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Grime

7,460 releases

UK Garage-derived production style characterized by dark, fast-paced, often aggressive beats that commonly features fast-paced MCing.
Read more Emerging in London in the early 2000s, grime developed from UK Garage, more specifically 2-Step, in addition to a wide range of previously popular British Electronic Dance Music genres, including Drum and Bass and Jungle, Ragga Jungle in particular. Grime was influenced to a lesser extent by Jamaican Dancehall and Ragga and by American Hip Hop. The genre is characterized by fast-paced, syncopated, choppy, and highly rhythmic beats usually centered around 140 BPM, which are often aggressive, jagged, and raw, though a significant variation has always existed in grime production. Grime's sound was always coupled and intertwined with the vocal style that grime MCs would use to lay down lyrics, with producers providing dark, rapid, and manic beats for MCs to perform on. Regardless, much of the genre remains instrumental-focused, particularly later 2010s developments. Grime's lyrics commonly focus on matters of urban life, crime, social injustice, braggadocio, and beefs between MCs.

Early scenes and styles of the genre would quickly spring up during the early 2000s. Wiley's novel sound of production which he dubbed as "Eskibeat" began to receive attention after the release of his "Eskimo" beat, and Jon E Cash's style of production self-dubbed "Sub-Low" would be an important early mark in grime's history. Other up-and-coming MCs like Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Skepta, and Lethal Bizzle would release their debut projects and successful singles throughout the following years, with Dizzee's Boy in da Corner earning wide media coverage, thus becoming a major milestone of the genre. Online forums and filesharing sites like Grimetapes.com, in addition to radio shows and independent DVDs that were sold for record stores, were another important platform for new grime artists. Grime would enjoy a period of relative popularity throughout the rest of the decade, including in mainstream media, where it continuously faced backlash. A variety of independent developments derived from grime around that time, including cross-over with genres like Contemporary R&B, Electropop and Pop Rap, or even Indie Rock and Alternative Rock in rarer cases. Purple Sound merged grime's choppy rhythms with Dubstep beats and funky synth leads. Grime would also remain a prominent influence for the blossoming dubstep and UK Funky scenes of that time.

Despite grime's decline in popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the genre continued to develop, spawning different derivatives of the sound, like the experimental, instrumental-focused Weightless genre, and UK Drill, which combined Drill production with grime influences. A wave of new grime artists like AJ Tracey, Stormzy, and Lady Leshurr would find success in the mid-2010s, with older grime veterans such as Skepta and JME also earning newfound success. Grime producers would begin to increasingly take more influences from Trap. The 2010s UK Afrobeats, Afroswing, and UK dancehall scenes all prominently take influence from grime.

Top-ranked albums

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Years active

Grime

Discography

7,460 Releases

1 2 ... 250 Next

Release Date

Avg Ratings Reviews

Hoe's Don't Mean S#*t to Me
Jon E Cash

2000 Single

20 Ratings 3.38 Average

3.38 20 20
"Oh No" That's the Word
So Solid Crew

2000 Single

29 Ratings 3.13 Average

3.13 29 29
Dilema
So Solid Crew

2000 Single

4 Ratings 3.84 Average

3.84 4 4
Drop Top Bimmer Kid
Jon E Cash

2000 Single

17 Ratings 3.49 Average

3.49 17 17
Pay As U Go Cartel
Pay As U Go Cartel

2001 DJ Mix

1 Ratings 4.00 Average

4.00 1 1
Wickedest Ting
Geeneus & Wiley

2001 Single

20 Ratings 3.47 Average

3.47 20 20
Earth Warrior / Reloaded (VIP)
DJ Target

2001 Single

8 Ratings 3.76 Average

3.76 8 8
Pulse X Remix
Musical Mob

2001 Single

7 Ratings 3.40 Average

3.40 7 7
Storm / Stargate
Wookie

2001 Single

30 Ratings 3.56 Average

3.56 30 30
Know We
Pay As U Go Cartel

2001 Single

53 Ratings 3.24 Average

3.24 53 53
Terrible
Entourage Crew featuring Wiley, Breeze, Bubbles & Flow Down

2001 Single

7 Ratings 3.65 Average

3.65 7 7
Heartless Crew Versus Pay As U Go Clash at Destiny, London

2001 Bootleg

7 Ratings 3.67 Average

3.67 7 7
Anywhere
Pay As You Go Cartel

2001 Single

12 Ratings 3.58 Average

3.58 12 12
Haywire
Jon E Cash

2001 Single

4 Ratings 3.01 Average

3.01 4 4
08/01
More Fire Crew

2001 Bootleg

1 Ratings 3.50 Average

3.50 1 1

1 2 ... 250 Next

Lists

RYM Ultimate Box Set > Grime 2024-03-12T15:20:58Z

TheScientist 24 items
RYM Ultimate Box Set > Grime: Phase 2 2019-10-02T09:54:09Z

UrbanIndustry 24 items
Eco Grime & Biofuturism 🌱🌿 2024-04-14T14:48:55Z

Traz 48 items
Sinogrime: East Asian influenced Grime 2024-02-04T01:09:20Z

Heartshrink 81 items
Alien Shapes: Weightless Grime 2012-17 2023-02-26T19:09:20Z

Outh9X 52 items
my track selections #01: grime 2021-04-26T13:51:37Z

eike 100 items
Favourites of 2014 2015-01-01T21:40:02Z

verds 50 items
Skepta 2011-08-21T02:08:04Z

frankcommode 2 lists 15 items
UKG, gratuit! 2010-10-25T19:54:48Z

Pirate_Prentice 132 items
GriME Finds [RIP DISCONTINUED] 2010-07-21T18:31:39Z

Okawoa 116 items

Hierarchy

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Electronic Dance Music
Broad category for subgenres mainly derived from Disco, featuring Electronic sounds, synthesizers, drum machines and varying BPM ranges.
- Grime
- - Neo-Grime
    Mixes Wave with Grime and other forms of UK Electronic music.
  - Weightless
    Typically instrumental, leftfield Grime style characterized by sparse, "weightless" percussion and spectral, atmospheric production.

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Contributions

Contributors to this page: harhol _aleph Ehwa

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