Saturday, June 04, 2005
The UK Gets Grimey
Hold tight because I actually do some full-on album reviewing for once on this site instead of my usual bullet-point one-line comment steez. Read on (if you have the energy) and drop comments if so inspired....
I've mentioned this cat Sway Dasafo a couple of times before but I never gave any shine to the mixtapes he passed me the night I met him and former Portishead affiliate Lewis Parker at NYC grime/dubstep party Bangers and Mash where he was performing (a story I had promised to get into a while back now)
Like much of the so-called grime scene, the line between Sway's music and American hip hop has become pretty blurry especially when you put up the work of American producers like Lil Jon, Timbaland, Diplo and upcoming, newly-buzzing Roc boardsman Chad "Wes" Hamilton (the creative force behind much of the most interesting parts of the actually-not-bad and kind of underrated new Young Gunz Brother From Another album) against that of UK grime producers like Dizzee Rascal, Jammer and Wiley. To my ears, there are far more similarities than differences nowadays and that's even with the Brits no longer merely aping what's poppin' in US hip hop but coming up with their own sound.
In many ways though, Sway is really still more of a hip hop MC than a grime artist per se but his sensibility and references are still uniquely British or, more accurately, first generation Britsh-Ghanaian as hilarious skits about meeting an American b-boy and dodging immigration officers featuring hilarious recurring character Charly-Boy (his "mad rapper" figure) attest. Solid remakes of J-Kwon's "Tipsy" (titled "Pepsi" on his rerub) and Ja Rule's "New York (redubbed "London" on his mixtape remake) and decent off-the-dome skills on the numerous on-air freestyles he's done at various UK hip hop radio shows also included on his two street mixtape albums, This is my Promo vol. 1 and 2, reinforce his hip hop credentials. The stand-out track is no doubt his single "Flo' Fashion" though which appears no less than three times (in original, instrumental and remix forms) over the course of the two mixtapes.
It's telling that Sway's name hasn't rung bells in the blog or the indie hipster worlds the same way Mick Skinner's The Streets, M.I.A. and Dizzee Rascal have recently. His more straight-ahead hip hop sound and image (which is great by the way, check the covers above) probably doesn't have enough of that exotic "other" appeal factor as those artists' music to generate a buzz in these circles although I think it does. If American hip hop audiences were open-minded enough, I'd predict Sway could find an audience there, but the folks in the underground who've been frothing over Kano or even Roots Manuva might even find him too gutter for their tastes. When his official album This is My Demo, due later this year, drops there might be material on there that will change that. But, based on these two promising mixtapes, Sway's "neither-fish-nor-fowl" current positioning might lead to him falling between the cracks. Let's hope that's not the case though.
Click and peep:
- UKHH.com interview with Sway.
- Check out the "Flo Fashion" video (win | quick via his official website)
- Buy This is My Promo Vol. 1 here
- Buy This is My Promo Vol. 2 here
- Who's Gonna Sign Sway?
On a related note, a few weeks ago the ever-hip Vice Records sent me a copy of their all-star Grime compialtion Run the Road, a state of the art collection of the UK's hottest stars in this new and still evolving musical genre. The British accents and awkward improvisational-sounding grime MC style, most akin to undergound American MC rhyme ciphas or live dancehall DJ-ing, might not appeal to the ear of hip hop fans with more catholic tastes. But more so than even drum 'n' bass and vaguely related sister genres from a few years back, UK/speed garage and 2-step, grime is the first real post-hip hop music which is unique sounding and culturally-rooted yet still, in many ways, sympatico with the touchstones of new millenia American urban music like the keyboard-based Down South hip hop sound, digital dancehall and midwest MCing.
Kano's "P's and Q's" is the obvious standout track of the collection while he also appears with Wiley on "Mic Fight" and on the solid "Destrcution VIP" track by Jammer as well as having a decent turn with Lady Sovereign on a pretty limp remix of The Streets' "Fit But You Know It." A lot of people are starting to ride Sovereign's bra strap (if the increasing mentions I've read about her on various blogs recently are any indication) but for my money, her "Ching Ching" single (which I think has been out for a hot minute and apprears here in remix form) and the track by the also semi-buzzing Shystie are bested by the unknown (to me) MC named No Lay who spits pure fya on her "Unorthadox Daughter." Sovereign dimisses the comparisons to Eminem on her track but it seems kind of apt based on what I know about her.
It feels like eons have passed since Roll Deep, Pay As You Go and So Solid were the crews to beat in this world, but it looks like Roll Deep are the only ones to have made it through to the new grime era (?) with their "Let It Out" track but they already sound like the old men of the scene with a track that sounds a little dated and basic as compared to some of the heat rocks on this album. Dizzee's subsonic video game beat-powered "Give U More" proves why this kid will be remain a leader in this scene no matter which new jacks come up in the future though. Also watch out for this Kid D Double E - duke's voice and flow is pretty bananas based on his appearances on the explosive album opener "Cock Back v1.2" and the Jammer cut.
I wanted to clown this album but fcck it I can't front, it's actually pretty solid. Of course, if you're heading to Giant Stadium tomorrow, this is probably not for you although I'd never want to sell anyone short. You never know nowadays the way music is going. Intrigued? Click the following links to learn more about grime:
- Click here for the official Run the Road website
- Want a slightly more commericial sounding option? Check out Kano. I even put one of his joints ("Brown Eyes") on a hip hop mix Cd I jusr made for my girl and her sister last weekend. Good looking to whichever mp3 blog I copped that from again (I forget).
- Chantelle Fiddy's World of Grime
- Grime links via the excellent Slang Editorial blog
- Grime, Baile Funk, mash-up and other assorted left-field music hotness via Boom Selection.
- S/FJ on the grime scene in the New Yorker.
- Stone on Dizzee Rascal and Run the Road.
- Not strictly grime but kind of related, Lemon-Red links to mp3's of the new bonus tracks on the Interscope repress (?!) of M.I.A.'s Arular album.
