Grime facts for kids

Grime is a type of electronic music that started in London in the early 2000s. It grew out of UK garage music. Grime also has influences from drum and bass, dancehall, ragga, and hip hop.

You can usually tell grime music by its fast beats per minute. These are often around 130-145 BPM. It also has a strong, electronic sound. Rapping is a very important part of grime music too.

In the beginning, pirate radios were very important. These were illegal radio stations. They were the only places that would play grime music. Later, in the mid-2000s, grime became popular in the UK. Some early important musicians were Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lethal Bizzle, and Wiley. Other famous artists include P Money, Ghetts, Jme, Skepta, and Stormzy. There are also grime groups like Boy Better Know, Newham Generals, Roll Deep, and Ruff Sqwad. In the mid-2010s, grime also started to get attention in Australia. Many people have called grime the "most important musical development in the UK for decades."

The Story of Grime

How Grime Started

Grime music began in London in the early 2000s. Pirate radio stations helped to spread grime music. These were illegal radio stations. Some of them were Rinse FM, Deja Vu FM, Major FM, Freeze 92.7, and Raw Mission. These stations were the first to play and promote grime music.

At first, grime did not have one official name. People used different names for it. Some names were 8-bar, nu shape, sublow, and eskibeat. These names described a new sound that was forming. It was different from UK garage music. It moved away from its house music influences. Instead, it became darker and grittier.

Some of the first songs called "grime" were "Eskimo," "Ice Rink," and "Igloo" by Wiley. Other early songs included "Pulse X" by Musical Mob and "Creeper" by Danny Weed. Journalists gave the genre the name "grime." They called it "grimy" because of its rough and dark sound. This name then became "grime."

Grime Grows Up

Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Kano, and Lethal Bizzle were some of the first grime musicians. They started to get attention from the mainstream media in 2003-2004. Their albums were Boy in da Corner, Treddin' on Thin Ice, Home Sweet Home, and Against All Oddz. These were the first grime albums to become popular.

Dizzee Rascal became very famous and successful with his album Boy in da Corner. In 2003, he won the Mercury Music Prize for this album. However, many other grime musicians did not become as popular. To help these lesser-known musicians, Jammer created Lord of the Mics in 2004. Jammer is from the group Boy Better Know.

Lord of the Mics was a yearly DVD series. It gave a platform for new musicians to show their talent. Musicians on Lord of the Mics would compete in battle raps. These battles are also called "clashing." The DVDs also had interviews with grime musicians. Jammer first sold the DVDs himself. Later, he sold them through ukrecordshop.com. This helped the DVD series become very popular. Lord of the Mics helped many lesser-known grime artists. It also helped grime gain fans on the internet. Before these DVDs, many grime artists only gained fans by performing live on pirate radio stations.

Grime Goes Global

In 2005, 679 Recordings released the Run the Road music collection. This collection featured some of the most popular grime songs at that time. It helped to make grime and grime artists more famous around the world.

One grime artist who became very successful overseas is Lady Sovereign. She reached number one on MTV's TRL. She also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. She is now signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records.

Images for kids

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  Roll Deep, a well-known grime crew, performs at the 2006 Love Music Hate Racism festival.

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  Dizzee Rascal performing in 2013