WOEBOT

Maybe the fact that the MC-ing records are still in the minority is a part of the reason the term "Grime" appears to be coming from outside the scene, where it's percieved (via Dizzee) as being an entirely MC-led art-form?

I think what I'm hamfistedly trying to say here is that with one's face pressed against the window looking in Garage appears to be a production line, an array of machines, processes and tools which interlock almost inadvertantly to produce the MC records which we can clearly identify in objets like Dizzee's LP. I haven't witnessed this as strongly in any other dance music, even roots.

The term "Grime" appears to come from outside the scene and refers (with somewhat myopic ease) to the MC record. As a professed outsider I've been harvesting these distinct "objets", doing my natty cd comps for my own pleasure. But the mechanics of the scene are a lot more elaborate. Indeed the scene's own "complete" production of choice is not the record, but the radio show. Like energy god Luke Davis I'm eagerly anticipating the new Box Bloody Fresh DVD and CD.

talking abt garage recently w. friends in light of the 'spate' uk press stories kinda fetches up how much a terrible term grime is: 'have you heard any grime?' 'do you like grime?' &c. it just doesn't fit mouths, fr my money. is the problem i have w. it.

from the Urban Dictionary

thanks to "king shit" for the entry:

grime
a slimey layer of sweat, dirt, feces particles, pubic hair, and god knows what else, that builds up on the nut-sack when not washed
I'd rather lick the grime off my dad's nutsack than clean up after you.

cozen
i completely agree about the word in the mouth. doesnt roll. if there was one that sounded good i'd probably leap on it, and quit whingeing. "eski" fr'instance is just rubbish.

Howzabout we just go back to calling it jungle? I liked jungle so much better than dreary drum 'n' bass (that sinking feeling you got when putting on the first Grooverider album or the first Peshay album, for instance, and lo, there's the wind machine, and lo, there be the Herbie Hancock Fender Rhodes).

Now if you'll excuse me I must light up my David Jacobs-style alabaster meerschaum pipe and reminisce about those gay old refrains from those Origin Unknown and Leviticus chappies - oh how splendid, I did enjoy that, as I said to darling Hubert Gregg outside the Blue Note in 1993 etccczzzzzz.

i don't like the term because like cozen i feel ridiculous saying it. the word gets used a lot by the insiders but not usually to signify a genre. it's used in the same way as 'dark' used to be used in jungle days, as an adjective. we'll get grimy later, now it's ladys time, that sort of thing

This is the sort of argument that ends with you waking up in the middle of the night in a coldsweat wondering if you should alphabetize your CD collection by title or artist name.

And Marcello -- it wasn't drum 'n' bass so much as intelligent drum 'n' bass that made a fellow wonder if he shouldn't cut the crusts off his toast before settling back and spinning the latest LTJ Bukem platters....

I think you'll find it's called Rap.

The market size curve for dance music has been "flattening" (read: flatlining) for a couple of years now, with a noticeable reduction in young punters coming through the doors. It's principally a demographic thing, not a piracy thing. (Can't quote numbers -- wasn't able to nick the market reports!)

With a smaller overall market to play with, Matt's right to suggest that the scope for further segmentation and "genre-level" product differentiation isn't really there any more (not sure Kotler would recognise my languaga but we'll let that pass). Instead, producers try to make records that attract a variety of different segments. Hence the slow down in the speed of garage to near hip hop speed, and the focus on hip-hop-style MCing -- and also hence the cross-over of dancehall. It's all about risk reduction.

Grime's failure to translate its popularity into proper product -- i.e. tracks with rapping on them -- is a classic "CHasm" issue. The early market -- DJs -- want instrumentals. The late market -- fans -- want MC cuts. But the risk associated with deviating from the instrumentals-for-DJs market, given the small scale of the overall garage market, means that few producers risk doing MC tracks.

I would presume that post-Dizzee there will be a flood of MC tracks -- Wiley has his album in the can for example. But the lack of airplay and availability of dubplates is a concern. If the market is real, they'll be picking up on the early product samples. It doesn't look to me like they are.

It's possible the grime scene is about to fizzle out and that the albums will arrive six months too late. We need crossover MC tracks now -- but who they'll actually crossover to is a moot point. Personally I see no reason why the teen garage crowd won't go for it, but they need a channel...

it's all about what "it" crosses over into and what it invigorates .