Grimey!

I was listening to a show on BBC Radio 1 online today. I got to hear a rapper from East London named Durrty Goodz whose forte is Grime Music. I was introduced to Grime Music late last year when I heard the Kano track "Hustler" on The Couch Sessions. That track alone, IMO, lives up to the genre's name.

Grime Music, according to everyone's favorite unofficial source of info Wikipedia, is described as being "typified by complex 2-step breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute and constructed from unorthodox sounds.[1] Stylistically, grime takes from many genres including UK Garage, dancehall and hip hop.[2] The lyrics and music combine futuristic electronic elements and dark, guttural bass lines". The music comes from London's East End (for those that don't know, that's the hood in London) and has a story very similar to Rap Music. The DJ of well-known Grime artist Dizzee Rascal says, "the biggest conflict I have is with major labels because they still don’t get it". He says that they just don't understand the value of grime, and more so UK music as a whole, as other countries do. Didn't U.S. recording labels say the same thing about Rap music back in the day? Now look at what they've done to the music. Many fans and critics in the UK also believe Grime Music will become watered-down and redundant as the genre gains more notoriety and international labels figure out how to market it.

All I have to say is I hope these U.K. artists have learned from our mistakes and won't get super-pimped by Rinky Dink Records.