observations, can i say its odd how no one on ILX except a few people that seem to get shot down think dizzee has somewhat strayed from grime. or perhaps he hasnt, hes just redefining it. or perhaps that last sentence is an easy way to avoid admitting that hes gone a bit pop (or 'slick') on the new album. i was perusing the boards of rwdmag and 1xtra and some signs of dissension are about (predictably!).

this is my theory. grime just doesnt sound good on individual tracks/albums as bits of radio shows/raves. they shoudl release a "best of de ja" or something. that would be better than all these mixtapes.

The only grime MC that I can take over straight hip hop is J2k. Heat In The Streets 2 is really quite good for this! Actually, maybe J2K is just a UKHH MC clinging to the COATTAILS of grime....

that said, i liked most of lord of the decks 2, thought it was great, and a lot more vital sounding than run the road. im sorry to keep harping on about RTR, but im just a little bit let down by it, thats all.

the thing is though, i liked kano a lot on boys luv girls, and part of that was because he was rhyming all around the beat, and the beat was doing weird things, rather than sticking to one pattern for the whole song like on ps and qs. i like the latter song a lot, but its a bit underwhelming after hearing him on stuff like ice rink or the NASTY crew freestyles ive got. part of this i think is that when it comes to making proper grime songs these days, it seems that theyre making the beats more spacious and easier to rhyme over, which in my view, is taking away from one of the best things about grime, the amazing headfucking beats. i mean, yeah i like fwd riddim, but the rapping on there is pretty shit, sad to say. grime MCs are amazing at riding a rhythm and darting in and out of the beat, and all over the place but theyre not that hot at combining that with writing songs. when it comes to that, they seem to try and make it simpler or something (and this is where their lack of depth comes into harsh focus).... or maybe thats just the vibe in the scene at the moment, theyre all so desperate to blow, that theyre trying to make it less 'noisy'. fuck that though, the noise is whats so good about grime.

i mean, even on the slow hip hop tempo tracks on showtime, dizzee is racing around the beat, still.

again, i should say this might just be my own bias towards extremity and a dislike for middle of the road-ness. then again, i think wileys album was severely underrated and that wasnt extreme as such, the beats were still animated and ultra-syncopated.

hope this doesnt read like a incoherent blog!

OTM.