What Is Grime?
From Bow's pirate radio stations to number one albums, the story of grime and the sounds that set it apart from drill and hip-hop.
Grime is the hard-hitting offshoot of UK garage that began on East London's pirate radio stations in the early 2000s: fast, dark electronic beats at around 140 beats per minute, with MCs spitting rapid-fire bars over the top.
Where grime came from
With its rapid-fire MCing and dark, electronic sounds, grime grew out of the pirate-radio underworld of garage music. It borrowed from UK garage, jungle and hip-hop, but stripped away garage's polished, soulful vocals in favour of cold synths, heavy bass and space for the MC. The scene was hyperlocal, centred on Bow and the surrounding estates of East London.
No one name is singularly credited as the founder of grime, but Wiley is usually identified as the inventing force. Time Out's history of the genre says he "ends up inventing grime with an instrumental track called 'Eskimo'". Wiley himself called the sound "eskibeat", and for a while the scene had several names before "grime" stuck.
Pirate radio stations, Rinse FM in particular, pushed the format as much as any names. Early grime was all about the MCs: crews took turns on the microphone over instrumentals in live radio sets, and rivalries were settled in clashes. The Lord of the Mics battles, hosted by MC Jammer, put names such as Kano, Wiley and Skepta head to head and became part of the genre's folklore.
From pirate radio to the mainstream
Dizzee Rascal was among the first grime MCs to break through nationally: his debut album, Boy in da Corner, won the Mercury Prize. Kano, Skepta and others followed with albums of their own, and Skepta's Konnichiwa later won the Mercury Prize too, putting grime firmly in the mainstream.
Stormzy took the sound further still. His debut album, Gang Signs & Prayer, topped the UK Albums Chart and was described by the Official Charts Company as the first "pure grime" album to do so.
How grime differs from UK drill and hip-hop
| Grime | UK drill | Hip-hop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roots | UK garage, jungle, East London pirate radio | Chicago drill, reworked in south London | United States |
| Tempo | Around 140 bpm, driving | Around 140 bpm, but half-time feel | Usually much slower |
| Sound | Cold synths, heavy bass, sparse drums | Sliding 808 basslines, skittering hi-hats | Sample-based or varied |
| Vocal style | Fast, double-time MCing, clash culture | Slower, darker storytelling flow | Wide range of flows |
The easiest way to recognise grime is to listen for the combination: a beat at about 140 bpm that feels fast rather than half-time, stark electronic production, and an MC riding it with rapid, competitive energy. Old pirate radio sets and clash recordings are the best introduction to where the sound started, and to why grime is still heard as the sound of East London.
