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Grime In The UK: It’s The Lifestyle Sweetheart — The Ups and Down and Rise of Grime
Tion Wayne and Russ Million’s track ‘Body’ has taken the world by storm, becoming a number one Tiktok trend, a number one in the UK, and being the drill song to ever do so. And whilst this is an incredible achievement, the journey of grime and drill has been in the works for decades. Only now is it deserving the correct plaudits it so desperately deserves. Grime and Drill is a huge part of UK culture, but it’s worth discussing how we got to this point now, and the work that past heroes put in so that these artists now are allowed to flourish.
Grime in 2003 was a small world in every nature of the word. It was created by people too young and marginalised to belong in the glamorous UK garage scene, and even the name was anti-aspirational to many. It was incredibly similar to the likes of punk rock or early hip-hop due to its rawness and fuck you attitude, but the fact that it has stayed true to its origins is the reason why the genre has risen to the very top in recent times. Grime has had a three-part narrative, similar to that of a Hollywood movie. The loveable underdog who grew its name and reached the top, only to then blow it (arguably due to no fault of its own), and ultimately redemption. However, it is easy to forget the journey that grime had to embark on to reach the top once more.
Much like the way in which Hip-hop reflected the streets in America, grime was acting in the same way for youth culture in the UK. Grime was all about community (it still is, but …), it gave people all across the UK a voice that they could use, and a platform to convey these messages of hardship and life growing up. The genre took root on the streets and boasted our multicultural society that many of us hold so proud, and changed the face of our city, our country, and now, even the world. When scene founder Wiley was first invited on Tim Westwood’s Radio 1 show, a make-or-break moment for the young artist’s career, he turned up with two 16-year-olds and insisted that they would be given time on the mic. One of those artists was Chipmunk, so this is the kind of inclusivity we’re talking about. What’s more…
