Grime Realism
Misery as Currency
Grime Realism
Misery as Currency
The streets of the UK have run at 140bpm ever since Jungle came in as the ultimate underground sound for a nation falling into capitalist dereliction. Two decades of austerity from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron left the youth desperate, and this darkened dance sound represented that desperation; there formed an irreparable schism in the nation which dissolved all sense of community, and the descent into neoliberal capitalism left nothing but lost individuals in deep conflict with each other. The streets endured a lot of turmoil in these times, from raging gang wars to every day police brutality, and in many respects Grime came as a medium for the streets of the UK expressing themselves; the 140bpm remained, and the same dark expression is contained within it. Grime came to the UK like Hip Hop in the US, emerging naturally out of a combination of musical experimentation and collective emotional experience.