Don’t Flop dropped a surprise pay-per-view for their recent “Grime Clashes” event this week (which you can order through the video below), which will likely leave most North American battle rap fans scratching their heads as to exactly what grime is. Footage of the event will be an insight for many into one of the indigenous forms of British music.
Just as trap had its genesis in the southern states of the U.S., grime has its feet rooted firmly in the inner-city hubbubs of London first, then Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham -- basically any of the concrete monoliths the U.K. calls cities. The abrasiveness of the delivery, quick-fire double-time flows, jarring, synth-driven beats, simple lyrics and the use of violent threats as a lingua franca are all elements of grime that have been chiselled from the asphalt of Britain’s often grim cityscapes.
“Grime Clashes” was a battle afternoon hewn after the success of ex-Don’t Flopper Chronicle’s on-beat league Words Are Weapons, and also the U.K.’s equivalent of the Smack DVDs, Lord Of The Mics. The grime clash is something BattleRap.com covered a little in our article about on-beat battles, and is a cemented part of the U.K. battle scene. With so many grime artists operating in Don’t Flop right now, the Grime Clash seemed as natural a mode as any to lock into.
Tickets for the last Lord of the Mics event sold around $160 for a line-up that included Don’t Flop’s Dialect, P Money (one of the flag-bearers for Grime) and Big H (who had recently seen U.K. chart success on Meridian Dan single “German Whip”). While it doesn’t translate across the Atlantic, the draw of Grime battles is still very much evident on U.K. shores.
Dialect, as a battler of international esteem (having seen off Cortez and Daylyt) was a natural to head up this bill, against Eyez, who has appeared on national radio and is taking huge steps up the Grime ladder. Eyez has appeared on Don’t Flop before against none other than the champion Tony D, and although he never quite took to the medium, Grime Clashes by design bridge the gap between the musical verse and the battle verse more closely than any other part of the form.
U.K. battle stalwart Youthoracle went up against Weirdoe, who has a bars video with more than 500,000 views and is completely new to the ring. Much of Youth’s grime work has a conscious edge, whereas Weirdoe raps primarily about fingering girls and selling weed. Both have a smattering of humor also, so expect that in the clash somewhat. It is also not beyond the realms of imagination that Youthoracle mentioned Weirdoe’s braces at least once.
The match-up Double L vs. Lady Shocker, both of whom impressed on their respective Don’t Flop debuts (and with Double L having greatly impressed since) was, unfortunately, cancelled. We still had Youthoracle’s cohort Bru-C face off against newer face Hypes, who has featured in a “Don’t Flop Drops” and a video with Shotty Horroh.
Battle fans in the U.S. may not be up-to-speed with this breed of British talent, but in the U.K. the barriers between the mainstream and the very, very underground are fizzling out. Even Wiley, one of Grime’s most lauded exports, has talked about getting in the ring. And Ghetts, another high-charting recording artist, has appeared on tracks with Don’t Flop’s Pedro.
What do you think? Could grime clashes take off in the United States? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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