My mate Jon's been telling me he doesn't hear what I do in UK Garage Rap. Hey, Jon's entitled to his opinion! Some folks, however, are not. Truth is things are extremely quiet in the record stores, which is causing snearing foreigners to say "Where's your revolution?" On the other hand it's buzzing on the airwaves. I'm going to tackle this subject in two parts.
A few hundred posts ago I made a comment bemoaning UK Rap's lack of "slabs of art", that's to say recorded pieces. Since I made the equation between ART and VINYL I've been beating myself with a rubber hosepipe. Daily. True ART is often too spontaneous, site-specific and amorphous to fit within the grooves of a record. This is why I tend to prefer studio recordings that conciously exploit the recording process (If it aint alive, it might as well be perfectly stuffed). My most treasured musical experiences have always happened beyond the stifled relationship between me and the record deck. From evening choirs simultaneously accordant across Dakar at night, to sweaty nutters on whistles and busking Ghanaian Mbira players in the tube. The Pirate Crews shows and their mess of magic and chaos exist at the same life axis.
There ARE a lack of MC Records. The only two really hot ones right now being Donaeo's Bounce and The Surgery's Shott the Weed, both on Social Circles, rapidly shaping up to be the new Suburban Base. There are great new riddims from Big$hot, Menta, Slimzee, Dizzy, Wizzbit, DJ Marsta and Wiley but little new MC stuff. Luke thinks this is because everything is going to go wild in the summer, maybe.... My friends at the shops say it's because no crew will play another crews MC record on their show. The stores, which mainly supply the DJs on the pirates, can't sell MC records. It explains why Dizzy's using his rep to put out instrumentals. The only MC records which are getting played are HUGE tunes by famous collectives like Roll Deep who everyone respects. It's WAR.
In truth, despite paragraph two, this is pretty fucking spastic. Because everyone is being so small minded the scene is stuck on the pirates. My mates tell me this is a new-ish development (six months old) and yes look at the incredible amount of MC stuff that came out last year. What this should give all you folks (who can't pick it up on your FM dial) is an idea of the hugely explosive nature of the movement and also it's true immaturity. It's not gone away (it never will, its going to be MASSIVE) it's just in pressure-cooker mode. What happens next is anyone's guess...
Posted by Woebot at May 13, 2003 12:43 PM