It’s still the part of March where Midwesterners mistake 40 degrees for sandal weather, and already 2015 has proven itself to be a massive year for hip-hop. There have been huge releases from rap giants like Drake and Kendrick, plus many promising drops from up-and-comers like Action Bronson and Vic Mensa. But the most recent hip-hop development that has me over the moon is Kanye West single-handedly bringing grime music into the mainstream spotlight.
West stole the show at the Brit Awards with his performance of his brand new single “All Day,” but what many people failed to notice was that on stage with West were some of the biggest names in London grime music. JME, Skepta, Novelist and Jammer, artists that wouldn’t receive so much as an invitation from the Brit Awards, were storming the stage in a manner which showed they had something to say. That message was “Grime music isn’t going anywhere.”
The performance gave me chills the same way André 3000 dropped jaws with his infamous line “The South got somethin’ to say” at the 1995 Source Awards. Outkast managed to turn boos into applause as they changed the world’s view of Atlanta hip-hop. While less pronounced, Ye’s showcase of grime artists sets an incredible precedent for a genre that has been looked down on by outsiders for over a decade.
Grime music has always been an insider’s genre. Those who listened to it knew how addicting London slang can sound over 140 beats per minute. But those who don’t listen to grime don’t necessarily share the same opinion. Since the genre’s inception in the early 2000s, grime artists have been seen as degenerates by London authority, with police going out of their way to shut down shows without any real cause. Because of this, grime artists have had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and loyal fanbase in order to stay relevant in a time where there was no real mainstream acceptance of the music.
But that all changed at the Brit Awards. Ye was already in a power-hungry mood. Earlier in London, West walked into a local restaurant Nando’s and stood on a table for those who happened to be out to lunch to take pictures of him. In less than ten seconds, Nando’s had exploded into a media frenzy, with dozens of videos and photos surfacing online of the prophetic rapper standing on a table.
West took his power and fame and used it to create a performance that was as blunt as it was powerful. Had any other artist gone on stage with fifty black men dressed in all black (and two guys wielding flamethrowers) for an awards show dedicated to the top 1 percent of musicians and producers, there would have certainly been outrage. The point of the performance wasn’t to “promote gang culture,” as some Twitter bigots would have you believe. West was taking artists from a genre filled to the brim with talent and performing alongside them as equals, not placing grime on a pedestal for being the next big music fad.
Even more artists are now coming out with their love for grime. Drake thanked Skepta on the credits of his new mixtape, saying the album “would not be possible” without him. Yeezy even did a surprise show at the famous London venue KOKO, bringing grime artists on stage performing alongside the likes of Big Sean, Vic Mensa and Raekwon. It’s safe to say that grime has been a key influence on rap that has largely been unrecognized. So many conventions of modern hip-hop, such as snappy trap—beats and deep menacing horns—can be traced to the fundamentals of grime.
What’s next for grime and London music? Big things, hopefully. Skepta has an album coming out later this year, and everyone is dying with anticipation to see how much influence London has on West’s new LP, So Help Me God. The Brit Awards performance was the statement that grime has been screaming for from a walled-off room for years, and Yeezus finally tore down the wall.
