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So, I'm halfway through reading the second part of this interview with The Bug (Kevin Martin) at the moment. Some of his comments about Grime struck me as very interesting:
Grimewise, I thinks its really difficult because in a way it has faced a racist backlash. I think the authorities wanted to close grime down because they saw it as young black music and for me that’s what’s really pissed me off is to see that there's almost been a conspiracy against grime in London. It’s like venues aren’t allowed to put on grime acts as there were new laws instigated maybe one year ago.
Ultimately I think this is the consequence of the kind of erroneous and ungrounded perceptions that Power Vacums is propogating. It has more consequences than winning arguments on the internet. This inability to hear the positive in grime, coupled with the "common sense" perceptions that it's all negative or misogynistic or glamourises the bad side of urban life - it all leads to a nascent scene being stifled and shut down.
... and y'know, it strikes me that the shutting down of one of the few channels of communication and self expression open to these guys is not a positive thing. I don't wish to sterotype all the MCs but it strikes me that part of the reason for the music's intensity may be that their range of options is limited to a degree (this is all kinds of problematic obviously, but that's a subject for another discussion). I personally have access to a degree of money, social status and jobs and lifestyle options that buoy my sense of self worth. I don't see how it's "progressive" in any sense to lay disproportionte criticism on these guys when (as far as I know) they don't have this. |
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