They have gone from performing at pirate radio stations, raves and youth clubs to sharing a stage with Kanye West and Drake and packing out festival tents around the world. And now the British artists who pioneered the DIY music genre grime, from JME and Skepta to Wiley and Stormzy, are to receive their biggest public accolade yet.
Wednesday night’s Mobo awards, which celebrate music of black origin, include 27 nominations for grime artists across all categories. It is the best showing for the genre since the awards began in 1996 – and a further sign that 2015 is truly the year of the revival of grime.
The nominations follow what has been seen as a pivotal moment for the genre’s second coming at this year’s Brit awards, when Kanye West was joined onstage by Skepta and 25 grime MCs during his performance.
The ceremony, which takes place on Wednesday night in Leeds, sees Skepta’s Shutdown nominated for best song, while Lethal Bizzle’s Fester Skank and Stormzy’s Know Me From are both nominated for best video.
Early pioneers of grime Skepta and JME, both on label Boy Better Know, are all up for best male act, while Wiley and JME have also picked up nominations for best album. Wiley will also receive the inaugural Mobo paving the way award – a nod to his enduring influence as one of the founding members of grime.
Grime emerged in the early 2000s in housing estates across east London, fusing rap, drum and bass and dancehall. Many young people had become frustrated with the garage music scene, which they felt was no longer reflecting underground culture, and so broke away to create their own, DIY, distinctively British sound.
But despite this more-than-decade-long history, it was only in 2014 that the Mobos introduced a specific grime category, won by Stormzy.
Bonkaz, a Croydon-born rapper who grew up amid the first wave of grime, is nominated for best newcomer at this year’s Mobos. He said it was “about time” the impact of these artists was acknowledged by the awards panel.
“I think it is amazing that grime is being recognised and I think it is very necessary for UK culture as a whole,” he said. “If we are going to tell the story of the UK in 20-30 years then there’s no way we could miss out the story of grime.
“It is important that these people – JME, Wiley, D Double E, so many more – are getting the recognition they deserve and the props for what they’ve done for the scene and for UK culture.”
He added: “I feel like there is a second coming for grime right now and what’s different is that someone like me can be involved … The fact that someone like me can be even mentioned in the same sentence as classic grime artists shows the genre has become more eclectic and there’s more room for different styles and different interpretations of the genre.”
Bonkaz said it was the “consistent, unapologetic attitude” of grime was partly the reason for the recent revived interest in the genre and said it just “took a while for people to take the stigma away from it and open up to the fact it is an art form, not just some rowdy scene”.
Early pioneers of grime included Lethal Bizzle, Ghetts and JME, as well as east London grime collective Roll Deep, who would take the energised and often provocative sounds of grime to youth clubs, underage raves and pirate radio stations run from bedrooms in housing estates across London.
The first big push of grime into the mainstream came with Dizzee Rascal’s 2003 album Boy In Da Corner, which won the Mercury music award. But as more of the artists got signed to big labels, turning to a more commercial sound, and the raves and pirate radio stations that had pioneered grime got shut down, the underground grime scene dissipated in the past 10 years.
In the past year there has been something of a grime revival in cities across the UK from London to Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, with old and new grime artists returning to the roots of the genre.
Bugzy Malone, a 24-year-old MC from Manchester, is among the new generation of grime artists reviving the scene and is one of the acts nominated for best newcomer at this year’s Mobos. His track Walk With Me has already charted at number 8 and he has over 10m views on YouTube, an indicator of the renewed popularity of the genre.
“It’s a great thing that an award ceremony like the Mobos is finally getting involved and recognising and honouring both the big MCs and new MCs,” he added. “It just adds to the momentum of everything that’s going on and shows that everything that’s happened this year has been real.
“The nature of grime artists is that it is very underground and bedroom-based. But the genre is now becoming more respected and it’s inspired a whole new generation of MCs to feel like now we are working towards something.”
He also credited the revival of grime to a feeling of unrest among a lot of young people, who were using the honest lyrics and homegrown DIY approach of grime to express their disillusionment and angerIt was a message that clearly resonated, he said.
“I just think different people are being given a voice now. Previously it was quite London-centric so it is a bit of a game changer that someone like myself, from outside of London, has had the success that I’ve had. The truth is a powerful thing and whether you know about grime music or not, you get the sense you are watching something real and honest. People respond to that.”
