Grime
Anchor moment: Wiley records 'Eskimo' — grime's foundational instrumental
Musical signatures
140 BPM aggressive, syncopated electronic productions drawing on UK garage, dancehall, jungle, and grime-specific 'eskibeat' synths; sparse, percussive, often square-wave-bass-driven; rapid, percussive London-accented MC delivery with heavy slang, double-time bars, and pirate-radio-derived clash culture.
Pioneers
- wiley
- Dizzee Rascal
- kano
- Skepta
- jme
- lethal-bizzle
- roll-deep
Associated scenes
- london-grime-scene
Moments in this sub-genre 3
Notes
Wiley's 'Eskimo' (2002) is the canonical 'eskibeat' / proto-grime instrumental; Dizzee Rascal's 'Boy in da Corner' (2003) won the Mercury Prize and crystallized the genre commercially. Origin year is frequently given as either 2002 (sound) or 2003 (commercial breakthrough).
Citations 2
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