WOEBOT

Old Skoolish.

I get these stupid, stupid ideas into my head! To compare, in rough outlines, the Old Skool Hip-Hop scene with Grime (ahem) as it stands today is to try and spoon one form into another. The fit in some instances is so crude as to be laughable, but at the root of the attempt are what I believe to be immutable truths, that's to say watertight observations.

These MC records which have been coming out of the UK over the last few years are the first proper indigenous "rap" records we've had. They emerge from a coherent home-grown aesthetic, they're not American copy-cat records, and they're not isolated cultural objects (See the Potted History of UK Bounce thing here.) They represent a cultural tidal wave of new music which is here to stay. I think, ironically enough, that we've now reached a moment when a comparison to the stateside explosion of Hip-Hop holds water. Previous to this time there were superficial comparisons between UK Hip-Hop and it's American counterpart (and drawing parallels could only flatter British Rap) but now the deep structural parity is striking.

One of the first criticisms I'm expecting this breakout to inspire is the one that holds Grime, beyond anything, to be a version of Dancehall Reggae. The theory that Ardkore/Jungle/Garage is a relexification of Reggae culture (same structures supplanted with different content) is enticing. But of course exactly the same thing could be said of Rap with almost stronger conviction. From pioneering block soundsystem owner Kool DJ Herc's Jamaican roots but onwards in to the structure: The Clappers label, BDP's strong Ragga stylings, Cutting Records dub mixes (The Imperial Brothers), one off tunes like Soul Dimension's "Trash-an-Ready" etc. Furthermore, riddim-ology, while it rules the airwaves has yet to make any impact on the style of records being released beyond Eskimo and the small dent of Fidget. I don't think any of the UK's artists aspire to being Elephant Man either, they'd much rather be Busta Rhymes or Redman (that might sound like I'm contradicting myself already!) Of course the truth is that, at last, Grime is it's own music, and maybe in consequence able to accomodate being held up to others in the same manner that one might hold the output of 70's Germany against that of 70's Jamaica.

Yeah, and sorry for being a right old fusty bore. Always viewing things removed from their context can be a real shitter, can suck the energy out of any discourse.

The Fatback Band feat. King Tim III -vs- Scott Garcia feat. MC Styles

Afrika Bambaata insists that the Fatback Band record is the first true Hip-Hop record. The band are better known as a straight-up funk act, responsible for tunes like "Ain't No Half Steppin" and "Yum Yum", but here, on the b-side of "You're My Candy Sweet" they were joined by their master-of-ceremonies/warm-up act King Tim III. It's a pretty good track in fact!

The Scott Garcia record is from 1997. It might be the earliest incarnation of the Grime record as we know it today. It's essentially a Speed Garage tune, moving along at the same speed as 187 Lockdown's "Gunman" and Gant's "Sound Bwoy Burial", drums have that huffing, shambling, splintered impact. The synth line bears a weird resemblance to the perky slightly redundant techno trilling of the early Black Dog records. MC Styles isn't working as hard as King Tim though, "Rinse the Bass Out!" "It's a London Thing", "This is a London thing", "This is a DJ thing" that's practically all he says! I guess Scott Garcia (and Baffled is lurking on this twelve too) wanted a re-fashioning of Code 071's "It's a London Someting."

My point? Here are rappers piggy-backing disco tunes. Just like Rap, especially at the hands of Sylvia Robinson at Sugarhill, was Disco Rap; Early Grime was MC Garage.

Sugarhill Gang -vs- TKS

With toasting moving into the centre frame. The absurd length of "Rappers Delight" (15 minutes 34 seconds on my version) could contextualise it as a slice of dancefloor MC-ing run riot, gormlessly untrammeled to fit the medium. Like the Flash and The Furious Five record later in this piece, the record is like a bit of Pirate Radio MC-ing slapped straight to disc. It's not as if Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee's lyrics are worth the trawl anyway (Big Bank Hank didn't even write his own, ripping off Granmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers).

I've always had a similar whinge about the spelling lyrics on "Fly Bi", which stamp it as ear-filler, as goofy as the Sugarhill Gang's vacuous nonsense. In the same manner the Sugarhill record rides Chic's "Good Times" bassline into infinite tedium, "Fly Bi" (like the Scott Garcia record) is STILL a dancefloor/disco record tarted up with a bit of MC-ing, yet it's a big step forward from "It's a London Thing", the combination of riddim and MC really gells. I've grown quite fond of "Fly Bi" in fact. Simon is a noted advocate of it.

It's worth reflecting that while Teebone, Sparks and Kie became household names, shifting millions of copies of "Fly Bi", forever stamping their name on the evolution of the genre, the Sugarhill Gang sold a couple of thousand of their tune before sinking into obscurity.

Bonus Record From The Archives: (Strokes Chin) Worth considering in the light of the "Is it Dancehall?" or "Is it Hip-Hop?" issue.

Grandmaster Flash -vs- So Solid Crew

Ouch! Yet another thorny one! Both "The Message" and "Oh No" can be classed as the point at which folk really got their shit together. At once the real deal, true Grime and true Hip-Hop, and right in the media glare.

