Seven years ago Lethal Bizzle set the bar when he released the biggest anthem in Grime’s history- Pow. Grime was a new genre and many of the mc’s that featured were unheard of, so they all had 8 bars to prove themselves. The track became a monster in clubs and even made it to number 11 in the official UK top 40. It had so much energy and got the listeners so hyped it was banned in many nightclubs in 2004. It was produced by Dexplicit and featured Lethal B, Fumin, D Double E, Nappa, Jamakabi, Neeko, Flowdan, Ozzie B, Forcer & Demon.

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Last year I filmed a small video with a local Grime artist named Crawler. The video was set around him discussing himself to start with and ended with a freestyle. Following this video, members of Crawlers’ Grime crew, named Killer Grimey (KG), got in touch with me about creating more videos, in which they too could express themselves in this way. The word started to spread on my abilities to film and the YouTube channel that I had created- RealTalk0113. Other Leeds MC’s began to contact me on social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube, asking me to film them. Before I knew it, I was promoting the Leeds-based Grime Scene attempting to get it heard again. I felt passionate about this, as I used to struggling in finding good MC’s that were from Leeds. In the first video with Crawler he asks “How deep can we speak about it, is it real talk yeah?” That was exactly what I wanted it to be. A channel where the MC wasn’t censored, and could say what they liked, as long as it was real to them. So when I uploaded the videos to YouTube I called the channel Real Talk 0113, the 0113 being the area code for Leeds. I also include links to the featured artists websites, to gain extra promotion for them.

Someone who inspires me is Cameraman Sketch. He documents the up and coming Grime MC’s, through interviews and freestyles. He has over 500 videos on Youtube and 3 DVDs featuring artists such as Jammer, Ghetts, Big H, P.Money, Asher D and many more. His new DVD entitled ’2010′ drops at the end of this month. This is what he had to say when I interviewed him recently…
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Dizzee Rascal and Crazy Titch were two of the biggest names when grime first started and even clashed about seven years ago. It all began when Crazy didn’t hand the mic back after his 16 bars. Look at where they started and where they are now. Who do you think won? [Read More..]

Diddy enlists the help of Boy Better Know’s Skepta, for the Grime remix of his club track, “Hello Good Morning,” from his upcoming album “Last Train To Paris” (set for release on December 14th). For more on the grime genre, check out our Grimefiend column, written by guest-blogger Solomon Francis.

He isn’t known as a ‘Grime’ DJ, but Tim Westwood has played an important part in helping the scene to grow and given the UK a voice. He brings known, as well as up and coming Grime MC’s on to his Radio 1 and 1xtra shows which promotes them to a wider audience. His 1xtra Rap Show on a Sunday night was almost always UK artists, mainly from the Grime scene including, Wiley, Kano & Lethal Bizzle. Over the past four years he has stirred up a lot of hype between the artists which pulls in the listeners and many people debate wether this benefits the scene or not.

Many hate on him because of his annoying voice but I like the fact he has his own character and his interviews are entertaining. He has that Marmite effect, you either love him or hate him but credit where credits due on the Big Dawg deserves it.

No disrespect to (KissFM’s Grime DJ) Logan Sama but Tim Westwood is a bigger name than he may ever be, so for that reason alone its good to have him in the scene. Westwood is a brand name and has a lot of followers who will listen to his shows and that could bring in new Grime fans whether its 1 or 100. He has also established a name for himself in the USA which makes him one of the only people who could push Grime internationally.

His youtube channel features some of the best Grime videos, such as live radio and crib sessions. It’s had over 2,700,000 views and 58,000 subscribers since 2007 which shows he’s been smashing it on the internet as well.

-Solomon Francis (Grimefiend Blogger)

Since this site is based in the UK but is focussed almost entirely on American Hip-Hop music, I decided I wanted to represent this country a little bit more on the site. Unfortunately, in my personal opinion, Hip-Hop music is too far behind the US here, and it wouldn’t make sense for me to post what is, in most cases, inferior music. Grime music relates closely to Hip-Hop, however it is a fresh sound unique to the UK. It is the UK’s interpretation in a sense, and I thought it would be better to talk about this, than our Hip-Hop. I would like to introduce Sol (of Grime Pirates and RealTalk0113) to the site, he is a documentary maker based in Leeds, UK, who documents the local Grime scene. I have asked him to write a column on the site which we have titled “Grime-Fiend” and here is his first submission…
- Grant

Grime is an urban genre of music originating in East London, UK, in the early 2000′s. The unique sound is a combination of Reggae, Hip-Hop, Garage and Drum & Bass. At first the young emcees could only be heard on pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM, through mixtapes and at raves. It began to grow when television channels and legal radio stations started to support it. Although it is an underground style of music, when the UK tv channel ‘Channel U’ and radio stations such as the 1xtra and Kiss started to play Grime it became heard by the mainstream media.

Read more and check out some examples of Grime, after the jump…
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