They don't like to be called "rappers." His is grime (literally, grime), a subgenre as indebted to hip hop as dancehall and jungle . With a well-defined tempo (rarely below 140 beats per minute) and strong roots in London's tough neighborhoods: from Barking to Tower Hamlets, through Streatham. And covered by a haze, between dystopian and futuristic.

The most powerful symbol of grime is, perhaps, the Union Jack bulletproof vest designed by Banksy that is worn by Stormzy , as a complaint against the wave of street violence. Although the most recent knock-on effect was certainly Dave's piano plea at the Brit Awards, when he called Boris Johnson "racist ."

Grime has now become definitely political and has become the soundtrack of the Black Lives Matter movement in the British Isles. And in this Wiley, the godfather of the genre, arrives and launches a hype and Godfather III , the album with which he aspires to close the circle after the 2019 bell with Boasty (with the special collaboration of actor Idris Elba , another who raps ).

Twenty years after his birth from the pirate radio Rinse FM, after a first golden age (Wiley, Kano, Dizzee Rascal) and a premature decline, grime has suddenly become the dominant sound, before, during and after confinement, with an increasingly demanding air.

"If we were not oppressed, we would not be screaming and we would just live our lives without further ado," Stormzy proclaims on BBC cameras, making him the most visible face of the UK protests (alongside actor John Boyega , the famous Star Wars Finn ).

"This movement represents hundreds, thousands of years of pain ," says Stormzy, who has announced the donation of 10 million pounds (11 million euros) in ten years as "a vital commitment" to combat racism and support the black community. "The uncomfortable truth is that our country still does not recognize that black people are constantly disadvantaged in all aspects of their lives and simply because of the color of their skin."

"I am lucky to be in a position where I can hear people reproaching myself: 'If the country is so racist, how come you have been successful?'" Acknowledges the singing voice of grime , on the crest of the wave at 26 years old. I rebel against that idea. I am not the example of what is supposed to happen to a black citizen when he works hard. There are millions of people who have to fight a racist system designed for us from the moment we are born. "

Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, Stormzy was among the first to draw a parallel between both sides of the Atlantic and to accuse Boris Johnson of " fomenting hatred among us as Trump does." "Before, people hid their racism, but now they make it public," warned the author of Blinded by your grace .

"All we can do is demonstrate, report the shit , donate, raise our voices, and build community," says Stormzy, who wrapped his appearance on the BBC with an educational video in which he is seen painting the bedroom of a child for his positive behavior at school ... «This is not a trend that comes and goes; It is a movement that aspires to change our lives.

The witness is collected by Dave, 22 years old, with Nigerian blood, after giving the note with his celebrated Psychodrama in the anteroom of confinement and at the Brit Awards, where he received the album of the year award. Sitting at the piano, David Orobosa Omoregie (full name) improvised some verses from his song Black directed at Boris Johnson: “He is racist, although it may not seem like it, our prime minister is really a racist / They will say that we have to be grateful, because we are less racists / And I say: the least racists are still racists ».

Then he also accused the British press ("You only have to see how they have treated Meghan [Markle] compared to Kate [Middleton])", before attacking the "crime and punishment" of the British judicial system, without the need to remember that your brother Christopher is serving a life sentence for killing a minor under the age of 15 ...

Dave's performance was rated by critics as "the most important in Brit history", five years after the grime was released , when Skepta brought Kanye West on stage.

Marking the distances, ideologically and musically, Dave himself broke a spear for everything the grime at this point represents in statements to NME : «It is not a subgenre of rap, it is a genre of its own. It is a sound, a culture, a style, a way of dressing and speaking. When you rap, the beat is behind you. Here are the instruments that mark the tempo. It is its own sound and an attitude towards life ».

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Boris Johnson
  • UK
  • George Floyd
  • Kanye West
  • London
  • culture
  • music
  • Racism

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