Of course there are far too many factors involved in each group for one to draw much mileage beyond this superficial comparison. Megaman is the closest thing Grime has to an Afrika Bambaata. So Solid Crew (sighs, minus the drugs and guns) is pretty like the Zulu Nation, a large body of well-organised ghetto youth engaged in a positive head-on clash with the recording industry, headed up by a charismatic, widely-feted Don Dada. On the other hand there is no sonic wizard in So Solid to match Grandmaster Flash, who even had his own science of scratching in 'Quick Mix Theory' and 'Clock Theory' as well as managing to develop and market his own DJ device, the 'Flashformer.' The only sonic genius we have yet in Grime (er I'll pass on Oxide and Neutrino) is Wiley.

As I mentioned briefly earlier the Bozo Meko "Flash it to Beat" is a gripping live show by the Furious Five, in spirit a C90 mastered to vinyl. The sound quality is almost as bad as one of Luka's mixtapes, but the energy is totally ecstatic, the crew swoop and dive over a huffing beatbox, pile into one another's slips and fuck-ups, the organisation of their rhymes at once so deadly neat and crazed, crowd noise filtering through their singjay chants. It's just like NASTY at their best. And what's on the b-side, in the form of "Fusion Beats Vol.2", but your own Rap riddim!

Boogie Down Productions -vs- DJ Luck and MC Neat (Red Rose Records)

The thinnest comparison yet! (Though there is worse to come, believe!) DJ Luck and MC Neat have subsequently gone on to form Special Delivery with PAUG's Major Ace. This illustrates the way these early gene pools of MCs are functioning, that's to say with a great deal more flexibility than in Hip-Hop today, with artists passing fairly freely between crews (often all old school-mates). So for instance one of the original members of the Funky Four Plus One, Raheim, left to join the Furious Five; while Major Ace also appears to be a member of East Connection and Sharky Major now seems to be a member of NASTY when he was once in East Connection etc ad infinitum.

I put this lot together not just because of their DJ & MC structure, but also because of the strong reggaematic vibes to their stuff (KRS One slipping into patois and cos of the Dancehall vibe to alot of the Red Rose stuff). For example the joint Red Rose/Kronik records classic joint "Troublesome" featuring DJ Luck, Shy Cookie, Oracles and Jay-T which is busting with Ragga-attitude. Interestingly I think that their Reggae flavours are after-traces of their root etymology, there's a conciousness in both the BDP LP and "Troublesome" of the Reggae source of each respective music's true structural origin. Ya get me! Just remember i don't get paid to write this, ha!

Soul Sonic Force/Treacherous Three/Fearless Four -vs- Pay As You Go Crew/More Fire Crew/Heartless Crew

PAUG was a hook up between 'The Ladies Hit Squad' (Maxwell D, Target & Wiley) and Pay As You Go Cartel (Major Ace, Plague and Slimzee). It then went on to feature DJs Slimzee, Target and Geeneus and MCs Major Ace, Plague, Gods Gift, Riko and Durrty Doogz. (Draws breath). That's a lot of people! All these groups are bunched together because they feature a prodigous (er, more than 3 MCs a piece) amount of people in them. I reckon that's an unusually high number of MCs per record. It's a characteristic of a nascent scene that there are improbably high levels of expectation that more than one or two people will survive together in the music industry. It smacks (rather nicely) of amateur enthusiasm, of some kids getting swept along in the trail of their more talented mates; more talented mates who are happy to have them along for the ride. If you look at Hip-Hop nowadays the default configuration is the solo artist, the self-obsessed egotistical career-minded polymath. Like Jay-Z. Can you imagine Jaz-Z wanting to share the spotlight with four other guys? Nope! Other examples being Grand Wizard Theodore and the Fantastic Five, The Funky Four Plus One and Genius Crew and Corrupted Crew.

Certainly in Grime people have started to splinter off from these unwieldy collectives. Lethal B seems to be doing more stuff on his own away from the More Fire Crew. Doogz (what a star!) is carving his own furrow, as are Riko and Gods Gift. Heartless are still very much together, but haven't recorded much, they seem to concentrate on gigs and their 1Xtra show. There's a good parallel here with the The Treacherous Three's Kool Moe Dee who had a respectable solo career after leaving his crew behind.

Footnote: Check the hilarious graffiti on this second-hand UK reissue (on Y records) of the Treacherous Three's classic. Richard where are you now?

B-Boy Records -vs- Social Circles

Most curiously of all, and this was (imagine my surprise!) picked up by Robin at Undercurrent their appears to a be a strong, burgeoning sonic parity between the atonal crash of Old Skool Hip-Hop and Grime. I say Old Skool, but at the time this stretch between 1984 and 1987, after Electro's triumphs and before Run DMC forged the blueprint and identity of Hip-Hop once and for all, was referred to as "New School." I'd refer readers to J. Saul Kane's "Beat Classic" compilation of yesteryear (excellent liner notes by David Toop), except that in a move of astonishing myopicity Kane (aka Depth Charge) saw fit to include most of the tracks in their Instrumental form! Doh! This represents "breaks" culture at it's most ignorant I'm afraid.

