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Music Extra: Out of the Shadows

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Sian Anderson - BBC 1Xtra DJ

04/03/2017 GMT

Out of the Shadows

BBC World Service - Music Extra, Out of the Shadows

The story of grime, from Caribbean roots to global domination

As grime is set to go global DJ Sian Anderson explores the name, the pluck, the humour and the sheer creativity at its roots.

Grime is the sound of the inner city - deep basslines, industrial soundscapes and cheeky social commentary. It grew out of garage and jungle to become the sound of London's tower blocks and disenfranchised youth. The first young stars such as Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk were unafraid to be pop but the scene was too new to sustain the spotlight. Returning to the underground the sounds grew dirtier and the lyrics more intense. In 2017 grime’s time has come with Brit Award nominations for Stormzy, Skepta and Kano, a Mercury Award for Skepta and the likes of Drake and Kanye West lining up to work with grimes leading lights. Grime is no longer about a postcode in London - through social media and DIY attitude the scene is spreading across the world and this time it is ready for anything.

DJ and grime ambassador Sian Anderson takes the story of grime back to its origins in the sound-system culture of the Caribbean. She visits Jamaica with reggae heroes Toddla T, Seani B and Sir David Rodigan to hear how the DIY ethics, MC battles and dubplate clashes, have travelled over to the UK with the grime scenes' parents and grandparents to mutate into the sound of 21st Century youth. We follow her story as one of the scenes early supporters through the pop success of 2002 back into the underground and finally to critical acclaim and a growing worldwide fanbase.

Along the way we discover where the name ‘grime’ even comes from and what it really means for the people who make it and love it from London’s East End to Japan, Europe and beyond.

(Photo: BBC 1Xtra DJ Sian Anderson outside Tuff Gong studio in Jamaica. Credit: Alex manzi)

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