You'd do much better to track down this amazing Sampler on Landspeed Records, I wonder if it's still in print? Concentrate for a second now.........this is one of the greatest records I have ever bought. I only got it recently, like why pretend? In fact I have (beyond a smidgen of envy) absolutely no respect whatsoever for people who cherish "original" copies of records from this era. Mainly because the chances are they didn't pick them up when they came out*. Its too fucking long ago, you'd have to be in at least your mid to late thirties to have been on the ball and fitted up with cash, not to mention living stateside unless you could be in London and afford the imports as they arrived. But really some of this stuff is not to be missed, so reissues will do just fine.

Turn the volume up to eleven and put on the Cold Crush Brothers "Feel the Horns". Man Caz's diction is immaculate! The beats are exquisitely reigned in and understated, it's impact is *heavy* but wholly due to the preternatural symphony and pitch of the whole meshing sonic. The James Brown horn sample is superbly lean and the tuning so perfect, murky and stealthy. Listening to what I'm now dubbing the "Stealth Harmony" of Grime has laid my ears wide open to this, granted, much ruffer sonic palette of terrorising accidental melody. There are SO MANY incredible tracks here. For instance, Jewel T's "I Like it Loud", once again the clarity of the mix is scary, Jewel T sounds like a (mildly) less angry LL Cool J, the funky drummer break here is cavernous. Jewel T shouts: "I like it loud," a gaping yaw opens out, a deep-pitched vocoder voice intones "Can I move off? Can I move off?" over the humming silence, it's the voice of the riddim, asking for permission to move on. Jewel T snaps: 'Give us some Guitar!" You half expect/dread some screeching Satriani fretwork, you get some scary fucked-up tortured bass squelch. Damn it's all amazing.

Really Sticky ought to be well chuffed with such a comparison! Social Circles *IS* the best label qua label on the scene, though they've put out a few dodgy records very recently so they'd better watch their pedigree. After Shock are doing better now. When will Wiley come to realise the NERD power of a label brand? It's something Brian Gee worked out pretty early on with V Records, and he's been laughing all the way to the bank for years. A label has a much greater staying power than an artist.

Wiley -vs- Marley Marl

Aah! This is a good one! Stable of Artists (Flow Dan, Jamaki-B, Dizzy Rascal, Breeze -vs- Steady B, Biz Markie, Daddy Kane, Steady B, Roxanne Shante) and a distinctive extremely raw pioneering studio sound. As an added bonus you have a parallel between the Juice Crew All Stars and Roll Deep (lets face it a vehicle for Wiley). (Obviously people disagree with me on this) Marley Marl isn't a terribly good MC either ;-) If only Wiley could get an imprint like Marley Marl's Pop Art together eh!

Roxanne Shante -vs- Ms Dynamite

Yeah! That's better! Both feisty chicks in a testosterone-dominated world. I'm kicking myself that I sold my copy of "Bite This", man that is one bumbaclaat track! I'm stalking a copy at the moment.

One extremely strong connection between "the Old Skool" and Grime as it stands right now is that the lyrics haven't really deepened out into message tracks. I know some folk advocate the poetic aspects of the form, though really I think it excels in it's lyrical and confrontational energy. The boast and the slack lyric (yeah I KNOW they can be poetic too!) still rule, as opposed to the more self-conciously poetic lyric which ruled hip-hop before Timbaland/The Neptunes. Could be a controversial observation...(strokes chin)

The Beastie Boys -vs- The Streets

On a good day you could argue that both were healthy protagonists of an undiscovered scene. That they both ("Cookie Puss" and "Original Pirate Material") were "in" the scene in the old days (though Locked On had pretty much run out of steam by the time they signed Skinner); that they proceeded respectably giving credit where credit was due (The Beastie Boys feted Schooly D and Mike Skinner celebrated Dizzy Rascal); that they each made hugely successful crossover albums.....yawn...this is becoming boring. Alright, lets face it they were both a load of old shite.

Schooly D -vs- Dizzy Rascal

As per last entry. This is kind of useless too, ha! However, don't forget that Schooly D had quite a bit of cross-over clout. He was a hardcore underground artist who one heard whispered about by very cool people. Actually Dizzy bears stronger resemblance, at least sonically, to Errick Sermon (lisp) or Kool Keith (sqwauk), but those folks are out of our time-frame.

Biz Markie -vs- D Double E

Of course! Innit!

LL Cool J -vs- Durrty Doogz

I picked up this LL Cool J when it came out! See I told you I was a funky hipster! I can do "I can't live without My Radio" (replete with plummy accent) as a party trick. So yeah, Doogz and LL Cool J, they both sound like they'll nut you at the slightest sign of disrespect.

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There it is! What I think it illustrates is a few things. That sonically and lyrically with Grime we're somewhere circa 1984-1985, two years away from Run DMC's Raising Hell. We also haven't had someone like Run DMC to really focus or define the form. It's very early days, and that's why the name has yet to glom. It's just the beginning!

*I picked up my original copy of "Beat Bop" replete with Basquiat cover for 50p in a carboot sale! Suckers!

Posted by Woebot at February 6, 2004 05:16 PM